MARI(matsutake)TIME 3

Last post on Matsutake for 2018 is on the not so obvious Maritime matsutake appearing in wet areas sometimes with what seems young spread out conifers or possibly older stunted trees with abundant acidic loving shrubs.

You have to wander around and look close to find these ones. Oh, I see some light sandy brown in there.

Now bend down.

It takes someone who is not in much of rush to enjoy gathering these lovely Maritime Matsutake in knee to waist high shrubby areas, great fun for some of us though. Ciao

Advertisement

MARI(matsutake)TIME 2

Different Maritime forest terrain then the last post, but under this mixed forest we have once again some nice Matsutake mushrooms.

I like this photo as much of the mushroom caps are covered on all 3 of these mushrooms yet from 30 meters you know its Matsutake by the size of the rounded cap and the way the cap has a subtle illumination cloudy or sunny its there.

Here we see on the right half some fully open Matsutake the gills on these ones will be turning brown soon. The mushroom you see flip over gills up is a huge one measuring 28 cm across and weighing 1 1/2 lbs, oh what a tasty Matsutake it was.

MARI(matsutake)TIME

A few photos to share on my favorite fall Tricholoma mushrooms, the matsutake.

Great year thus far for T magnivelare and T ducliolens:)

Sweet Home Tricholoma

 

Interesting den like structure which should provide sleeping space for 3 appears on this steep decline, the opening is facing straight up and shortly beyond it seems the hill drops straight down a few hundred feet, even though many conifers have managed to hang in there, not to far away on flat lowlands amongst the conifers I start to see some of my favorite Tricholoma mushrooms again, though unfortunately their season is coming to an end soon, maybe if all goes well some of these areas will not fall to a clear cut before my next visit in 2016.

 

Have a look at another mushroom which may be mistaken for a Matsutake, this one is Tricholoma focale which is not rated very highly as an edible in most countries, though I have seem claim that it is pretty good when preserved in certain ways, ( I’ll get back to you on this one shhh), I usually only see these in disturbed soils or thin moss, commonly seen here near the coast at a small size of 5 cm, though here are some big ones with 15 cm caps.

A few Maritime Matsutake ( Tricholoma magnivelare ) possibly to be renamed down the road.

and the long and slim one, Tricholoma dulciolens, well this is probably it for me and these Tricholoma mushrooms for this year, next up should be Honeys, Oysters and as usual, plenty of surprises. ciao

 

White Matsutake photos

Large White Matsutake mushroom.

Another view.

 

A nice group photo.

 

A smaller one in deep moss.

Now out of the moss and almost into the basket. ciao

 

Longing more Matsutake

It has been 12 days since I last visited my favorite White Matsutake grounds so after work I dropped in on my way home to see if any new ones have emerged in the dry weather we’ve been having.

I suspect the drier than usual soil conditions may have something to do with the long stems you are seeing on these White Matsutakes.

The nights have been approaching frost so I was pleased to see quite a few fresh mushrooms in good shape, a nice after work gathering for sure. ciao

White Matsutake Has Spoken

You walked an over grown path 2 decades ago to discover the wonders of this forest. You have returned every September since, early on you gathered the Hollow-stem Suillus as you could not identify the many white and deeply buried mushrooms of these woods.

Many years passed when you read of the Matsutake the much loved and historical mushroom of Japan, could these beautiful mushrooms half way around the world be the same mushroom or a distant relative?

Though you sampled this mushroom and marvelled at their smoky spiciness it still wasn’t enough to say these were the White Matsutake until finally an expert 14 years later verified what you had suspected.

Things naturally change as today you notice the markers on some of the trees. They will soon be cutting some of the old spruce, pine and hemlock. Reflect at the shrine and do your part to promote leaving some of the wild and wondrous areas as they are. Those who can purchase such places to protect them from some of the more negative unnecessary changes please step forward.

White Matsutake are starting to show

I stopped after work for a quick peek incase the white matsutake mushrooms were starting to fruit in my favorite spot.  There were a few boletes and gypsy mushrooms so I suspected this was still a bit early for white matsutake as gypsy mushrooms mostly are gone by the time white matsutake starts, but I was surprised to find a few small white matsutakes already up.

A deer must have nibbled the top of this young white matsutake but was unable to pull the deep stem out from the ground, I needed to patiently wiggle the stem free myself and the below photo is this mushroom removed from the soil.

I Should find some of the larger version of white matsutake arriving in these woods in coming weeks.

Here is a photo of the white matsutake part of my basket and the other half will be shown in a little while.

ciao

White Matsutake

I’m opening a new page today showcasing a wild mushroom not to many folks are familiar with in eastern North America, but these beauties are highly esteemed in Asia and especially so in Japan.

Our version of the Asian Matsutake is mostly slightly lighter in color and goes by a different name Tricholoma magnivelare, it also happens to be my favorite wild edible mushroom which I enjoy fresh from mid Sept to mid Oct in most years and I also usually  dry plenty for rice and herb tea mixes, they have a very unusual flavour which goes well with soy sauce and vinegar, they also taste great baked with salmon. I collect most of my white Matsutakes around hemlock trees though I usually find smaller quantities near spruce, jack pine and red pine. They are lots of fun to collect as the stem is often 4 to 5 inches beneath the surface and sometimes the entire mushroom will be completely expanded below the moss and you will only notice a number of humps that resemble the mushrooms cap, so it’s a real treasure hunt.

The history of the Matsutake mushroom in Japan is a great story in itself with it influencing art and architecture and they also have significant ceremonial value in the Japanese culture. I’ll leave the rest of Matsutake story up to you to discover if you wish. Hope you enjoy the photos in the (white matsutake page) above and at some point get to taste the wonderful flavour which has been savoured & un-altered  by man for many millenniums. Click on the photos in the matsutake page for some nice close ups. cheers