Anyone forage mushrooms?

[daiking]

This is interesting...

[jack]

Wowsers, that's an impressive flush. ?

[PeterW]

I would have said it’s could possibly be a meadow wax cap but without a closer look...... 

[daiking]

That’s the slightly larger of 2 colonies growing out the lawn

[PeterW]

Any old tree stumps under the lawn...? Could be a honey fungus but it doesn’t look right from that picture. 

[daiking]

4 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Any old tree stumps under the lawn...? Could be a honey fungus but it doesn’t look right from that picture. 

 

Lol, any? One under each colony.

 

pic is a bit big is size but best resolution I have of that photo.

[Tennentslager]

Magic mushrooms I've foraged but always been put of any other fungai by warnings of death 

Spanish mate loves it though and if I die after he cooks them it's murder isn't it?

I bet no one dies, just gets a big bit sick

 

[newhome]

I’ve always fancied having a go but like @Tennentslager have been put off by the fear of death! 

[Onoff]

It was an annual event as a kid, going along with my Irish Mum (now 88) picking mushrooms in the local fields and I mean a lot of them. We'd eat them raw straight out of the ground after peeling. The FiL now will still happily pick the ones from my garden now.

 

@Tennentslager, not just a bit sick if you get it wrong as this now famous case shows:

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8675690/Nicholas-Evans-I-wanted-to-die.-It-was-so-grim.html

 

Always ask the landowners permission before picking or you can get into truffle.....

 

I'll get me coat...

[Cpd]

I have a birch wood out back where I have been foraging for chanterelles, been a good year and love them. By my gate I get to harvest oyster mushrooms twice a year and also find the occasional field mushroom. My parents are very good at mushrooms identifying and are always collecting exotic items...... I stick to what I know. Hundreds of magic mushrooms in my fields but of no interest to me these days. I made a drying cupboard above my wood burner and have been successfully drying the chanterelles this year so as to enjoy them in the winter. 

[newhome]

1 hour ago, Onoff said:

 

It was an annual event as a kid, going along with my Irish Mum (now 88) picking mushrooms in the local fields

 

 

We used to go early in the morning at weekends when I was a kid. There are a couple of fields on the right as you drive through Otford that were full of them. Still

alive to tell the tale but I’ve never been confident enough to randomly do it myself since. Be my luck to choose something deadly! 

[PeterW]

We used to have a saying when we taught wild foods ...

 

all mushrooms are edible, some only once.... 

[Cpd]

I have various books but this is one of my favourites 

[newhome]

I’m surprised you’re not into all that @Onoff being from ‘up the valley’. Thought you would know your horse mushrooms from your death caps! Or is it all just magic up there? ?

[Onoff]

Just now, newhome said:

I’m surprised you’re not into all that @Onoff being from ‘up the valley’. Thought you would know your horse mushrooms from your death caps! Or is it all just magic up there? ?

 

It's all hedgehog in a clay oven here!

 

Tbh I stick to wild fruits, the usual greengage, bullace, damsons etc. I've done rosehip wine and pretty much every other country wine you can think of. Tapped a birch tree for it's sap once. I do enjoy stinging nettles. Should eat more of them really.

 

Going to buy that book @Cpdposted up.

[Onoff]

37 minutes ago, Cpd said:

I have various books but this is one of my favourites 

 

Review says its mainly recipes? I want something more biased towards identification.

 

?

[jack]

38 minutes ago, Onoff said:

Review says its mainly recipes? I want something more biased towards identification.

 

The top left one is pretty good, although you only typically get one drawing of each. It covers plants, mushrooms, seaweed, shellfish, fruits and nuts.

 

 

I can't find my River Cottage mushroom book, but from memory it's particularly good because it focuses on the safe collection of edibles, whereas the others above are more general references.

 

I do a bit of foraging for mushrooms, but stick religiously to those that can be safely identified.

 

We had a penny bun (cep) in our garden this year for the first time, along with several large slippery jacks that have appeared out of the new garden beds (haven't eaten these yet - mixed reviews on whether they're worth the effort):

 

 

I collect black trumpets from a forestry area near me - amazingly tasty dried. They haven't come up yet this year, presumably due to the lack of rain:

 

 

 

I've also managed the odd parasol from a nearby cow field (this is a young one - cap hasn't opened yet):

 

[newhome]

Right, I’m going to gather some when I next see some (don’t see many on the beach!) and post them on this thread for yay or nae. Just have to hope I haven’t upset anyone enough to walk into a death trap ? ?. 

 

 

 

[PeterW]

5 minutes ago, newhome said:

Right, I’m going to gather some when I next see some (don’t see many on the beach!) and post them on this thread for yay or nae. Just have to hope I haven’t upset anyone enough to walk into a death trap ? ?. 

 

 

 

 

Ideally you need to photo them in their environment as that can assist in identification as for example a birch polypore will only grow on a birch tree, but can look like something else ....!

 

 

[daiking]

The limit of my foraging is the masses of wild garlic we get in the spring. I'll pass on the mushrooms. Not bad for sub-urban sprawl.

 

 

From what I read last night, sounds like they could be honey fungus as they've cropped up over the buried remains of 2 beech trees. felled 3 years ago but not turfed until last summer. Last autumn the ground was still settling in. This year its 2 x mushroom city.  

[Ferdinand]

A family member went on a mushroom identification course some years ago,and enjoyed it.Then came up with mushrooms for some time.

 

There are also blogs around that can be a good  source.

[jack]

5 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Ideally you need to photo them in their environment as that can assist in identification as for example a birch polypore will only grow on a birch tree, but can look like something else ....!

 

We're drowning in birch polypores around here. Shame they aren't edible (and I don't sharpen my own razors, so no use for that application either).

 

13 minutes ago, newhome said:

Right, I’m going to gather some when I next see some (don’t see many on the beach!) and post them on this thread for yay or nae. Just have to hope I haven’t upset anyone enough to walk into a death trap ? ?. 

 

Do a little research first. The vast majority of mushrooms you run into won't be edible. The River Cottage mushroom book is a good resource. 

 

Take a look at this website too: https://www.mushroomdiary.co.uk/getting-started-in-mushroom-hunting/

 

2 minutes ago, daiking said:

From what I read last night, sounds like they could be honey fungus as they've cropped up over the buried remains of 2 beech trees. felled 3 years ago but not turfed until last summer. Last autumn the ground was still settling in. This year its 2 x mushroom city.  

 

Honey fungus would be my best guess too. Not many other fungi fruit this gregariously! 

[newhome]

30 minutes ago, jack said:

 

Do a little research first. The vast majority of mushrooms you run into won't be edible. The River Cottage mushroom book is a good resource. 

 

Ah yes, I would only gather things I thought might be edible from photos and had a decent ‘kitchen’ rating. I’m not going to try things that taste rank, edible or not! 

 

I remember going to Bedgebury Pinetum on a field trip during A levels years ago. The different types of fungi in the pinetum was astounding. Earthstars were my best find. Pretty unusual. Not seen any since. I think these days there is a no picking policy there, but when I was at school (more than a few moons ago ?) we took a bus load of it back to school. 

 

 

 

[daiking]

If it stays dry for a couple of days now (some hope) I’ll just cut them down with the mower.

[Ian]

I've got some nice dry rot fungus on a job I'm involved with at the moment. Ideal growing conditions in a leaky basement so no mushroom fruiting bodies visible but plenty of active hyphae.