>>4633
Some sort of mutant fungi?

>>4634

Looks like a puffball to me... but could be wrong.

I never asked how does one eat a puffball - fry it? Boil it? Bake it?

It is a giant puffball. It was cut into roughly steak-sized slabs, seasoned with salt and pepper, and then fried for a few minutes per side.

Heavenly.

Did it go well with the bottle of cloudy piss?

>>4638

This is why I stopped buying 'special edition lemonade' from that tramp in the town centre.

That's elderflower pop. It's pretty good too.

OP, are you an /eco/ regular?

>>4638
Looks more like homebrew. Sort it out.

>>4640
I thought it was elderflower, I just made about 20 litres of the stuff, nice one op!
sage for adding nothing of value.

>OP, are you an /eco/ regular?
No. I'm not much of a treehugging hippy, either.

>Looks more like homebrew. Sort it out.
There's nothing to sort, elderflower pop is supposed to look like that. It is slightly cloudy on account of it not coming out of a factory.

It's not the most flattering of photos, perhaps.

>>4645
Sort it out was in reference to the doubting poster. The brew looks splendid, it's un-/eco/ to not realise that.

>>4646
I was mermly gently mocking to cover up my fungus envy. A typical tale, told a thousand times all over the world every day.

OP, where did this godly puffball? Find it in the woods?

In a field in Wales.

(They're usually a bit bigger, to be honest.)

Loads of field mushrooms pooping up around here (SE) due to the recent rain. I picked a bag full yesterday and they were lovely.

I picked the biggest, heaviest field mushroom I've ever seen a couple of days back. Unfortunately it was occupied :(

>>4697

By what, a gnome?

Maggots.

>>4633
Beautiful OP, beautiful

>>4636
Best way to treat any fungus, wild or otherwise, is to fry in half/half oil and butter - oil for heat, butter for flavour - and a generous amount of salt. Serve on toast. Oh yes.

I'm getting mighty excited by the impending shroom season.

>I'm getting mighty excited by the impending shroom season.
It's all going on out there right now (to say nothing of the St George's mushrooms which were around April-June). I've been hitting my regular parasol patch every five days or so for the last few weeks and have not yet come back empty handed.

Pic related, a couple of massive parasols (and the aforementioned infested field mushroom on the far right). The middle one was about 7 inches across. They're actually getting a bit too big at that point - the brown colouring on the top is quite tough.

I do the same oil/butter combo, coincidentally, on my dad's advice, though I'd never thought of the heat/flavour thing. Always with some garlic, though, and a dollop of cream if available. Flour as thickener if required. Chunky slab of homemade bread. Wonderful.

Last year I found out that the brightly coloured red and apricot mushrooms that the hill gets covered in near by are actually edible, and delicious. Both species are supposed to be uncommon but there are always enough of them up there to feed an army. I'll try to remember to photograph it, the scarlet carpet is quite a sight.

All fungi are edible. Some fungi are not edible more than once.

>>4701
Sadly, not 'round here it isn't. It's still dry as a bone.

Today's haul.

I measured the big parasol this time. 9.5" at broadest. Unfortunately it's a little past its best, but still edible. Apparently they can grow up to 40cm across (!) so it's not as big as I thought.

Shaggy inkcaps in the middle. There's some confusion about these - some people think they make you sick if eaten with alcohol. This is only the case for the normal inkcap, and the distinction between the two is as visually obvious as the name suggests.

Field mushrooms on the right. No maggots this time.

>>4763
They look lovely.

>>4763
Looking good.

4703 here: things are looking up here at last - the local downland is producing fine crops of Fairy Ring, Parasol and Field shrooms. I love this time of year.

On a trip to Wales I feasted on boletes day after day. Beautiful.

It is a shame I don't eat mushrooms at all. They seem a huge source of food if you live near fields.

>>4785

I feel the same. People are so enthusiastic about them it makes me wish I enjoyed them more.

>>4763
Never really fancied the parasols much, Do they taste nice?
Also I wouldn't eat a Shaggy inkcap, they just seem too soggy.
I've found a nice patch near me where I have found a few boletus edulis. Here's one I ate earlier.

>>4789
Yes. The parasol is truly very nice; I couldn't comment on other members of the group.

>>4789
Parasols are lovely.

I try not to be too picky - not everything is as tasty as a Penny Bun, but that's no reason not to eat it, you just have to be a little more creative with 'em. Deep fried battered parasols are lush and mushroom pate (made with garlic and cream cheese) is a great way to liven up even the plainest of shrooms.


>>4785 >>4788

Why don't you like them? Perhaps you've just never had them cooked properly? They really are a very tasty way to get your protein.

>Never really fancied the parasols much, Do they taste nice?
Lovely. Toss the stem though.

>Also I wouldn't eat a Shaggy inkcap, they just seem too soggy.
You need to get them before they go inky. This necessitates picking them perhaps before you'd think they're sizeable enough to be ready; either way, they should be white inside. Then they're delicious - nice than field mushrooms or parasols in my opinion.

>I've found a nice patch near me where I have found a few boletus edulis. Here's one I ate earlier.
Nice one. Found some Larch boletes the other day. They've been dried for flavouring (soup stock etc).

>>4794

>Why don't you like them?

For me, it's the texture. Something about the fact that it's a fungus puts me off. I really don't know why, I'm not a picky eater by any stretch, I can stomach anything from fish eyes to snails to Cheesestrings but for some reason a big chunk of mushroom knocks me sick. I'm aware of how delicious they are too, a mushroom soup free of floating bits is divine.

If I had more time on my hands I'd train myself to eat them. I know I'm missing out.

Today's haul, just showing off really.

>>4798
Tasty looking.

Personally, I'd've left the smaller two to shed their spores, and used a paper rather than plastic bag. (But I'm just jealous, really).

You sure about that one in the bottom left?

Remember that one of the main reasons to let mushrooms grow before picking them is accurate identification.

>used a paper rather than plastic bag.
I've been told that a wooden basket is best but nobody's ever been able to explain any logic behind this. I just use plastic bags.

>>4800
Paper is better than plastic because it lets the shrooms get some air.

Baskets are better than paper because it allows the spores to fall out - so as you walk you help distribute and propagate the species.

The spore thing makes sense but I'm not convinced that staying damp is a terrible thing for a mushroom, and it's not like a Morrisons bag is airtight anyway.

>>4800

Pretty much what >>4801 + plastic causes mushrooms to "sweat", it's why supermarkets provide paperbags for mushrooms.

Found some of these today, commonly called the hedgehog mushroom. Easily identified by it's spines on the underside, hence the name. Really delicious, I can highly recommend.

>>4876
Mmm... have always fancied one of these, but never found one.

On a recent trip we came back with bay, cep, red foot, and ruby boletes plus deceivers, parasols and charcoal burners. What a feast. Just bloody yum.

>>4880
Nice. A medley is the way to go. Here's another first one for me. The Wood Cauliflower, looks nasty so I was dubious but was just gawjus, deep mushroomy flavour and had the texture of al-dente pasta.
This season has been excellent.

>>4876
>>4880
>>4883
Good hauls all round, by the sound of it, especially you, 4880, though I hope you were careful identifying the deceiver.

My last expedition came up with yet more huge parasols (my main spot has had so many of these over the last few weeks that I've had to leave lots of them to rot, which hurts, but there's only so many dishes a man can cook from the same thing before boredom strikes the palette) and a couple of unknown collections, one of which was "poisonous" and the other "deadly poisonous".

I'm going to find the time to visit a common next week where I've found various hygrocybes (mostly meadow wax caps and scarlet wax caps) in insane quantities in years past. Wish me luck.

Found all these with my dad today, after he spotted some in the location a day or so earlier. He'd never managed to find Chanterelles before, so it was quite a happy moment.

Also some Saffron milk caps which were just eaten, very tasty.

>>4896
Delicious - how did you cook the chanterelles?

The existence of this thread hurts me. I wish to declare my HATE for all participants.

>>4902
I too, used to be disgusted by mushrooms. Then I grew up!

>>4902
But mushrooms will save the world!

https://www.youtube.com/v/XI5frPV58tY

>>4900
In a parsley sauce.

Hunting for more today.

I met this fellow recently, but photographed it rather than acquiring it. The others I met (chanterelles, hedgehogs and a cauliflower) I acquired rather than photographed, but I am going out tomorrow and shall hopefully return with photos as well as a meal or two.

>>4907 I ran across this the other day? What is it? All I know is that it looks like a toadstool but isn't.

>>4915

Looks like a fly agaric.

>>4917
Yes, it is A. Muscaria.
Here is some of what I met yesterday. The purple corts are said to be edible, but not particularly tasty. The Amanita on the lower right is also known as DEATH CAP, not sure how it tastes. They say that A. Muscaria is actually quite good if it is first detoxified, has anyone tried this?

>The Amanita on the lower right is also known as DEATH CAP, not sure how it tastes.
A joke in poor taste, if you don't mind my saying.

>They say that A. Muscaria is actually quite good if it is first detoxified, has anyone tried this?
My parents say that the closest they ever saw of anyone actually turning green was when some friends of theirs tried fly agaric. Suffice to say it did not go down well.

>>4920
Cortinarius Iodes doesn't grow in the the UK (I'm assuming you are in the UK). I'd be careful with any Cortinarius species as many are poisonous.

>>4924
You are very knowledgeable in this category.
I am not in the UK.
Please don't shun me.

>>4876
4880 here. I found some! Absolutely delicious. Made hedgehog pancakes with chive butter. Nomnomnom.

Also came across a whole load of white saddles (pic), but didn't fancy them much, although I believe they're prized in oriental cooking.

Although I stand by my hatred for all things fungi, this one does amaze me

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/plants/news-gruesome-bleeding-mushrooms

sage for FUCKING MUSHROOMS

>>4921

I've had Fly Agaric mushrooms, and they made the walls pulse. The hippies who introduced me to them seethed (yes, 'seethed') them in milk, threw away the milk, rinsed them and plopped them into a teapot.

I didn't get at all sick.

>>4951
Nice one mate. Still finding Ceps but must be near end of season for them, pic related
>>4953
Mushrooms are wonderful, Aren't they?
>>4954
Sounds legit.

>>4953
yes, that i certainly unappealing, in a horror film kind of way, but at least it doesn't look like a penis the way some young boletes do.

>>4954
I was told to do the same thing with my cauliflower mushroom, except for the part about throwing away the milk. my book said pour how milk over it and let it sit an hour before cooking it. I made the milk into a cream sauce and poured it over my s. crispa omelet.
>>4955
beautiful, i am jealous. i found a lobster weighing a full kilogram on wednesday

I found a nice, big Trooping Funnel yesterday (I would've photographed it but I was hungry). I found some last year and thought they were absolutely delicious, and after this last one I'd have to say that they're the tastiest wild mushroom I've eaten. They're certainly the nicest of the dozen or so edible species I've enjoyed this year.

https://www.youtube.com/v/iIyfEMAMn4Q shrooms you say

frog bolete

also found these little ones
they're not really food, but still highly sought after

>>5097
Are those psilocybe cyanescens?

>>5108
you are correct.

>>5097

They can be used as food. I'm sure they have nutritious potential as well, and they have a distinctive flavour.

Are they this year's?

>>5109
indeed.
Care to tell us when and where (habitat etc not precise location) you found them?
Its one that's been on my 'hitlist' for a few years. Interesting species that seem, by all accounts, to be taking a foothold in the UK.

>>5123
the habitat in question is a public park in a posh neighborhood where children play and families picnic, just at the edge of landscaping mulch under a pair of medium sized as yet unidentified conifers. penny-bun thrives in this park as well, so do amanitas phalloides and pantherina. my guess is that, of the lot, pantherina is the one most likely to get eaten.

>>5120
yes, this years, i've been collecting them and giving them away to pretty much anyone who wants them, or i have been, the fruiting rate has dropped of the a very slow pace lately.
i feel just like a satyr, sans fur, its quite a thrill. the boletes i keep for myself.

Alright, my apologies for coming late to the party.

How do so many of you know what all these kinds of mushrooms (fungi, if that's the correct term) are?

I still have this childhood fear of, "OH NO, don't eat that; it's a toad-stool, and that shit'll kill you." so I've never really experienced mushrooms past what the local Tesco/Markets sell.

Any resource would be much appreciated, or the recommendation of a good book.

Hope they were all enjoyable, and thanks for the tips about oil/butter combo, and how to best consume.

As you were.

>>5165
The bible is Roger Phillips' "Mushrooms" which is as comprehensive a tome as you will ever need. It's a little challenging -frustratingly, he often uses highly specific words but doesn't bother to include them in the glossary- but if you want to identify a random British mushroom you will do so with this book. Get the latest edition if possible, though it's worth mentioning that older editions include a step-by-step identification guide (I assume it was removed on account of being teeth-gratingly difficult to use).

I have a few other books but almost never use them - if I'm in doubt after identification I go online and check out my suspicions.

Don't buy a foreign book, and don't assume any book on British mushrooms applies when you're abroad. Case in point, the parasol mushroom - these are commonly found both here and in the States, but there's a nearly identical species over there that causes fairly serious gastric upsets (they can only be told apart by spore prints).

>>5165
as well as acquiring the appropriate text, going out on a hunt with someone that is in the know is a very valuable learning experience for a person new to the sport.

>>5166
>>5168
Excellent, thank you for the advice, I'll get hunting for that book now.

I'll see if I can't find someone who regularly goes picking for them, and see if I might tag along. My hopes are too high where I live though.

I think even if I checked, double checked and checked again I'd still be to scared of eating them, especially if I'd been picking alone.

I wonder if, similar to that 'what pill did I just find on the floor' app, there's a similar one for shrooms? That'd be nice.

>I wonder if, similar to that 'what pill did I just find on the floor' app, there's a similar one for shrooms? That'd be nice.
There are various such guides, but they vary. The ones I've seen online and in free pamphlets with a newspaper etc are typically extremely limited in scope, usually just a handful of the main easily identified species. The other extreme is the one I mentioned in older editions of Phillips' book where really you need a microscope and slides to assess the colour/size of spores to make a positive identification. Usually I can't be fucked.

>>5171
>I wonder if, similar to that 'what pill did I just find on the floor' app, there's a similar one for shrooms?

There is a Phillip's mushrooms app for the iphone.
http://www.appstorehq.com/wildmushroomsofnorthamericaandeuropebyrogerphillips-iphone-229742/app

You're a bit late in the year now though mate.

>>5171

>'what pill did I just find on the floor' app

What is this app called exactly? Purely for curiosity's sake, you understand.

Hello again, chaps.

St George's day has come and gone, and it's just been too dry here: anyone had any joy finding our national hero?

I went on a delightful stroll around Castle Combe yesterday, and found this. Is it a fungus? Is it edible?

>>6037 Unfortunately not. Had a quick look around last week but like you say, far too hot and dry.

>>6038
Looks like a morel, if it is then it is indeed edible, highly desirable in fact.

>>6038
>>6040 is right - that looks like a delicious morel. Poisonous when raw, mind, so be warned, but very tasty cooked. A good spot. The only worthwhile spring 'shrooms, other than St George.

>>6041
They're not so much poisonous raw as they are upsetting to the stomach. I don't like to see the term "poisonous" thrown around so liberally because a lot of people are put off of mushrooming because of fear of poisoning. A good number of the most sought after mushrooms will give one an unhappy tummy if they're eaten raw, but that doesn't make them poisonous. A potato needs to be cooked to be eaten also.
Amanita phalloides is poisonous.

The season dictates that this topic need to reappear on the front page of this board. People who live near me claim to be finding penny buns (in France they call them "ceps") currently. Other rare & delicious morsels are bound to be popping out of the ground in the coming weeks and months. I personally aim to find some agaricus augustus, which I have never tasted, but have read wonderful things about.

>>6038

That reminds me of "The Nipple". Awful picture.

>>6554
Morels and lotus root are both delicious. Now I'm wondering how they would be together, probably great, maybe even better with some Maasdam or Jarlsberg.

Has anyone else found anything nice yet this year?

>>6548

Looks like she's holding a big willy. Fungi are far too phallic for my delicate eyes.

>>6814
It is in fact a big willy, not a fungus.

>>6811
yes.

Best thread on /nom/.
I went to pick shrooms with my grandparents alot when i was a kid and wanted to pick that up this autumn, then lost my drivers license and the only place for shrooms within footwalk is my fridge ;_;
Pic is of some non- edible i took when cheking out the woods some weeks ago.

>>6863
Those look interesting but I have no Idea what they are. From what I can see the gills looks decurrent which could suggest some sort of cantharellus. I'll have a search through my books and see what i can come up with.

>>6863
>>6870
Velvet roll-rim (Tapinella atrotomentosa)

>>6872
I disagree for a number of reasons, the most convincing of which is that I met a large collection of velvet roll rims last weekend and the ones in that photo certainly do not look like what you say they are (clubbed gills, lack of velvet, etc.). I was going to put forth a guess of gilled boletes, but that doesn't really look right to me either and I hate to guess that something is a delicious edible and then turn out to be wrong (even if its not me doing the eating), although the slugs seem to like those ones,

>>6842
that is a beautiful collection, especially the penny buns. i've never had that dark topped chanterelle variety.
what are they like?

>>6885
Very nice. Not as fruity smelling as the yellow variety, but similar taste. Also they grow in abundance (this was less then half of my total haul) so make a good meal. First time I've found them, but really pleased, because as you know, Once you find a good spot it can reward you for years.

Cooked this up a couple of months back. Mixture of different boletus cooked in white wine and butter. Fuck, it was tasty...

>Once you find a good spot it can reward you for years.
It really is the key for successful mushroom hunting - find a spot and remember it.

Anyway, OP here, it was quite nice to see this thread bumped, so thank you >>7216. I've been away for a year or so; attached is this season's best find, more giant puffballs. I found out that giant puffballs have a surprising longevity if kept in the fridge, I think it was finally polished off two weeks later and still fine.

Not a great mushroom year for me otherwise, though. That weird hot spell at the start of October seemed to confuse the shit out of the shrooms in my patches, I came back empty-handed several times despite hitting all the best spots. Seems like the rest of you did alright, >>6842 especially. What a fucking catch, that must've been a delight.

Is this thread still here? I don't really like mushrooms and I've always found it odd. They don't seem to taste of anything, they're like tofu.

>>7219
If you mean the mushrooms in Tesco then you're right. Wild mushrooms have a wide range of flavours. Some are great just fried, some are better used in soups or in baked recipes, some can be dried for later use in stock or as flavouring for other dishes. And finding them is half the fun.

Sorry the thread doesn't interest you, anyway.

>>7220
Oh I see. No, I've never had wild mushrooms to my knowledge. Can I only acquire them by foraging?

>>7216
That looks good. Shame about the soggy looking slice of white bread. Could you not have at least toasted it?

>>7222
You might get lucky and find someone selling fresh wild mushrooms at a farmers market or something, but obviously that would be during the season. I've heard it's not uncommon in some parts of Europe but I don't recall ever seeing anyone selling genuine wild mushrooms in a shop unless they were dried (and ridiculously expensive). The gourmet fresh mushrooms you get in supermarkets (oyster mushrooms etc) are pretty unremarkable.

Foraging is good fun though, honest. Going for really long walks in the countryside isn't really my thing but add a proper purpose and I'm there.

>>7225

>Going for really long walks in the countryside isn't really my thing but add a proper purpose and I'm there.

A thousand times this. We should all meet up and go on a /nom/ ramble next autumn.

>>7226
If you think I'm divulging my prime fungus locations, then you have another thing coming lad.

>>7225

> Going for really long walks in the countryside isn't really my thing but add a proper purpose and I'm there.

This. The only time I ever go there is to look for Magic Mushrooms.

>>7227

>prime fungus locations

We're not going to plunder your fungus, lad.

>>7227
I read a book which said that you shouldn't ask people where they find their mushrooms. Seems a little uptight to me, I'm always happy to take people along if they're interested (they aren't, as a rule), but apparently that's the etiquette and I guess I can kind of see it.

>>4633
>(It's five or six inches in diameter, in case the scale isn't obvious.)
That's the caption of my Okcupid profile picture.

>>7227
No, we should go to a virgin location.

>>7236
>you shouldn't ask people where they find their mushrooms. Seems a little uptight to me

its because there is a good chance they will lie to you so as preserve their secret and since you're not likely to be able to tell if they're fibbing, asking is somewhat pointless. its not really etiquette, its something more like conversational efficiency.

>>7314
Poor little bolete.

Anyway, I think you're wrong. Most people don't live assuming every conversational exchange of data among friends enjoying a hobby is mired in potential deceit, so it is genuinely an issue of etiquette. I wouldn't ask if I didn't trust the person, anyway.

I have never discovered any problems with that sort of etiquette. But then I only talk to people with a passing interest in free food rather than those who identify themselves as foragers or whatever.

Stumbled upon this recently: http://mycorant.com/

>>7319
Have you ever met anyone who identified themselves as a "forager"? I didn't realise that was a thing that people did.

I found Morels! You have no idea how happy this makes me.

>>7945
Well done. They're a lot bigger in the ground than I thought.

>>7946
Yes, much bigger than I expected. Delicious, too. A little oil, a little butter, a little salt, fry... luscious.

>>7945
Whereabouts do you go foraging to find such desirable mushrooms as these? I'm stuck in the middle of the city and can't help but think that makes it rather unlikely I'll find anything of use in this urban mess.

>>7948
Yeah - the countryside.

Although, morels in particular do have a reputation for having adapted well to urban life and having a penchant for bark-mulch. Think allotments, gardens, parks, rose-beds and so on.

>>7945
Super! I'd love to find some Morels, but haven't really had the time to go looking. I did see lots of St.Georges this week though.

>>7945
I think I have a good idea how happy it makes you as I found two fairly recently. Congratulations.

>>7948
The pair I picked were at the interface between the edge of a gravel path and the ground in a fairly urban public park and it was under coniferous trees.

found a lovely 10+ foot ring of St George's last night. Very pleased.

>>7978
> the interface
This is good advice. 'Shrooms are creatures of the margins, of the boundaries.

A peculiar year of mushrooms so far. Caught the first few George's in June, which is a bit late, and a sizeable bounty of field mushrooms at the same time, which is too early. All confused by the year's weather, apparently? Delicious all the same.

Whoa, is this thread nearly two years old? You guys fucking love your mushrooms.

I'm reasonably confident that my Gran's front garden grows magic mushrooms. They always sprout around August - September and they look pretty typical of what you'd expect them to look like.

I've never picked them through fear of death, but I was wondering if someone could take a guess at what they might be.

>>8289

Take a picture next time you see them, but nothing else looks much like the liberty cap. Just make sure they have the "nipple" on top.

>>8290
Indeed there's little to confuse a liberty cap with, and nothing poisonous. Photos would be welcome, though.

There are actually loads of other psilocybes in the UK (I found out that half a dozen different ones have been observed in my home county) but the rest aren't really common and aren't so easily identified. My dad did find some of another variety and gave them to me but I never had the nerve to try them, as there's no way of knowing how strong they are.

>'Shrooms are creatures of the margins, of the boundaries.
Maybe so, but one of my most memorable mushroom-picking experiences was an open meadow full of field mushrooms. A mate and I filled a couple of carrier bags full of them and the field still looked pretty much untouched. They weren't hiding at the boundaries that day.

>>8306

I hereby volunteer to test your mystery mushrooms.

>>8306
I guess thats why they call thern field mushrooms XD

>>8338

It is species dependent. Some Fungi, indeed grow in the margins and on woodland paths, Whereas some are happier in the middle of pastures and lawns. Some Fungi even grow on trees! To say that Mushrooms are creatures of boundaries is a sweeping generalisation and quite incorrect.

So has anyone had any luck lately? Absolutely shit-all for me for months now. My dad found one fieldy a few weeks back but that's been it.

It's this weird weather I reckon.

>>4633

Did you grow it in the kitchen bro ?

>>8515
Yes, he grew it in the kitchen. Go back to sleep now.

Thought you might like this /nom/. Found about a dozen of them, took four to eat. Lovely lovely. Very subtle flavour, not punchy like a cep or fragrant like a chanterelle, but really tasty.

>>9280

Oh my.

Congratulations.

>>4920

Umm, they ate death caps in the film Shrooms and it didn't end well.

>>9282

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiction

>>9283

Sweet. If eating death caps doesn't mean that gentleman's coming after me then I'll go and eat some right now.

>>9283
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-22470470

>>9285

Curses. If only I had google in my house.

>>9280
I am deeply jealous.

>>9285

Then why bring up the film?

>>9288
I didn't. Must've been the Other Chap.

>>9289

I don't know. I just thought it sounded kind of fun to eat a death cap then get chased around by a zombie paedophile monk.

>>9289

Then why bring up the news as though it's relevant to the film?

>>9292

I didn't but someone was just pointing out death caps are highly poisonous in real life.

>>9293

No one is poisoned by mushrooms in the film.

>>9294

but she takes one and goes psychotic and kills all of her friends

That wasn't exactly a desirable side-effect.

>>9295

It still has absolutely nothing to do with reality.

>>9296

but that was the joke and why someone linked the wikipedia article on fiction after.

>>9297

... Yes.

>>9280
Nice :)
>>9285
I have no sympathy for this woman. You really must be some special kind of idiot to merrily go and add an otherwise unidentified mushroom from your garden to a can of soup. It's amazing how this dopey mare got to the age of 57 without fatally injuring herself knitting or something.

>>9339
It's probably not quite as daft as it sounds. Death caps look remarkably like field or horse mushrooms - anyone only taught to identify one or two edible mushrooms as a youngster may get blasé about it over time and can get caught out alarmingly easily. This is why it is essential for anyone foraging for mushrooms as food to learn the deadly poisonous varieties as well as the tasty ones.

Young death caps are also apparently indistinguishable from smaller varieties of puffball (even to experts), which is why mycologists advise people not to eat the latter.

Add to all this numerous folk tales for identifying poisonous mushrooms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom_poisoning#Folk_traditions) that are all dangerously inaccurate and you're on your way to understanding why hundreds of people die from death caps each year.

>>9280
At the risk of sounding smug, it's me again, this time with a haul of St George's, almost exactly a month late. As always, I've taken less than a third of what I found. I love spring. Can't wait for breakfast.

>>9349
You bastard. My single spot for Georgies has produced nothing. Morels on top.

Horribly jealous.

What did you cook?

>>9350
Decided to save them 'til Friday night as there's more than I thought - we have some friends coming for dinner, will probably just fry them in a little butter, oil and salt and serve on toast as a starter.

Can mushrooms be frozen without ruining texture or flavour?

>>9352
Not really. Some mushrooms respond well to being dried, the rest need eating fresh for best results.

Mushrooms already cooked into other dishes don't suffer much from freezing, but then you've diluted much of the texture/flavour there already.

>>9420
Beautiful!

>>9913
A wild Jigglypuff appears!

So how's everyone else doing this season? It's been a bit too dry around my parts but I'm still hopeful, I heard report of chanterelles in some woods nearby so I'll be heading out to check that as soon as this fucking cold clears up.

I just got back from Iceland (the country not the shop) and there were shaggy inkcaps everywhere around Reykjavik, more than I've seen in a lifetime back home.

>>9919

All I've found this year are a pretty sizeable clump of Destroying Angels.

>>9919
Chanterelles as predicted (a little past their best, they don't appear to have liked the hot weather over the last few days) - eaten on toast, lovely.

There were a few amanita muscaria too, would've snapped a photo but forgot my camera.

Didn't forget this time.

>>9929
Pretty! It'd be lovely if you could take more location shots like this, there's something nicer about taking a photo before you pick them in their natural environment than of them in a Co-Op bag.

>>9930
I agree. I'll try to do so in future.

Baby shaggy parasol. It was all on its own.

>>9932
What a fantastic name. I think you probably agree with me that mushrooms are really very cute. I think I can see how mycologists get into it.

Porcelain fungus, again just the one. I'd seen these before, they're always amazing to look at - they've got this really glassy thing going on. I'd never bothered checking identification, I figured they're too small to be worth the effort and the brilliant-white colouration sets off alarm bells, but apparently they're edible and reasonably tasty.

>>9933
Mushrooms can be quite cute, yeah. As a counterpoint, boletes are generally pretty manky.

In terms of "getting into it", the primary motivation for me is the meal at the end, though really the chase is as much fun as the catch - it's a perfect excuse to go traipsing around the wilderness for a few hours. I'm still picking pine needles out of my hair.

Found some honey mushrooms; no photo as the camera was out of batteries, they're a pretty regular sight in most places anyway apparently. I wouldn't mention it except that digging around for details I came across this article:
>http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=strange-but-true-largest-organism-is-fungus

Here's a little snippet:
>The discovery of this giant Armillaria ostoyae in 1998 heralded a new record holder for the title of the world's largest known organism, believed by most to be the 110-foot- (33.5-meter-) long, 200-ton blue whale. Based on its current growth rate, the fungus is estimated to be 2,400 years old but could be as ancient as 8,650 years, which would earn it a place among the oldest living organisms as well.

Interesting stuff.

>>9961
https://www.youtube.com/v/vWAA-SrrFUQ

A collection from a recent forage. Nom.

>>9963
Marvellous.

I've made a real effort to go hunting in and around woodlands rather than fields and commons this year in the hope of finding some ceps, or boletes in general, but haven't had much luck. I found the attached earlier today, obviously past it but a little over 20cm in diameter and quite a sight anyway.

I believe this is a panther cap. Roger Phillips says it's poisonous and possibly deadly, wikipedia mentions dangerous levels of muscimol, like fly agaric but in greater concentration. Despite this there is a trip report on Erowid from one intrepid space cadet, although it's not exactly a glowing endorsement; it contains the following gem:
>I certainly would not consider it a good experience, it was rather the most horrific day of my entire life.

>>9966
Aha, you don't bloody say. Fantastic photo for a nice 'get' too. Keep them coming, chaps, and if you're ever in the West Mids and fancy taking me out to hunt for psilocybes do ring.

>>9966

Panther caps aren't normally deadly, unless you are of bad health in the first place and consume noteworthy amounts.

Poisonings should be rare though. The only edible lookalike of any relevance is the Blusher (Amanita Rubescens), but as it is quite bland and unremarkable in taste, few people even pick them, although they tend to appear in greater numbers wherever you find them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blusher

I once came home with a whole wicker basket full of blushers and couldn't believe my luck, but once I had cooked/fried some of them and tasted them, they really tasted a bit meh... I think I ended up throwing the rest of them in the bin. These days, I only pick boletes. Even the most second-rate variety of edible boletes will still taste better than most gilled mushrooms.

>>9969
>Even the most second-rate variety of edible boletes will still taste better than most gilled mushrooms.
Interesting coincidence, I came home with a suede bolete the other day but didn't end up eating it after reading reports of how bland they are. It is also apparently known as the "boring brown bolete" which a name too amusing not to share.

>>9970

yes, if you've ever had bay bolete or porcino bolete, those two are the cream of the crop among boletes and everything else will just taste disappointing thereafter.

That said, the suede bolete really isn't that bad. My own experience is that it has still got a good hearty bolete flavour. If mixed with other mushroom varieties, it still makes a good dinner.

my experience with lesser boletes is that although they can be bland when cooked fresh, if you dry them they become quite excellent. especially if powered and used as a base for soups and sauces.

>>9972

yes, mushrooms generally seem to gain flavour when you dry them.

Shiitake mushrooms, for example. The M&S around the corner from where I live often has fresh Shiitake, but I have tried them and they were quite bland. Then one time I bought a bag of dried shiitake mushrooms from a Chinese supermarket, and they were incredibly tasty. That's where I often buy them now. They are also much cheaper there, M&S wants close to £7 for one punnet of bland fresh Shiitake mushrooms, whereas a small bag with twice as much dried Shiitake at the Chinese supermarket is only £ 2.50.

Just fried up yesterday's haul of Fairy Rings in butter and olive oil with a little salt and garlic, served on toast for brunch. Fucking lush, lads.

>>9973
cultivated wood growing mushrooms are frequently cultivated on substrates other than wood, straw is commonly used. when cultivated this way the end product is a much blander mushroom. i collect pleurotus (oysters) in the wild, but don't purchase them for this reason.

>>9974
what is the key to positively identifying them? i'm fairly certain i've found them before, but their appliance is so boring and variable that i'm never confident enough to collect them for the table which kind of irks me as my books say wonderful things about them.

>>9975
I know what you mean, they're dubious little buggers, and there's a lot of room for mistakes. For me it's:

* Gills not meeting the stem (this is crucial!)
* Gills forked
* Gills widely spaced
* Stem fibrous and flexible

This is quite a good overview: http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Mushrooms.Folder/Fairy%20Ring%20Mushroom.html

>>9975
Oh, and I completely agree about cultivated mushrooms. Bland, bland, bland.

>>9976
The article mentions that they're good for drying, it's spot on. My dad collects and keeps them specifically for use when there's no fresh ones going.

And yeah, I've never tasted a cultivated mushroom that was anything other than bland and unremarkable. It's the reason a lot of people say they don't like mushrooms, and it's a shame.

>>9978
> I've never tasted a cultivated mushroom that was anything other than bland and unremarkable

I have.
Wood growing mushrooms that are cultivated on their natural substrate (wood) are every bit as good as their natural counterparts, however you won't find many mushrooms like this for sale commercially as cultivation on lesser substrates is more cost effective. I happen to be a big fans of the common grocery store agaricus as well, it can be excellent if you put the effort into preparing it in a pleasing manner.

>>9977

It's not unlike tomatoes. They are often grown industrially on rock wool substrate inside huge greenhouses that are bigger than two or three football pitches. You can grow tomatoes at the cost of just a few p. per tomato like this, but they simply pale in comparison to homegrown tomatoes. Lately the industry has managed to come up with new cultivars that have notable flavour despite being grown this way, but it's still not the same.

My nan and my granddad always used to grow copious amounts of tomatoes in their allotment, on natural soil, and they were just very yummy. And that was in Norwich, where the weather is often shit the whole summer.

>>9979
>I happen to be a big fans of the common grocery store agaricus as well, it can be excellent if you put the effort into preparing it in a pleasing manner.
Maybe I'm just unimaginative. Could you post a recipe or two, in /nom/ maybe? Honestly curious to hear what you do with them that elevates them anything beyond merely "acceptable".

>>9981

I'm not >>9979, but I've got a recipe:

Cream of Mushroom Soup with Agaricus (Button) Mushrooms (or any other kind of mushroom really)

- one midsized onion,
- one midsized shallot
- 250-300 gr of agaricus mushrooms, preferably the brown skinned kind (just for looks, they do taste just like white ones)
- butter
- kitchen herbs
- garlic
- salt
- pepper
- vegetable stock/soup cube
- wheat flour
- 1 cup of double cream
- 1 tablespoon of cheese spread (not Philadelphia)
- dry white wine
- a dash of red wine
- about 1 1/2 teaspoons of triple concentrated tomato paste


Caramelize the diced or sliced onion in a frying pan at medium heat with butter and a dusting of salt. Then douse with white wine, add herbs, a little bit of water and vegetable stock, throw in the sliced shallot, and leave to simmer under a lid.

Next, in a pot, make a roux from melted butter and flour, and gradually and with a lot of stirring (with an egg beater) add about a pint of water and two or three tablespoons of flour, and keep stirring vividly. Also already add the tomato paste and stir well. Try to achieve a "thick" consistency without it becoming too much like a sauce.

When the onions and shallots in the frying pan are cooked soft, turn up the heat and put in the sliced mushrooms. Sear the mushrooms briefly and stir well, then turn down the heat again, put the lid back on and once more leave to simmer.

When the mushrooms are done, pour the frying pan's contents into the pot with your roux, stir gently, then add more white wine, a bit of red wine, more kitchen herbs, some salt, pepper and garlic, vegetable stock, and the cheese spread and double cream. Stir again gently, then leave on the stove at low heat (if you have an electric stove, leave the pot on the turned off plate).

Allow about 45 minutes to an hour for all the flavours to mix and "smooth out", then serve with a sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese as well as a few slices of buttered bread :-)

>>9982
That sounds delicious and I've saved it for later use, but I'm not sure it would showcase much of anything about the cultured agaricus. (I had actually forgotten this thread was already in /nom/ when I requested recipes, which is embarrassing, not least because I started it and included the words "nom" in the OP.)

My camera has been messing me around consuming batteries randomly so my last few forays have gone mostly undocumented. I snapped this yesterday just before it keeled over, a mere two photos on new batteries before telling me it was out of juice, fuck knows what it's playing at. Anyway, it is a Stinkhorn, doing its thing and stinking like something died. Apparently edible when young but you'd have to be pretty desperate. One of the things I really like about mushrooms is the alien-like geometric shapes and patterns you sometimes find in them, both the stem and the head of the stinkhorn have interesting patterns when you get up close (a bolete's pores can be stunning too, I'll try and photograph a closeup one of these days).

>>10008
>Anyway, it is a Stinkhorn, doing its thing and stinking like something died. Apparently edible when young but you'd have to be pretty desperate.

In some parts of central Europe, they are picked and eaten boiled before they break out of their shell and "hatch". They are known as Devil's or Witches Eggs in the Netherlands and Germany.

Rumoured to taste not unlike pickled eggs.

Oh yes, and my granddad is German and also knows a bit about mushrooms, he told me once that the Stinkhorn is also called the Corpse Finger in German... mediaeval superstition saw them as the index fingers of the dead, who had raised them out of their graves to warn the living to stop sinning.

The smell probably helped bring this superstition about... they do smell rank, don't they...

>>9981
i am that person and my own findings over a decade of unreasonable enthusiasm for fungus is that the common grocery store agaricus is quite flavourful, however it is - like almost all of mushrooms - a very, very large fraction water, so when i cook the common button i cook them for a very long time which allows them to sweat out enough of their water and become a lot less bland. i've read about people drying them out completely and the rehydrating them using sauces, marinades, etc., but i haven't gone that far. i use a lot of them, a full kilogram is a good start. i slice them in a food processor and then put them in my frying pan and let them cook, initially covered and with no oil. after about 10 minutes i remove the top and continue to cook them for quite a long time. it doesn't take long after you've started before they're swimming in their own fluids and as the juices evaporate the mushrooms darken. when it seems like all the free moisture is evaporated, keep cooking them, let some of them burn or darken a little. i think salt might help draw the moisture out more quickly, not sure about that, they need some salt, though. anyway, after a while you'll have a small mass of well cooked, delicious regular mushrooms. it won't look like anything next to what you started with, but you'll have cooked mushrooms that taste as good and as strongly as most of the good wild varieties.

>>10010
Interesting, and worth knowing, thanks. I've never used a food processor to slice mushrooms (mine would just blitz them into bits), do you have an attachment specifically for that?

Attached is this afternoon's haul (with apologies to >>9930, camera problems again). These are trooping funnels. I was quite excited to find them as in the past I've found them to be absolutely delicious, amongst the best I've ever had, but this lot were watery and tasteless. A disappointment.

>>10012

>trooping funnels

Interesting.

I think I saw mushrooms just like those the other week in the forest where I forage, but I was afraid to pick and eat them because I had no idea what they were. There were loads of them all in one place, easily enough for a fry up to feed three people.

But as they say, better safe than sorry. Too many poisonous mushrooms out there... no fry up is worth risking your life for.

>>10013
What were you looking for?

>>10014

I'd like to meet and eat wild mushrooms gathered by a lady, probably fried with wild garlic and butter churned by her hand. Where I live, it could probably happen one day. Thing is, I'm not too clued up on wild food, what mushrooms would I get in wild garlic season? I live near a wood that stinks of wild garlic in season - I see tons of mushrooms on my walks but I don't pick them cos I don't want to grow up looking like a wode covered Gandalf or found dead coverd in mushroom sick. Mushroom picking guidance please anons.

>>10014

I was looking for boletes actually, and mainly King Boletes. There is an area where I live (near the Lake District) where I have been lucky enough to find plenty of bay and king boletes in recent years. It's a remote spot that is well away from any roads, and it's about a ten minute walk through dense underwood from the nearest place where you can leave your car.

Well anyway, I don't really know much about gilled mushrooms, and to me most boletes taste better anyway, so I've never really bothered with them. If they were trooping funnels and therefore edible, then maybe I passed up a good dinner... but again, to me the first rule of mushroom hunting has always been to not pick mushrooms that you don't know 100 percent.

>>10015
Ideally you want to go out with someone who knows what they're doing. Failing that, pick a couple and post pictures here. We probably won't ever be able to give you 100% certainty from that alone, but we can point you in the right direction for your own identification, and it'd be fun anyway.

>to me the first rule of mushroom hunting has always been to not pick mushrooms that you don't know 100 percent
How will you ever know what they are if you don't pick them?

I'm teasing, but honestly that is an interesting contrast. I tend to pick anything that seems promisingly edible, identification is part of the learning process for me.

>>10019
>I tend to pick anything that seems promisingly edible

To the untrained enough eye though, even the Destroying Angel can look like it's "promisingly edible".

I've got a big guide book about mushrooms here that I often take with me when I am out. And if I can't identify a mushroom on the spot, not even with the help of my book, then I leave it and don't even put it in my basket in the first place. Once you've got them in your basket, there is a chance when you do identify them as poisonous that you overlook one or two when you throw them back out of your basket. Especially immature mushrooms are often hard to tell apart. So as a safety precaution, only a mushroom that is "100 % approved" goes in my basket and then home with me.

It might sound a bit anal, but my nan's neighbours made the fatal mistake once of eating mushrooms that they didn't know for sure were edible. It wiped out their entire family of four. I kid you not.

>>10020
>To the untrained enough eye though, even the Destroying Angel can look like it's "promisingly edible".
I keep my mushrooms separated from each other when I pick them, so excepting the deadliest I'm not too worried about contamination (obviously that would change if I somehow ended up with a bag of death caps in there). I'd like to think that my understanding of mushrooms is sufficient at this point that "promisingly edible" counts for something, but the truth is that I'm still learning and with mushrooms there is an awful lot to learn.

>And if I can't identify a mushroom on the spot, not even with the help of my book, then I leave it and don't even put it in my basket in the first place.
For me at least, even with a book proper identification takes time. There's usually some caveat about bruising colouration or exposure to air over time that complicates instant identification.

I am definitely getting more conservative about what I pick, though. It used to be that I'd pick even the tiniest with a view to identifying when I got home, but these days I can't be arsed unless there's at least the potential for a meal at the end of it. I guess that's what I meant by "promisingly edible", thinking about it.

>>9929
Yeah boiiii

So these are apparently both poisonous and hallucinogenic? How much of a risk would you be taking to bite one?

I'm surprised none of you lads has written a book on this. You could call it "Never Mind The Boletes".

>>10022
>both poisonous and hallucinogenic?

yes, well you won't die from them unless you consume copious amounts, but you will feel the effects of what is known as muscarinic syndrome, named after the Fly Agaric's scientific name amanita muscaria. It includes dilated pupils, cold sweat, indigestion to the point of vomiting and diarrhoea, headache, hallucinations, shortness of breath and recurring overall panic attacks.

Said to be not such a pleasant high. And people of frail health have actually died from it.

>>10021

Like I said, it may seem overly cautious to not pick anything that I can't identify on the spot, but again, my grandma's neighbours, a family of four, were wiped out by deadly mushroom poisoning... I see their headstones everytime I visit my nan's grave... it always reminds me to be careful what mushrooms I pick. It's better to err on the side of caution and go home with an empty basket.

Fly Agaric need preparing - drying and heating, from memory. Doubtless Erowid and similar will have you covered if you're actually tempted, do some serious reading up beforehand though as apparently it can be a particularly unpleasant experience.

>Like I said, it may seem overly cautious to not pick anything that I can't identify on the spot, but again, my grandma's neighbours, a family of four, were wiped out by deadly mushroom poisoning... I see their headstones everytime I visit my nan's grave... it always reminds me to be careful what mushrooms I pick. It's better to err on the side of caution and go home with an empty basket.
I heard a similar story from our neighbour, a farmer. During the war a bunch of kids were sent from London out to stay with them in the middle of nowhere, and during their stay they enjoyed eating wild mushrooms. They went home, picked and ate mushrooms when they were out on a day trip without really knowing what they were doing, and the whole family died. I imagine it was death caps. For anyone who's thinking of getting into picking mushrooms, consider the attached: on the left are field mushrooms, common to most places, safe to eat, and delicious. On the right are death caps, I'll let wikipedia do the explaining:
>Death caps have been reported to taste pleasant. This, coupled with the delay in the appearance of symptoms—during which time internal organs are being severely, sometimes irreparably, damaged—makes it particularly dangerous. Initially, symptoms are gastrointestinal in nature and include colicky abdominal pain, with watery diarrhea and vomiting, which may lead to dehydration, and, in severe cases, hypotension, tachycardia, hypoglycemia, and acid–base disturbances. These first symptoms resolve two to three days after the ingestion. A more serious deterioration signifying liver involvement may then occur—jaundice, diarrhea, delirium, seizures, and coma due to fulminant hepatic failure and attendant hepatic encephalopathy caused by the accumulation of normally liver-removed substance in the blood. Renal failure (either secondary to severe hepatitis or caused by direct toxic renal damage) and coagulopathy may appear during this stage. Life-threatening complications include increased intracranial pressure, intracranial hemorrhage, pancreatitis, acute renal failure, and cardiac arrest. Death generally occurs six to sixteen days after the poisoning.
Now I don't know what a lot of that means but it sounds pretty fucking rough. All of which is to say, don't eat wild mushrooms if you haven't properly identified them, and if you're just starting out then learning to identify the deadly poisonous ones is probably a priority.

>>10025
I know you can prepare fly agaric, a website said the toxins are soluble in water so you just have to boil them and you're set. I just wonder if there's no way to remove the poison without removing the hallucinogenic too. To try and get magic mushrooms on the cheap sort of thing.