WriterByNature.com

May 10, 2008 7:15 pm

The more it rains, the larger the harvest. Today’s COMA walk yielded everything that last week’s walk produced, and several more treats.

The wild garlic and ramps are huge. So are the black morels, half-free morels, yellow morels, gray morels and tulip morels.

I was the host for this week’s walk, taking COMA members to one of my favorite trails. Now that the word is out about the abundant morel harvest, I expect this hike will become a popular new COMA walk.

My harvest basket also features oyster mushrooms, dryad’s saddles and tree ears.

No one went home empty-handed. I have enough to mushrooms for several days worth of main dishes. Does it get any better than this?

May 8, 2008 8:38 am

I’m not sure why the tree ear (Auricularia auricula) is considered edible and the black jelly roll (Exidia glandulosa) pictured below, is typically not.

But if COMA mentors Dianna Smith or Gary Lincoff say a mushroom is edible. I trust them.

I had to study this photo and compare it with the tree ear photos online to see the difference.

I added these to a home-made vegetable soup. The texture was fine and the flavor barely detectable.

From my point of view, there is a big difference between a mushroom that is boring, but edible and a mushroom that is toxic.

I finally found a tree ear to photograph:

I’m not sure I’d want to sit down to a plate full of Exidia glandulosa or Auricularia auricula, for that matter. But these jelly fungi are a pleasing addition to a slow-cooked soup.

May 4, 2008 6:40 pm

After an unusually hot, dry April, May has brought needed rain. Today’s COMA hike brought a harvest of morels that exceeded all of last year’s morel finds.

Typically the black morel fruits first, followed by the half-free morel (Morchella species) and the yellow morel arrives later. But everything is fruiting and blooming at the same time in the wild and in the garden.

Add ramps and wild garlic - and the meal is the best ever.

May 2, 2008 6:48 pm

I have found Dryad’s Saddle (Polyporus squamosus) before, but this one is much bigger. It’s a delicious edible, but it kills the host tree.

April 2008 was unusually warm and dry, but once it started raining, the mushrooms are beginning to fruit.

Now I’ll get to see just how much I learned at Mushroom U.

March 4, 2008 7:55 am

Thanks for this addition to my vocabulary goes to Ursula Hoffman, a dedicated student of the world of fungi and a skilled webmaster.

Mycophile - a devotee of mushrooms.

The implied meaning of this word suggests that the seeker is engaged in the hobby of pursing edible mushrooms. But that definition does not fit Ursula or any other dedicated COMA member.

Mushroom University exists because individuals with scientific minds have spent decades organizing and documenting their observations, check and cross-checking their information, and now even applying DNA analysis to the mushroom identification. The idea of this daunting endeavor makes my head spin.

I’m the lucky beneficiary, because I have the latest published information and  people willing to share their hard-earned knowledge.

February 17, 2008 7:00 am

I’m lucky to learn from people who have been teaching for many years. They have a fine-tuned presentation that I find inspiring. They also know which books and which online sites provide the greatest value in keeping up with the continuous stream of new mycological information. That’s a huge time saver.

Once again, I am in awe of Gary Lincoff and deeply grateful he shared Michael Kuo’s MushroomExpert.com website. Michael writes:

Mushrooms and trees are inextricably linked. Most trees cannot survive without mycorrhizal partners from the fungal world–and saprobic fungi play a vital role in forest ecosystems, decomposing tree litter. Thus identifying trees is essential to understanding and identifying mushrooms.

Mycorrhizal means mutually-beneficial and saprobic means decomposing dead organic matter. My language skills are also getting a workout.

Everything in nature is connected. But I’m always amazed when I see it on such a macro level. (more…)

November 5, 2007 9:02 pm

The Calvatia gigantea I found last August was a very large puffball. But the ones I found yesterday deserve the name “giant puffball.”

I probably should have stuck with what I knew and made giant puffball pizza, but I just had to experiment. (more…)

October 23, 2007 1:52 pm

Sunday’s COMA walk was an opportunity to learn new edible mushrooms.

This is a blewit (Clitocybe nuda), considered as choice as a morel.

When Lisa, one of our experienced mycologists spotted them, she told us to look for others. I listened, separating the long grass growing pondside, to find these two. Lisa’s eyes rewarded her with at least six of these violet-colored beauties.

(more…)

September 20, 2007 6:06 am

Ever since I bought Gary Lincoff ’s National Audubon Society Field Guide to Mushrooms, I’ve been looking for an opportunity to meet him. I got my chance last night. (more…)

September 5, 2007 11:21 am

Here’s an excerpt from my journal notes while attending the COMA Foray.

Spending three days with mushroom enthusiasts involves a great deal more than finding, identifying and eating the edible ones. In the last 24 hours I have learned more about the lives of mushrooms than I ever imagined.

In the animal world, there are males and females, but in the world of fungi, there are four genders or mating factors. Mycologist Leon Shernoff defined them as A, a, B, b. So that A mates with a, and B mates with b. (more…)