'Omelet[_7_ Wrote:
I have acess to woods and spend a lot of time not finding anything at
times. You just rmemeber where you tend to see fungi and hope those
places will yield the sweeties you can eat. Hen of the woods is one of
those jackpot fungi, hwere you find nothing, nothing, nothing, then a 20
lber at the base of a tree.
After much searching, though, I know when and where boletes tend to show
up among other mushrooms. You have have to love learning about them as
much as eating them. never eat one you can't identify exactly. I paid a
dear price for this once. Live and learn.
I'm on my 18th year foraging and still prize that lucky monet when I
find a Hen. I can usually hit between 30 and 100lbs. of morels in any
given year ( I live in the unglaciated area of western Wisconsin, aka
Coulee Region, and morels are happy here.)
Sorry, ophelia "get the mojo" , i.e., "hit the jackpot." I apologize for
my poor editing. I have to post between classes of high school kids and
at lunch.
The wild field mushrooms I think you're talking about are agaricus
campestris (campe/o meaning "field" in Latin). Some call them "horse
mushrooms." I like the binomial, as there are so many different common
names. Or you may have dumped the agaricus bisporus spores from the
store boughts on your lawn. Just as good. These are great dried and
pulverized. They don't pulverize as easily as some, though. They tend to
get leathery when dry. Make sure they are super dry before you
process(pulverize) them. Perfect in gravies. The finer ground, the more
they emulate the thickening aspects of flour. When combined with arrow
root, though, you get a thickener with added flavor. Who could ask for
anything more. I think wine based sauces are also improved by this dust
as wine and mushrooms are forever friends.
Danger Will Robinson!! It is often difficult to easily distinguish these
two yummy agaricus mushrooms from the "destroying angel" aminatas which
will kill ya dead. EVERY mushroom must be identified. Be sure to remove
from the ground by the bottom of the stalk. If there is a ball and cup
configuration at the very base, walk away slowly and wash your hands
before handling any more. The deadly amanitas have a habit of being
right in the midst of edibles, and looking like them. Boring white, with
a vail. They tend to be brighter, white, though, with white spores. I
wish your liver a long and healthy life. Eat one of the killer amanitas
and you'll need it promptly replaced or you will surely die. You seem
nice, and I wish to converse with you for many a year to come.
I generally avoid mushrooms with white spores (aside from puff balls.)
P.S. at times even dehydrated ones from the store need a little more
drying for perfect pulverization. Dehydrators, I see, are fairly cheap
of late.
--
Gorio
