Learning about and Harvesting mushrooms

Started learning about and finding different edible mushrooms. You need to learn the dangerous ones as well since they look so similar.

Wild Lobster Mushrooms

These are edible lobster mushrooms, chantrels look similar the difference is primarily under the cap, with smooth vs ridges and are also edible. The Jack-o’-lanterns look similar and are poisonous. Sooooo…. Make sure you read all the cross references.

Lobster half a poundish

Take a book and make sure you read all the info held within for your target. By the end of the day I was right into it including a couple quick stops on the way out of the bush for more orange looking finds.

Cleaning up

At the end of the day we collected about 9 pounds though we discarded about a pound a half after cleaning and intense close inspection.

These lobster mushrooms do have a mild lobster taste to them. Some we cooked in olive oil with bacon and onions and some in garlic butter. The mild lobster taste was still there infused with the tastes of the cooking. I found I enjoyed them after left soaking / post cooking marinating longer than freshly cooked. The deeper taste and soft firm texture was a hit for me. Some we are selling, some canning and some freezing for later.

Take a book or two with you!

I just downloaded an app from Google Play called Shroomify. This is a Canadian mushroom app, I noted there were some for Russia, Brazil to name a few. On our walk my buddy brought his Audubon’s Mushroom Guide to North America. Excellent in its colour photos from numerous angles, which quite frankly are 100% needed with mushrooms! In the cross reference sections there are lots of easy to read instructions, observations and inspection notes (with glasses for us old farts) with detailed information. Pairing this book with a Patterson’s book would be a great option.

The hunting part was enjoyable to compete in with my buddy. Ladies have an advantage here as female brains and eyes can see shades and subtleties in colours men just can not. So male female team would find more than us two old dudes, so mix it up and go on a hunt!

This time we focused on the lobster and pine mushrooms which are not shown. We found about six different varieties on our wild forage. To me the best and coolest was a fully black and gleaming mushroom with a funnel top. So cool looking, but don’t touch as it is poison, but lovely.

Have fun, get out and soak up some free vitamin C before the government taxes it.