Eat-Me-Not

This spring mushroom looks fantastic and edible. Smells great. Almost morel-like. Makes you want to harvest, prepare and devour immediately.

Gyromitra esculenta

Here's what fungal scholar and foraging daredevil Charles McIlvaine is famously reported to have said about this attractive and enticingly named species:

"It is not probable that in our great food-giving country anyone will be narrowed to G. esculenta for a meal. Until such emergency arrives, the species would be better left alone."

False Morels

The are believed to contain a compound, Gyromitrin, which metabolizes into the acutely toxic Monomethylhydrazine (MMH), also a constituent of rocket fuel.

There are elaborate preparation instructions which some recommend, involving parboiling under a fume hood with multiple changes of water (which is discarded) before cooking.

But the consequences of a mistake could be severe. If not immediately toxic (causing painful destruction of internal organs and death within days of consumption), MMH is also highly carcinogenic.

I admit to having followed the boil-discard-boil-discard-then-cook instructions once in the distant past for a single specimen. It was tasty and I survived without any ill effect.

But I was young and foolish then. Now I'm older and some would say more foolish, but in this regard at least, more inclined to err on the side of caution.

So these False Morels have been left unmolested.

Their abundant and tempting presence so early in the season bodes well for another bountiful year. Let the hunt begin!

Puffs + Pan + Eggs + Herbs + Cheese... = Brunch

The past few days' rain brought out some nice puffballs in the yard and nearby woods. Harvested yesterday afternoon. After culling the only one that was too old (yellowing inside) the rest were rinsed of sand and sliced for the pan. But first the pan was prepared with a special "reduction du porc."Step one: create the puffball chips through a light application of heat
and gentle immersion the special "reduction"...







While the puffball chips are set aside to drain, the same pan is repurposed for the gentle cooking of the remaining ingredients: eggs, milk, herbs and a fine cheese.

Stirred gently until done but not dry. All ingredients then assembled for serving (English muffins, not shown, are optional).Brunch is Served!

Forest Foray, Finale

Finally, the find.

Chicken of the Woods (Polyporous sulphureous), King of the TLC* Fungi!

This is the definition of a fruitful foray, indeed.

Pay special attention to the lobe at the upper left in the above photo.

Now look at the same lobe, immediately below. This feast is big enough to share.

Clearly, this was the place to be. Feasting for all.

We harvested these fine specimens by gently breaking them away from their host tree stump. Being greedy, we decided to leave the slugs and bugs behind.
Dirt was quickly brushed away. Tender outer edges (outermost 2-4 inches) trimmed away and then sliced radially into 1/8-inch wide wedges.
Into the pan with some butter (OK, Julia, not just "some") on fairly high heat, plus one thinly sliced vidalia onion, plus some cinnamon, hot pepper and 2 skin-on boneless chicken thighs. Keeping the heat up to get things browned and caramelized.
Add some broccoli florets towards the end, stir, add some white wine, turn down the heat and cover until chicken is no longer pink. Then destroy the evidence.
Time from Forest to Finish: 20 minutes of foray + 20 minutes prep and cook + 20 minutes of dinner = 1 hour very well spent.

(*TLC = "tastes like chicken")

Forest Foray, Part 2

Sometimes a successful quest requires nothing more than that one get properly oriented. Like this:Nice, but not edible and not what we were looking for. Tiny, too. Tiny can sometimes be edible but it can be challenging to find enough to eat.
Take these little purple guys -- edible? Don't know.
Probably not.
But fun to find, anyway.



Like these larger, tough red beauties.



























Persistent searching pays off...
eventually. This time
with quite a find.

Forest Foray Finds Fungi Fotos

Inspired by our friend Tom, we set out to see what this late-starting 'shroom season might have to offer.

A few weeks back, Tom returned with a magnificent Chicken of the Woods (polyporous sulphure- ous). This is not one of those, but it was a nice first find

What might be waiting there for us?

Not everything out there will be edible, but nearly everything could be worth a snapshot or two...



Thanks to the macro setting on our point-and-shoot, even the tiniest fungal specimen can be preserved in living color.

Bigger finds, as well,
even if not-quite edible.
Or otherworldly...
Like these tiny parasols:

Did we end up having to forgo the edible for the photogenic? That was by no means the case. Our quest continued, with every hope for an eventual culinary success. (...see next installment)

2010 Season: off to an early start

The eternal quest slows down a bit in the winter months, and those with the heavy responsi- bility of writing about it are easily led astray. Fortunately, although our increasingly strange weather has meant greater unpredictability, we were blessed with a most fortuitous find.

While preparing the 2010 victory garden, we decided it was time to move the compost bins. Bonanza!

These beauties were right inside waiting for me. No preparation instructions required. The ingredients are simple. This was a one-pan, fifteen-minute fry-up.

Everything needed for a successful feast was already close at hand in the kitchen. Cut it up, throw it in. Heat it up. Eat it up.

Steinpiltzen

Only the fortunate few will ever find one of these exceedingly rare
"true Stein-
piltzen."



The more common varieties (also rare), known as the Cep or King Bolete, are considered choice edibles.

These Steinpiltzen, however, are exceedingly hard and long-lived. Thus their main values are aesthetic, not culinary.

Good luck on your hunting!