Mushroom foraging

Ha! That's a monster cep, great pic. It's all Fly Agaric round where I am, I never realised how enormous they can get some as big as dinner plates! Not bad toasted when you're on a Viking tip.

I have been tempted, must be my scandinavian ancestry.

The big one with the writing on is very impressive.

hehe

nice collection

The big one with the writing on is very impressive.

That's a toadstool.

that Boletus Edulis is very impressive, a fine specimen.

Never eat a toads tool that's a given.......anyone ever come across one of these beautiful and toxic shrooms?

Amanita Virosa AKA (the fabulously named) Destroying Angel.

Not seen one of those personally - the most dangerous one I see most often is the panther cap i guess.

And after cleaning and processing this is what I am left with
Some of the bolete were a bit mushy so I decided to dry them instead of using the fresh

And the rest went into jars - two in oil and one in red wine vinegar - a new one to me so we shall see how they come out.
[URL="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs371.snc4/45375_10150247575495621_581240620_14542957_4523052_n.jpg"][/URL]

What kind of oil did you use?

The old italian couple who lived next door when i was in dalston used to boil them up with an old zinc covered key; swore it removed any poison. Then stored in kilner jars with a herb/olive oil/vinegar concoction

I used pomace olive oil(I don't like very strong olive oil flavour) with a bay leaf, salt, juniper, and allspice. It went kind of hazy afterwards.....strange. I read that there is a risk of botulism when doing this without a pressure cooker so I am going to eat them quickly!

I wouldn't worry, some people pay a fortune to have that shit injected into their eyebrows on a monthly basis :

Wow. The thread's taken off this weekend. Some good results above.

I've been looking for a few years. The hot, humid conditions we had a week ago, which made cheap waterproofs look like poor value, seemed to have been ideal for growth. There were lots of mushrooms around, but the things I'd normally expect to find are being a bit shy.

I've got either lazy or cautious about which ones I go for. There were plenty of Bay Boletus about, but although the Roger Phillips book says that it is edible/good, they don't move me, so its chanterelles, shaggy ink caps, field and horse mushrooms, and the ceps I've never found until now;

Huge, heavy, and on my manor. God I was happy.

Pasta for the kids, on toast for grown ups.

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Ha! You have me convinced this is a good thing to do.

I'm going to put some notices up at work / in the marina / in the village shop to see if there's any foragers fancy taking me out.

I'm nervous about doing it off my own back as I'm sure I'll poison myself.

Never eat a toads tool that's a given.......anyone ever come across one of these beautiful and toxic shrooms?

Amanita Virosa AKA (the fabulously named) Destroying Angel.

i'm not 100% but i think i did today. it was beautiful whatever it was, and very, very white in color.
out on barnes common there is a surfeit of mushrooms at the minute, the rain and boggy conditions have brought more out than i've ever seen before.
Again, not likely to pick any- cos I'll likely kill myself.

This inspired me to make a Porcini risotto. Lish.

Goodhead - go for it. If you can find someone, thats great. I never got lucky enough so I just stuck to the safest species to pick for sure so I could observe what I saw when I went out and double check when I got home.
oh and read, read, read as many different books as possible before you go. Don't rely on one book as some books don't show all parts of the mushroom or have some of the key information you might need.

I would go with you but I live abroad.......

@nickyspagg.

Thanks for the advice mate.

Good news for me is my boating neighbours are a v friendly bunch and I'm sure I can find a forager amongst them.

Otherwise yeah I'll get the books out - nothing like relying on local knowledge though and it gets me talking to new people which is always good,

btw - with your user name are you italian?

Hehe, no I'm British - I live in Poland.
My username comes from uni when one of my friends said I had arms like spaghetti.

i'm not 100% but i think i did today. it was beautiful whatever it was, and very, very white in color.
out on barnes common there is a surfeit of mushrooms at the minute, the rain and boggy conditions have brought more out than i've ever seen before.
Again, not likely to pick any- cos I'll likely kill myself.

All of the Amanitas come out of an egg-like structure, called a volva, which may be buried under the soil. If you dig the mushroom out you can see if it has one of these and pretty much immediately make the decision not to eat it: some of the Amanitas are edible but it's just not worth the risk. If the mushroom you saw didn't have one of these it might have been a parasol mushroom.

Wow. The thread's taken off this weekend. Some good results above.

I've been looking for a few years. The hot, humid conditions we had a week ago, which made cheap waterproofs look like poor value, seemed to have been ideal for growth. There were lots of mushrooms around, but the things I'd normally expect to find are being a bit shy.

I've got either lazy or cautious about which ones I go for. There were plenty of Bay Boletus about, but although the Roger Phillips book says that it is edible/good, they don't move me, so its chanterelles, shaggy ink caps, field and horse mushrooms, and the ceps I've never found until now;

Nice penny buns, dude. Worth a packet down Borough Market.

Huge, heavy, and on my manor. God I was happy.

Pasta for the kids, on toast for grown ups.

Nice penny buns, dude. Worth a packet down Borough Market.

This thread really makes me smile for some reason. Good work dudes.

don’t know how old this thread is? mobile posting. cant quite believe its not 8ball on the shroom case again but anyway thanks for the reminder, mushroom soon come.for me its all about the Parasols, used to be into ink caps but they disintegrate a bit too quick for my liking.can only ever find false chanterelles in our pine forests - although New Forest old growth beech etc might be better, definitely getting on the case this year again.

hartxander!