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cheese eats mouse posted:Thought you morel hunters would like this. Awesome! I going mushroom hunting Saturday. I can't wait. The people that have never had a fresh morel don't know what they are missing.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2012 02:47 |
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| # ? May 21, 2013 10:54 |
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mds2 posted:Awesome! I going mushroom hunting Saturday. I can't wait. The people that have never had a fresh morel don't know what they are missing. I'm missing out.  That was a friend's Facebook photo. Any morel people want to send me a few to try?
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| # ? Mar 29, 2012 15:35 |
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36F today with a frost warning tonight, 80F and thunderstorms Monday. What the hell, weather? You are ruining my plans.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2012 19:54 |
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It's a lot of fun when you're out in the woods and you see this: Here's my haul from the other day, minus the other 30 or so I found the second trip out:  It's a good day when your bag of mushrooms is getting heavy to the point that you don't want to carry it anymore, ha. Also found these other things, was curious about them.  This is a nettle, right? I understand they can be eaten, in some way?  I saw a ton of these mushrooms, and they looked kinda distinct enough for someone to ID; just thought I'd see if they're something edible, because if they are, there were a ton of them.   Saw a ton of these two plants; they also looked like something that would be edible. If they're not poisonous or something, so thought I'd see if they're anything.  And this is Sagittaria, which has a lot of edible part, right?
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| # ? Mar 29, 2012 21:29 |
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OneTwentySix posted:It's a lot of fun when you're out in the woods and you see this: Awesome, I am so jealous. Those look great! OneTwentySix posted:Also found these other things, was curious about them. Looks more like milk thistle to me. Still edible and the silymarin it contains is pretty much the only treatment for eating a destroying angel amanita. Very good stuff for your liver. OneTwentySix posted:
My mentor always said "Every mushroom is edible once" I really couldn't make a guess just based on the pictures of the caps alone. Gill pictures at the very least would help. It might take a spore print to narrow it down to a particular species. I am going to bet it's inedible, or at least not something you'd like the taste of. OneTwentySix posted:
The top one looks like a dock to me, it will be easy to tell when they go to seed. I've got nothing on the bottom one. Defiance fucked around with this message at Mar 31, 2012 around 11:44 |
| # ? Mar 29, 2012 22:09 |
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drat, nice shrooms! I went out today and didn't find anything except for a pretty sweet beaver skull.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2012 22:39 |
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Defiance posted:My mentor always said "Every mushroom is edible once" Yeah, I thought they looked kind of distinctive, instead of just being little brown mushrooms, and thought I'd see if they were anything well known and edible; I just hoped on the off chance that they were food since there were so many of them. I'd never eat anything that I could even potentially confuse with something else. I had a forest pathology course in college, and the professor mentioned one of his colleagues, a trained mycologist, accidentally ate the wrong mushroom and died. I definitely need to get a guide; I really want to try going camping and having a meal or two entirely of gathered food, and it looks like there are a lot of things in my area that I can learn about preparing and gathering.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2012 22:58 |
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OneTwentySix posted:Yeah, I thought they looked kind of distinctive, instead of just being little brown mushrooms, and thought I'd see if they were anything well known and edible; I just hoped on the off chance that they were food since there were so many of them. I'd never eat anything that I could even potentially confuse with something else. I think you have the right idea as far as mushrooms go. There are a lot of edible species that are easier to differentiate. I don't want to talk you out of anything though, you are one microscope and a lot of work away from being a great mycologist. Those very well could be an edible agrocybe, or they could be something gross tasting or even poisonous. It's not impossible to tell, it's just a tradeoff in time and work. OneTwentySix posted:I definitely need to get a guide; I really want to try going camping and having a meal or two entirely of gathered food, and it looks like there are a lot of things in my area that I can learn about preparing and gathering. These books are great field guides. They don't replace a key for the identification of the exact species, but honestly most of the time you don't care about the exact species. Thayer's books focus on groups of plants that are widely eaten, and gives enough info to identify poisonous lookalikes. Yeah for sure, there is just a ton of food around you. I might see wild carrot in some of your pictures, which is good stuff. People will warn you about it looking like poison hemlock but Nature's Garden would show you how to ID it and eat it safely with full color pictures. It sounds like I'm selling these books, but they're both just great. You'll find food everywhere. A lot of it is really good too, not just free. Edit: As long as I'm shilling here's a link to the blog and a good post. Defiance fucked around with this message at Mar 31, 2012 around 08:57 |
| # ? Mar 31, 2012 02:15 |
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I think you have Sagittaria latifolia by the way, and I've never tried it. It should be easy to confirm when it flowers.
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| # ? Mar 31, 2012 09:18 |
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Found some Gymnopilus luteofolius yesterday. That is a hallucinogenic species. PARTY TIME!
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| # ? Mar 31, 2012 23:28 |
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 Sure can find a lot of crazy stuff in the woods.
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| # ? Apr 1, 2012 00:32 |
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Why do you think I'm out there so much? 
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| # ? Apr 1, 2012 03:09 |
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My friend and I went out for most of the day and found 4 grey morels. My cousin who has "the spot" only found one. So I think we are right at the beginning of the season here.
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| # ? Apr 1, 2012 05:53 |
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I love this thread and I really want to do more exploring and foraging in my local woods, but I gotta ask: how do y'all deal with the urushiol-producing plants? Poison Ivy is endemic in my area, and every time I get anywhere near it I end up with a rash that itches for weeks. At least I'm not as allergic as my father, who needs massive cortizone shots every time he comes into contact with it, or else he begins to show signs of anaphylaxis.
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| # ? Apr 2, 2012 02:42 |
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Coasterphreak posted:I love this thread and I really want to do more exploring and foraging in my local woods, but I gotta ask: how do y'all deal with the urushiol-producing plants? Poison Ivy is endemic in my area, and every time I get anywhere near it I end up with a rash that itches for weeks.
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| # ? Apr 2, 2012 03:27 |
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I found some stuff today. My first morel spotting.  Over a pound and a quarter total!  DO NOT EAT 
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| # ? Apr 2, 2012 08:14 |
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Coasterphreak posted:I love this thread and I really want to do more exploring and foraging in my local woods, but I gotta ask: how do y'all deal with the urushiol-producing plants? Poison Ivy is endemic in my area, and every time I get anywhere near it I end up with a rash that itches for weeks. I think lonelywurm gave you good advice. Finding a light pair of gloves you like is going to be a good idea. If you can't already ID the stuff that gives you rashes at a glance then you will be able to soon. If the gloves bug you then you can start to think about leaving them behind at that point. Maybe take some benadryl cream or whatever with you, too. Pardalis posted:I found some stuff today.  ! Those look immature enough that a return trip might pay off if the weather is still nice.
Defiance fucked around with this message at Apr 2, 2012 around 16:34 |
| # ? Apr 2, 2012 16:31 |
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Yeah, I plan to head back as soon as I am able but it won't be until next week. I am hoping it will be fungal chaos by then. This is my first year doing morels; I usually forage other species in the fall. I saw a lot of edible plants on this foray, too. I will get some photos and descriptions posted later. Or lazily buy my roommate an account and make her do it. Someone had come through before us and had cut off just the heads of many morels. It was sad to see 4" stipes standing tall and broken. We also harvested nettle tops, cleavers, purple dead nettles, chickweed, and miner's lettuce. I identified a bunch of stuff that was new to me from the previous pages of this thread and was very proud. If any of you goons are reading this thread, go outside and forage today! There is food to find every-loving-where.
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| # ? Apr 2, 2012 17:42 |
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Pardalis posted:DO NOT EAT  It's the prettiest and must be the tastiest!
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| # ? Apr 2, 2012 20:05 |
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I have a morel question - we went out and picked up about 3 more pounds, but passed up quite a few because they seemed sort of dry/hard. We picked a few of those anyway and after soaking them in water they kind of plumped back up, but I am just wondering how dried out they can be and still be worth picking. Also, can I pick the really dried out and hard ones and dehydrate them? Or do they get dry and hard because of some chemical change and thus won't taste the same?
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| # ? Apr 3, 2012 03:17 |
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razz posted:I have a morel question - we went out and picked up about 3 more pounds, but passed up quite a few because they seemed sort of dry/hard. We picked a few of those anyway and after soaking them in water they kind of plumped back up, but I am just wondering how dried out they can be and still be worth picking. When they are really dry the will crumble when you try to pick them. I usually pick the so-so ones just to see of theyll perk back up. If the fall apart oh we'll.
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| # ? Apr 3, 2012 03:23 |
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If it falls apart, leave it. If you can pick it in once piece, soak it and it will rehydrate. I would soak it before drying them anyway to get the bugs out.
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| # ? Apr 3, 2012 17:59 |
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Ha ha I just put a bunch of morels in my dehydrator and they got TINY!! It's cracking me up. I knew they'd get small but I didn't know they'd be like 1/5 the original size. No wonder people sell dried morels for like $30 an ounce!
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| # ? Apr 3, 2012 19:06 |
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Pardalis posted:My first morel spotting. That doesn't look like a morel to me. I think it's a verpa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verpa_bohemica). The cap looks veiny/wrinkly instead of the honey-comb pattern I'd expect out of a morel. How is the cap attached to the stem? If it's only connected at the very top, I'm pretty sure it's a verpa. My local mycological society said they're edible but some people are allergic, for lack of a better word. Wikipedia is more paranoid but confirms the sentiment. If you're going to eat it, start with one cap and wait a day to see if there's a reaction. If you can, find a local mushroom group and see what their advice might be or if they can confirm the ID. Defiance posted:The top one looks like a dock to me, it will be easy to tell when they go to seed. I've got nothing on the bottom one. I'm still learning to ID a lot of these, but I had the same guess for the top being dock. My first guess at the bottom is lamb's quarters. EvilLile fucked around with this message at Apr 4, 2012 around 15:54 |
| # ? Apr 4, 2012 15:51 |
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EvilLile posted:I'm still learning to ID a lot of these, but I had the same guess for the top being dock. My first guess at the bottom is lamb's quarters. Looks to me like Lamb's Quarters or some other Chenopodium but I am not certain. Lamb's quarters often has a whitish "fuzz" on the underside of the leaf. Eat a leaf and see if it tastes like spinach. If it does, you're good to go. I don't think any members of that genus are harmful, in fact that is where the grain quinoa is from. You can actually collect the seeds of lamb's quarters and cook as you would quinoa, but it's a pain in the rear end I've heard. Saute it in a little water with salt/pepper/garlic/whatever, eat like you would collard greens . Or use in a salad or on sandwiches!
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| # ? Apr 4, 2012 20:08 |
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EvilLile posted:That doesn't look like a morel to me. I think it's a verpa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verpa_bohemica). The cap looks veiny/wrinkly instead of the honey-comb pattern I'd expect out of a morel. How is the cap attached to the stem? If it's only connected at the very top, I'm pretty sure it's a verpa. I think it's an immature morel that has yet to develop the characteristic cap. Even young verpas are supposed to be fibrous inside and those stems look hollow to me, but it's really hard to tell. Splitting one down the middle and taking a picture would tell us for sure. Either way it's edible, because there are no poisonous morel lookalikes in the US including false morels. EvilLile posted:I'm still learning to ID a lot of these, but I had the same guess for the top being dock. My first guess at the bottom is lamb's quarters. razz posted:Looks to me like Lamb's Quarters or some other Chenopodium but I am not certain. Lamb's quarters often has a whitish "fuzz" on the underside of the leaf. Eat a leaf and see if it tastes like spinach. If it does, you're good to go. I don't think any members of that genus are harmful, in fact that is where the grain quinoa is from. You can actually collect the seeds of lamb's quarters and cook as you would quinoa, but it's a pain in the rear end I've heard. I've got a patch or two of these, I'll try to get pictures and an ID. If it's lamb's quarters I'm going to have some for sure. I'm a little skeptical because lamb's quarters grows from a stem, right? Mine at least, and maybe the ones in the picture, seem to be growing in a basal rosette. Defiance fucked around with this message at Apr 5, 2012 around 02:20 |
| # ? Apr 4, 2012 21:20 |
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Defiance posted:I've got a patch or two of these, I'll try to get pictures and an ID. If it's lamb's quarters I'm going to have some for sure. I'm a little skeptical because lamb's quarters grows from a stem, right? Mine at least, and maybe the ones in the picture, seem to be growing in a basal rosette. Allow me to introduce you to the plant bible, "Flora of the Great Plains", and what it has to say about Chenopodium album: quote:Erect annual to 1(1.5) m tall, stem solitary with well developed, often ascending and compact lateral branches. Blades variable, often narrowly trullate to lanceolate, more than 1 1/2 x longer than wide, 3-5(6) cm long, 2-3(4) cm wide, moderately to heavily farinose, acute, margin irregularly sinuate-dentate to entire, cuneate. Inflorescence of glomerulus, typically clustered into dense, paniculate spikes, often ascending at maturity, occasionally spreading. Sepals 5, moderately to densely farinose, median keel either absent or not strongly developed, usually enclosing the fruit at maturity; stamens 5; stigmas 2. Fruit horizontal, 1.1-1.5mm in diam, pericarp lightly roughened, nonalveolate, usually attached to the seed. (2n=54) June-Sep. Disturbed soil or open habitats; GP, scattered, but most abundant in n & e; (a cosmopolitan weed, probably European origin). That help?
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| # ? Apr 5, 2012 13:25 |
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I went out again last night to look for morels. Found a nice patch of stumps.
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| # ? Apr 5, 2012 14:15 |
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razz posted:That help? Thanks! I went out hoping for morels today too. It hasn't really been nice enough for them lately, and we only got a tiny bit of rain, but tonight is another freeze warning so I went out and gave it a shot. I went somewhere new to me, the Gratiot-Saginaw state game area in Michigan. It's about 25 square miles of mostly hardwood land which contains, it turns out, a lot of swamp. In the swamp I found plenty of baby cattails, mayapple, fiddleheads, and inedible fungus. Around the edges of the swamp I found greens, raspberry, and strawberry. Mayapple is pretty yummy when it fruits, but the leaves and stems are poisonous. It's easily recognized by its' asparagus-like shoot which opens up and the shiny leaf forms an umbrella (peltate leaf). It's more like julyapple around here, so I probably won't be around to eat the fruit.  Peltate! The fiddleheads are very cottony and could be cinnamon fern or interrupted fern. I probably won't eat them at all or pursue a positive ID and I only grabbed a handful. Fiddleheads in general are kind of thought to be carcinogenic, and ostrich fern fiddleheads are the only ones I eat (and pickle).  Yucky! On my way back out, with all the grace and style I could manage, I fell off of a log and into the drat water. And The Nothing ate my loving horse. Edit: The photos aren't mine. Defiance fucked around with this message at Apr 6, 2012 around 02:47 |
| # ? Apr 5, 2012 21:24 |
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Do NOT eat the fiddleheads with a wooly covering. They won't harm you unless you eat a shitton but they're very, very nasty. The edible species of fiddleheads have a deep groove all the way up the stalk, and the stalk often bends back slightly before it curls down.
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| # ? Apr 6, 2012 01:43 |
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Yeah, good call. I think you'd have to shave them with a razor to make them halfway palatable, even if they weren't awful for you. But yeah, u-shaped groove on the stem, brown papery covering instead of white fuzz. Those are the only ones most people want to eat. I read that Japanese people have traditionally eaten bracken fern, which has a brown papery covering but no groove in the stem, and that it might contribute to the extremely high levels of stomach cancer in their country. Yikes. Brown papery covering, no wool, u-shaped channel up the stem = no stomach cancer.  Yummy! Defiance fucked around with this message at Apr 6, 2012 around 02:46 |
| # ? Apr 6, 2012 02:34 |
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There ya go! Those look like the good ones. Here is some general advice on foraging that applies to everyone, whether you are new to foraging or not. There are very, very few things out there that will cause you harm. The vast majority things aren't "inedible" because they're harmful, it's because they are nasty. Things that are truly "poisonous" are relatively rare and will only hurt you if you eat very large amounts (except for some types of mushroom but here I am only talking about plants). So, if you find something, and you THINK it's an edible species but you aren't sure, do these three steps: 1. Prepare and eat a small amount. Is it tasty? Proceed to step 2. Is it nasty or bitter at all? You've got the wrong plant, don't eat it again. Now you've increased your knowledge of "do not eat" plants. 2. It's tasty, you ate a bit of it. Wait a day. Do you feel nauseous or anything? Feel sick in any way? If yes, it may be due to the plant, or it may be because of literally anything else that you ate that day. If you want, wait a few days and eat a bit again and see how you feel. Or if you're got a good friend or two, see if they want to try some and ask them how they feel. Also remember, you can be allergic to wild plants just like you can be allergic to any food. So if you have a reaction to the plant, it still may not mean that it is poisonous, maybe you personally just can't handle it but others can! 3. It's tasty, you ate some, and you feel fine. Congratulations, you have found an edible wild plant! Now you have an image in your mind of what this specific species looks like and it will be easier to find in the future.
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| # ? Apr 7, 2012 14:54 |
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Does anyone have recipe ideas for dryad saddles (Polyporus squamosus)? Found a bunch as consolation for no morels. They smell/taste like watermelon rind so I'm considering pickling them in a similar fashion. 
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| # ? Apr 9, 2012 01:52 |
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Ooh, yeah I don't usually harvest those just because of the difficulty of preparation. If they're young and tender you have a lot more flexibility. If they're tough you should cook them in the pickling brine for a little while until they're as tender as you want them. They would probably be suited to some sort of stewing but I've never tasted them so you might decide that's a bad idea. Just any longer cooking application if they're tough and I think you'll be set. Edit: You know, I used to talk to a guy who would barbecue fresh ps cubensis on his grill, sauce and all. They can be kind of fibrous but as they cooked they'd get juicy and more tender. It might work out here too. Defiance fucked around with this message at Apr 9, 2012 around 02:26 |
| # ? Apr 9, 2012 02:23 |
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Of course, after my talk of verpas, I decided to go out and hunt a few in a spot that I knew had them and some stinging nettles I could cut. Someday I'll find a good morel spot around here. Unfortunetly, I'm west of the Cascades and think I need to head out east to really find the awesome spots. I might go try my Chanterelle spot though and see if I can find any signs of morels around there. I only managed to find two, but they were pretty sizable. Now I'm debating whether I dare eating them or not. The nettles are no question though, as soon as I eat the clams I dug the other day, the nettles are destined for dinner. I think this spot also had some red huckleberry bushes. Does anyone here have tips for better IDing the plants? Edit: Yesterday I also got the joy of frantically searching for some dock to soothe some nettle stings to my ungloved hand. It felt like it worked well enough. EvilLile fucked around with this message at Apr 9, 2012 around 05:27 |
| # ? Apr 9, 2012 05:25 |
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One of my favorites are salal berries. They have almost no flavor unless you pick them at the right time. Wait until the berries are sticky before you pick them. When they get sticky, they're very sweet and yummy. I also like to feed cattails to all of my friends. Foraging is awesome.
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| # ? Apr 9, 2012 15:49 |
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EvilLile posted:Of course, after my talk of verpas, I decided to go out and hunt a few in a spot that I knew had them and some stinging nettles I could cut. Someday I'll find a good morel spot around here. Unfortunetly, I'm west of the Cascades and think I need to head out east to really find the awesome spots. I might go try my Chanterelle spot though and see if I can find any signs of morels around there. Wooo! Very nice. Did you try any? I am jealous of all of you guys. Low temps, not so much rain here. Sunday looks like it might work out. EvilLile posted:I only managed to find two, but they were pretty sizable. Now I'm debating whether I dare eating them or not. The nettles are no question though, as soon as I eat the clams I dug the other day, the nettles are destined for dinner. That sounds seriously great! EvilLile posted:I think this spot also had some red huckleberry bushes. Does anyone here have tips for better IDing the plants? If you're hardcore, or need a last resort, the isolation of quinic acid from the bark of the plant would be a clear positive indicator. I would start out by just watching any suspect plants through a whole flowering cycle. The bell-shaped blooms seem pretty distinct and if they're followed by berries that taste nice I'd harvest it. People say good things about harvesting other vaccinium with a berry rake. Defiance fucked around with this message at Apr 11, 2012 around 00:02 |
| # ? Apr 10, 2012 21:15 |
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I went out to look for morels today but they were burning pastures nearby so we couldn't go  But I spotted a deer skull from the window so it wasn't a total loss. It was burned though.
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| # ? Apr 11, 2012 01:16 |
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Defiance posted:Wooo! Very nice. Did you try any? I have not, yet. I've got 'em in my fridge, and I think I'll take the cap of one of them and sautee it and see how it is tomorrow. I've been going through a whole bunch of shellfish these last few days and didn't think to add mushrooms to them. Though that brings up an interesting one to bring up; there's no reason to limit yourself to wild plants, if you're on the coast, shellfish are a great easy thing to gather. I don't know how it is in other states, but in Washington it's a $15 a year license, and your daily limit is 40 clams (which is a ton, I got my limit and I'm getting sick of shellfish already). Not only that, but mussels have no size limit (and I think a massive 10 pound limit for you to take), and if you go to a beach with an oyster bed, they grow all over the old oyster shells. I was happily gathering tuperware containers full of mussels while other people hopelessly were searching for oysters to shuck on the beach.
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| # ? Apr 11, 2012 03:03 |
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| # ? May 21, 2013 10:54 |
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EvilLile posted:I have not, yet. I've got 'em in my fridge, and I think I'll take the cap of one of them and sautee it and see how it is tomorrow. I've been going through a whole bunch of shellfish these last few days and didn't think to add mushrooms to them. I'll be in Seattle over the summer and this sounds fantastic. Any tips of where or when?
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| # ? Apr 11, 2012 11:56 |
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