Happy New Year to all of my fungal friends! It was a great year for mushrooms, and I am looking forward to another great year ahead. Here are some of the pictures from last year!
Stayed tuned for exciting things to come thi year!
Tag Archives: Tree Ears
Happy New Year
Happy New Year to all of my fungal friends! It was a great year for mushrooms, and I am looking forward to another great year ahead.
The wild mushrooms were thick in the fall this year. The conditions provided some large quantities of mushrooms, that are normally difficult to find.
We started out in the spring with oyster mushrooms on cottonwoods. They were plentiful, and a delicious way to start the season. My grandsons and I picked a couple of grocery sacks full on one picking adventure.
There were some morels, shortly after that. I found enough to satisfy my craving, before the general public found out they were flushing. The picking got competitive after that!
The chanterelles were a special, and at times, unbelievable treat this year. Seasoned pickers said it was the best flush in 15 years. They were plentiful and easy to find.
And if that wasn’t enough, there were boletes as big as your head to be had. Rounding that out with hedge hogs, tree ears, and various edibles…it was a good year for wild mushrooms !
We will talk about mushroom growing projects from 2009 next!
Tree Ears
When hunting for mushrooms, you never know what you will find!
I found these Tree Ears, Auricularia auricula, or Wood Ears awhile back and was excited to add them to my jar of dried ones. They weren’t what I was looking for, but a welcome find anytime.
As you can see from the last picture, they shrink up when they dry. The nice thing is they rehydrate to look almost the same as fresh. This mushroom is related to the crunchy mushroom in Asian soups and dishes.
This is a good mushroom to learn because it can be eaten raw in the woods and is a good survival food. Most mushrooms should not be eaten raw and can make you sick. The way to know this one from look alikes is to shake it real hard and it will not fall apart. The main look alike will fall apart with this test. They grow on dead trees, when the weather is wet. All the rain promises me…