Honey Mushroom (Armillaria mellea)

Season: Late summer and fall.
Edibility: Not for beginners- but quite tasty.
Defining characteristics:  Honey colored cap with fine black fibers on the cap (particularly in the center of the cap).  A prominent ring high up on the stalk, and if you look closely the gills tend to run down the stalk to the ring (this can be a subtle effect on some specimens).  The stalk is tough and often hairy.  Generally growing in large to gigantic clusters, at the base of dead or dying trees.   Spore print white or pale cream (NOTE- spore color is extremely important in identifying honey mushrooms).
Sometimes confused with: Galerina marginata, Pholiota sp., Gymnopilus sp.

Young honey mushrooms

The honey mushroom is a common fall mushroom that can appear in huge quantities.  While it is a tasty mushroom (think a milder version of the shitake), there are several dangerous species that look similar and you DONT want to eat.  Please be very careful before harvesting honeys and be sure of what you have!  It should also be noted that there are many species of honey mushrooms that are all similar, but may vary in one or two of these factors.  Be careful and ID before you eat.

This basic checklist will help make sure you have a honey:

• Is it growing at the base of a dead or dying tree?
• Does it have a ring near the top of the stalk?
• Is it growing in a large clump?
• Is the spore print white?
• Is the cap honey colored with dark fibers/hairs?

If your mushroom meets all the criteria above and matches photos online (a good test is to do a google image search for the species in question and look at a lot of photos to see the range of appearances) then you probably have a honey.  Again, if you are in doubt, throw it out.

There is a latent bitter/acrid flavor to raw honey mushrooms that slowly develops in your mouth over 20-30 seconds.  Cooking well (15 minutes or more) removes this bitter flavor and makes it more palatable and safe.  It is reported that a small percentage of people are also sensitive to the honey mushroom, so eat a small amount the first time.

The honey mushroom has the impressive distinction of being named the largest single organism in the world (a single specimen in Oregon covers 2,000 acres).  It is a parasitic mushroom that spreads underground via its mycelium and rhizomorphs, attacking and killing weak trees.  The mushroom may continue to fruit for many years in the same spot, continuing to feed on the root mass even after the tree has died and fallen.  One upshot of this is that if you find one tree with honeys, you may well find more in the neighborhood.

For more information check out the following resources: Wildman Steve Brill, Wikipedia, or Mushroom Expert.

Cluster of honey mushrooms (note ring on stem and
 dark fibers on the center of the cap).

Old Man of the Woods (Strobilomyces floccopus)

Season: Summer through fall.
Edibility: Nope.
Defining characteristics: A medium to large bolete (2-6 inches across) with black spiky scales on its cap.  The pore surface starts off lightly colored, but darkens to near black with age.  The flesh is white but bruises pinkish-red when first cut and then slowly turns to black.

Old Man of the Woods

I find the Old Man fairly frequently here in Rhode Island once the prime mushroom season starts (mid-August).  It often appears to be solitary, but if you look around there may well be a group of them hiding nearby.  You are not likely to confuse this mushroom with much else, and it is one of the most striking and beautiful mushrooms if you find a fresh specimen in my opinion.

Unfortunately it is not supposed to taste good- one reference says that it starts off tasting bad, and gets worse.  I have included it here as it is an easy mushroom to ID, and something you will probably find on foraging trips in the area.

Wine Cap Stropharia (Stopharia rugosoannulata)

Season: Once in the spring and again in the fall
Edibility: Very good
Defining Characteristics:  Wine colored cap (possibly fading as it ages), pronounced ring on white stalk, lilac to purple gills.  Often growing on wood chips, especially when you planted the spawn yourself!  Dark purplish spore print.

This spring I decided that I wasn't finding enough mushrooms I felt comfortable eating in the wild, and ought to supplement my finds with yummy home grown fungi.  I have had moderate success with growing oyster mushrooms on coffee grounds (I am planning a big project this coming winter with oysters- stay tuned!) and thought it was time to try out some outdoor kits.

The Wine Cap Stropharia is supposed to be one of the easiest to grow and has the added benefit of simultaneously providing you  with an additional crop from the same amount of garden, and increasing the mycelial density in your garden, which is generally regarded to help out the size and health of your veggies!

As you can see from the picture above, the Wine Cap grows very well on wood chips.  I laid down a thin layer of wood chips over about a 20 square foot area in the herb garden, then spread out the kit I bought from Field and Forest Products over the wood chips, and then covered it all with another inch or so of wood chips.  After that all you need to do is regularly water the chips ( ~1 inch of water per week) and think happy thoughts!

I planted the kit in June of this year- the kit suggested that I might get a crop before winter depending on rain, early frosts, etc... and then I should get a full crop this coming May or June.  After the spring fruiting you can add more wood chips to renew the bed, or take a shovel-full of the inoculated wood chips and add them to a new pile!  Hopefully I will be able to keep the Wine Caps thriving and spreading through my garden for years to come.

Now down to the important details:  the mushroom.  I planted the kit up in Maine, probably a few weeks later than ideal (given the short Maine growing season) and as a result I only got this one mushroom from the kit- but at least I got something, and I know the mycelium is alive and growing!  It was about 3 inches across the cap, with a 4 inch stem and firm flesh.  Quite a satisfying mushroom to grow, and after I had checked my mushroom books and made sure that I had what I thought I had (always a good idea with mushrooms!) I cooked it right up.

Online recipes suggest that the Wine Cape takes well to lemon and wine, as opposed to the traditional garlic, leek and similar preparation.  Since it was my first time eating it I sauteed the mushroom in butter to better understand the taste of it plain (besides, sauteing food in butter is pretty fool-proof).  It was excellent!  It has a soft nutty flavor with a round juiciness.  Somewhat hard to pin down on a flavor wheel, but very enjoyable.

Hopefully next year I will have many more to write about and feast on- in the meantime you can read more about the Wine Cap Stropharia at MushroomExpert.com.

Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus and cincinnatus)

Season: June-October
Edibility: Yummy (just get it young)
Defining characteristics: Bright to pale orange surface, bright yellow to white underside.  Pores, not gills.  Growing at the base of oak trees or on dead wood in clusters that can be spectacular and huge (50 pounds plus)

Last week I came across the mushrooms shown here.  A large dead oak tree fell over about a month ago and within two weeks these Laetiporus sulphureus started growing!  It is quite likely that the mushroom may have actually contributed to the death and collapse of the tree, but at least some good came from its death (those mushrooms are delicious).

We are lucky to have two distinct species of the Chicken of the Woods growing here in Rhode Island.  Laetiporus sulphureus (shown here) grows primarily on dead wood and has a brighter orange color, and a vivid yellow underside.  Laetiporus cincinatus has a white underside and is normally found at the base of oak trees (around my house it has been more common this year, although you tend to find just one cluster on a tree).  Taste-wise the cincinatus is reported to be more tender, which I would agree with so far.

There are reported allergic reactions in a small percentage of people who eat this mushroom (just like with most foods) so as always exercise caution when tasting it for the first time!

For more information check out mushroomexpert.com and mushroom-collecting.com.

Even my cat was impressed...

Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius)

Season: July-September
Edibility: Choice!
Defining characteristics:  Orange color, ridges on underside of cap that look like gills but are not, growing in spread out groups but NOT a single large cluster, odor (from none to apricot-like).
Don't confuse them with: The False Chanterelle or The Jack-O-Lantern mushroom

I have now been hunting New England mushrooms for 1 year.  I have been hoping to find the chanterelle, and finally this last weekend I had success!  While visiting family in Maine and we took a hike along an old dirt road that proved to be full of fun mushrooms.  I will try and get to some of the other species in a later post, but for now- the chanterelle.

Chanterelles are one of the most sought after and popular wild mushrooms (you can read all sorts of neat things about them at wikipedia, from mushroomexpert.com, and mykoweb).  They have resisted attempts at cultivation thus far, and while they will come up in the same spot year after year, the amount varies from year to year, and the habitat is very sensitive to disturbance.  All this means that chanterelles are not a common find, and very expensive commercially.  So if you happen to find a chanterelle harvesting ground, please treat it with respect so that they can continue to be harvested in years to come!

Chanterelles and Black Trumpets getting ready for dinner

I found them in a dark, thick conifer forest that was fairly wet and near a marshy area.  There were probably 100 or so chanterelles spread out over an area about 30 feet wide, quite a great find.  We collected about 1/3 of them and got out of the area quickly, so hopefully next year we will get another excellent crop.

There are a couple potentially confusing look-alikes, so be VERY careful if you are not confident about your harvesting skills.  Read about the False Chanterelle and Jack-O-Lantern mushrooms (which glow in the dark!) and make sure you know what you are doing.

We made up the pasta below with our chanterelles, black trumpets (to be written about soon!), and our own garlic.  Super simple, and incredibly tasty- you can't beat fresh quality ingredients!


                                                                                
                                                                                

Red Russula (Russula sp.)

Season: June-October

Edibility: Varied- but probably won't taste good, almost impossible to ID, and may be poisonous. Why bother?

As I mentioned in a post about another Russula, these buggers are almost omnipresent, not safe to eat (unless you are incredibly good with your Russula taxonomy) and you're going to find far more of them than what you are searching for. This has led to them being referred to as JAR's (just another Russula). There are probably at least 2-3 red Russula species in the area- and possibly many more. For my purposes I shall call them all Red Russulas.

Thus far in 2009 the chestnut bolete has been the only edible I have found (and only 4 of them at that), and I have probably seen 200 Russula's with bright red caps. Identifying features include a fairly dry cap, generally brittle, and a bright red cap. The stems of most of the red JARs I have found have been fairly pure white. They are normally 1-3 inches wide and sit just a couple inches tall.

The only similar mushroom I have found is a milky cap species that has a similar red cap. The milky caps are named thus because if you draw your finger across their gills they will exude a milky latex in quite copious quantities.

Happy hunting and let me know if you figure out how to tell the various species apart!

Chestnut Bolete (Gyroporus castaneus)

Season: June through October

Edible: Yes (with extreme caution as always!)

Defining characteristics: Chestnut colored cap, pale yellow underside, pores, hollow chestnut colored stem

The rains have finally slowed long enough to venture outside- and there are mushrooms! The boletes have started popping up right on time here in Rhode Island (mid-late June). I found my first Chestnut Bolete right in my backyard this morning. About two inches across, solitary with a deep chestnut colored cap and a very pale yellow underside.

I am focusing on my bolete identification skills first for a couple reasons: boletes are a smaller group of mushrooms, more easily identifiable, have fewer toxic species, and a bunch of tasty ones are locally available.

Basic mushroom lesson: The "classic" mushroom has gills on the underside of the cap (known as the pileus in mycology circles). They includes most of the mushrooms we are used to buying in the store- white button, crimini, portobello, oyster and are often refered to as "agarics". Boletes by comparison do not have gills- instead they have pores on the underside of the cap, as show in the picture of the Chestnut Bolete below.

Now that the mushroom season seems to be in full swing I hope to start compiling a good list of local mushrooms, as there does not seem to be such as list readily available online. Leave a note if you have more information on a species or if I have mislabeled a species!

Further reading:

MushroomExpert.com

Wildman

Rogers Mushrooms

Growing Oyster Mushrooms

Chronicle of my efforts to grow oyster mushrooms indoors on used coffee grounds.

10.9.08- gallons of coffee grounds mixed with a Fungi Perfecti indoor mushroom kit (espresso oyster mushroom) on 

11.10.08- Stalks growing- but no caps.  Insufficient light- need to add a floral grow light!

11.20.08- Floral grow light added to boost light input. 12-hour on/off schedule using an electronic timer.  Temperature about 65-70F.

11.25.08- First oysters ready!

11.25.08- Second 5 gallon container of coffee grounds mixed with mycelium from first containers to start a second batch.

11.29.08- Full harvest of the oysters- about 20 full size mushrooms.

12.6.08- I am keeping batch 1 in the grow light with water for 2 weeks- after which time I will water again to try and get a second flush.  Batch #2 is mostly covered in mycelium now.

Short-Stemmed Russula (Russula brevipes)

Season: July through October

Edibility: Not reccomended!

Well it's late October in Rhode Island, and freezing temperatures are very near. Mushrooms are not completely done for the year- but they are rapidly becoming scarce. After a dry spell for a couple weeks we finally had a good rain two days ago- and a few mushrooms have popped up. Today's mushroom, Russula brevipes is one of the most common mushrooms this time of year in this area. Russula's are very common, and infamous for being very hard to positively identify.

In general, members of the genus Russula are fairly large, gilled with a white underside and a cap that most often is a variation of white or red. They are so common and generally unedible (due to a bitter or acrid taste, as well as some species being poisonous) that they have earned themselves the acronym JAR (Just Another Russula). Bear in mind however that the rule with mushrooms is that there are always exceptions! There are some species that are supposed to be delicious, and many different colors, sizes and variations within the genus. Positive ID is often difficult if not nigh impossible. Russula's are often confused with another genus- the Lactarius genus (known as milky caps) with the primary distinguishing factor being that Lactarius species exude a milky liquid when injured.

As far as chowin' down on these guys- here is my recommendation. Many of the poisonous Russula's are red capped- so I would avoid those. A few of the white capped (and in particular a green capped variety) can be tasty, however the odds are that what you find will either taste like nothing, or have quite an acrid or bitter taste. If you really want to try one out and you are pretty darn sure you have a Russula, taste a tiny bit. Chew it- and then spit it out. If it tastes great- then you are lucky and got a good variety. I would also suggest waiting at least 5 minutes after you taste it- as often the bitter flavor will slowly develop in your mouth. If it is bitter, or bland- don't bother with it.

Most people avoid eating Russula as the vast majority are no good for eating- and many species can make you vomit/quite unhappy. The samples I collected today are probably Russula brevipes- one of the most common species. I did taste two of them- both were exceedingly bland- with a slow bitterness developing in my mouth. I always spit out any mushrooms I taste and rinse my mouth thoroughly afterwards. No reason to take undue risk!

To learn more about various Russula species check out the wikipedia page or the MushroomExpert.

A very official disclaimer!

As I expand my knowledge about New England mushrooms, one of my goals is to find delicious ones that I can eat.  

This is not an endeavor to be taken lightly- as it is quite possible to cause yourself serious harm if not death from eating certain mushrooms.  I will provide the most accurate information I can here, but:

Be very careful about eating wild mushrooms- before popping anything into your mouth, consult multiple sources to make sure of what you are eating, and ideally have an expert ID any mushroom for you before you eat it for the first time.

I will always try to include links to more info, and pictures of the mushrooms I feature in an effort to make things as clear as possible.

There are a great variety of edible wild mushrooms out there, and several are fairly "safe", i.e. easy to identify, and do not have poisonous look-alikes. That being said- don't trust me- and if you are ever in doubt about what mushroom you have- throw it out.