2009 Wild Mushroom Harvest

Last year was terrible around here, except for chanterelles. This year promises to be better. I collected these guys in about 10 minutes. I'll be back out tomorrow for more, I hope.

They're sure pretty! I hope they don't kill ya.

stevez wrote:They're sure pretty! I hope they don't kill ya.

I just tried one and I think everything will be

Bill? Bill? Bill?!

Hi,

Is it Boletus edulis or some other type of Bolete?

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Is it Boletus edulis or some other type of Bolete?

Hi, Cathy2.

Yes, it is the King Bolete (edulis). The only other kind of Bolete I've ever seen around here is the Aspen Bolete (Leccinum fibrillosum), edible, but less prized than the King.

Best,
Bill/SFNM

Sliced mushrooms, brushed with olive oil, roasted in wood-fired oven for a minute, on white pizza.

Hi,

While Boletus edulis has been found in the Chicago area. It is so rare, that people record finding them every so many years.

Regards,

Massive chicken of the woods specimen pulled today by my buddy, Mikey up here in the woods in Saugatuck, MI. Seems early, but what with the cool and damp weather... I'm off tomorrow, will report back. Already anticipating some hens too!

Jefe wrote:Massive chicken of the woods specimen pulled today by my buddy, Mikey up here in the woods in Saugatuck, MI. Seems early, but what with the cool and damp weather... I'm off tomorrow, will report back. Already anticipating some hens too!

Wow, those are beautiful!

*quietly tries to determine if she can get to Glen Arbor, Mi anytime soon*

Last week's harvest was just okay. I found a pretty nice chicken of the woods, a whole slew of boletes, and a new clustering mushroom that resembled the edible "fried chicken" mushroom. All but one of the boletes were the unpalatable "bitter" variety. The suspected fried chicken- while the cap and spore print were a match, thin orange stems were uncharacteristic, so I opted to not try them. Feeling a little overshadowed by my friend's consistent gathering of big, fresh, succulent, chicken specimens, I have remained intrepid, scouring the vast woodlands around here whenever I have off time. I have been having luck with oyster mushrooms on several different hunts:

Today, though, I hit chicken pay dirt, one of the most marvelous, stunning, moments of my amateur naturalist past time. I found an old rotten tree completely flanked by chicken mushrooms like an otherworldly fluorescent orange beacon of mycological intrigue. Just thrilling. Unfortunately I did not have my camera on me to capture the whole scene. I harvested everything that I could carry in my bag and arms, probably about six or seven pounds. My friends and I will return to collect more (making sure to leave enough to re-propagate). With this many mushrooms, we will experiment with soups, gratins, maybe some Asian flare, and undoubtedly have plenty to dehydrate for the cold months. Behold:

This is one specimen.
The days complete harvest:

When we were hiking in the Palisades, I kept seeing mushrooms that I've seen on this thread (in particular, boletes and chicken like you show above) I've never been out shrooming with someone who knows what they're doing, so I didn't partake, but felt more than a little crazy looking around me and seeing nothing but food (we did eat the berries, those I know)...

Mhays wrote:I've never been out shrooming with someone who knows what they're doing...

Agreed. If it is your first time, you should definitely go with someone who knows what they are doing.

C2 referred me to this book, which takes a lot of the risk out of mushrooming, if you're new at it.

Found a bunch of small chanterelles yesterday. Made Chicken with Chanterelles and Marsala:

HI,

This is the time of year chanterelles pop up in our area.

Unfortunately there is trend toward heavier enforcement of mushroom picking in our forest preserves in the Chicago area. If you can get yourself to a state park, then it is permissible.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

Unfortunately there is trend toward heavier enforcement of mushroom picking in our forest preserves in the Chicago area. If you can get yourself to a state park, then it is permissible.

I'm not clear on the regulations in this area; many of the mushrooms are in state parks, state preserves, national parks, national forests, Indian reservations, BLM land, etc. I've jumped fences into wilderness areas where I have no idea what the juristrisction is. I do know that one of the rangers in one of the nearby national forests is an avid mushroomer. There was a rumor of someone being fined for picking in one area, but I suspect it was a fabrication to scare people away from someone's favorite spot.

HI,

Letters from county forest preserves have been sent to our club. Several members have received citations when on their own. It isn't a third party unknown person, rather people I know.

Until just recently, Illinois state forests were off limits to mushroomers. More than ten years ago, Lake County had a map outlining where you could hunt for berries, nuts and mushrooms. This changed a few years later, to zero tolerance for collecting mushrooms. I presume the same for nuts and berries, though I don't follow that issue. There is hope the state foresters will influence the counties to relax, though this could be years from now. It is far easier to regulate a no.

Unless I am mistaken, the closest federal forest is Shawnee National Forest situated at the southern tip of Illinois. Illinois state forests are scattered around the state and not very close to Chicago. Kettle Moraine State Park and Illinois State Beach are along the Wisconsin-Illinois border.

I saw this coming long ago. A few times, I represented the club at public events. I had several occasions where forest preserve people questioned about our membership. Specifically what was their use for mushrooms: private consumption or selling. Nothing grates on a forest preserve ranger more than the thought you collected something on public land, then profited from it.

In the northwest, there have been murders over collecting mushrooms on public land that someone believed was their territory. Tents pitched only to claim a collection of mushrooms. Aggressive tactics never seen in Illinois. Do you have anything like that in your region?

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Aggressive tactics never seen in Illinois. Do you have anything like that in your region?

I have never witnessed anything but friendly interactions and perhaps a little lying about secret spots, especially for morels which are not as plentiful as some of the other edible species. I typically go foraging very early in the morning on weekdays so I rarely encounter anyone else. Perhaps it gets more intense during the weekends in the more accessible areas.

Cathy2 wrote:...Illinois State Beach are along the Wisconsin-Illinois border.

IBSP would not be a good place for foraging mushrooms. I think they have a no-picking policy to begin with, but (a) it's mostly sand dunes with oak savannah -- not as woodsy as you'd expect for NE Illinois, and (b) they will cite anyone off the designated trails.

What part of Illinois were the Boletus Edulis from the first post found? Not asking for specific areas or anything but from what I've heard the only edible Boletus seen in Illinois is Boletus Bicolor. I travel to the southwest to collect Boletus Edulis. If I had known they grew in parts of Illinois I'd have taken the attempt to forage for them long ago.

Cathy2 wrote:Unless I am mistaken, the closest federal forest is Shawnee National Forest situated at the southern tip of Illinois. Illinois state forests are scattered around the state and not very close to Chicago. Kettle Moraine State Park and Illinois State Beach are along the Wisconsin-Illinois border.

The closest national forest is Huron-Manistee.

The closest federal land is either Indiana Dunes or Midewin, depending on your location.

First off, I'm in NE Ohio. I've discovered a small flock of these mushrooms, and being new to this whole thing I wanted to make sure they are chanterelles. The one in the photo is about 2" in diameter, and 2.5" tall. The ribs underneath do fork, as I hear chanterelles should, and the color is a uniform apricot. I am confused though because all the other photos I see of chanterelles are funnel shaped and the lid of this mushroom is much more undular, funnel shaped on a whole, maybe, but it's not the first way I would describe it. In comparison with jack o lantern and false chanterelle it seems most likely to be a chanterelle, from a small nibble it is not bitter, and the color is very uniform. I apologize for the blurriness.

HI,

A wee question, what do you mean by a flock?

If it is a Jack o Lantern mushroom, there is a simple test: turning off the lights and allowing your eyes to adjust a few minutes. You will see a fluorescent green emulating from the mushroom.

Regards,

over an area approximately 15'x15' there are maybe 30 mushrooms, not in a tight group but you can stand in one spot and see all of them. like tomatoes on a tomato plant, as opposed to grapes on the vine.

Is there a simple test for false chanterelles?

Hi,

I never heard of false chanterelles, though I have heard of false morels. I did look up false chanterelles to see they have a distinctly different gill structure from your picture. I sense these may not grow in the Chicago area, because I don't recall any discussion on false chanterelles. Something to discuss at my next mushroom meeting.

Sometimes chanterelles are close in proximity to or mistaken for clumps of Jack 0'Lanterns. From the picture and your statement on a scattered pattern, I am pretty confident you have chanterelles. You may want to do the sniff test, do they smell of apricots? This one is somewhat unreliable because some people don't smell this apricot odor.

Regards,

The apricot thing is interesting, I can't smell anything from the top, but the underside definitely has the odor. I'm surprised at how quickly the mushroom I picked this afternoon has dried out, much different than grocery store mushrooms. All along I have been pretty confident these are not jack o lantern. Thanks so much for helping, I'll report back after I eat one or two.

arcey83 wrote:I'll report back after I eat one or two.

I would strongly advise against consuming any mushroom that you aren't absolutely certain is safe. When in doubt - don't! Asking strangers to ID a mushroom based on a poor-quality photo isn't a very good idea, IMO.

You may want to contact these folks:

http://www.ohiomushroom.org/oms/

Good luck.

Bill/SFNM wrote:

arcey83 wrote:I'll report back after I eat one or two.

I would strongly advise against consuming any mushroom that you aren't absolutely certain is safe. When in doubt - don't! Asking strangers to ID a mushroom based on a poor-quality photo isn't a very good idea, IMO.

You may want to contact these folks:

http://www.ohiomushroom.org/oms/

Good luck.

HI,

Bill is right. I went against my own better judgement even answering this. You should bring it over to someone for a visual check. The consequences of an error are mildly annoying to death, which is quite a sliding scale.

Regards,

Plenty of chanterelles around Stockholm right now.

In fact, I'm having a hard time remembering the last time that they were so easy to find!









Here's what I did with them!