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Last weekend I did have some minor success in morel hunting. It took a trip to Durham Regional Forest. At this stage, there were a number of already -crumbling specimens; too old to pick for the kitchen. Some were damaged. Anyway, there were enough of the good mushrooms for a decent meal. [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="44" gal_title="May_30_2017"] I think that morel season is coming to a close. It's not just the date on the calendar. The trillium bloom is ending. The forest canopy is now almost full. Oysters are starting to show. In my experience, this indicates a sure end to the morels. It is worth mentioning that the first oysters are very meaty and mainly tan in color. Later in the season,  summer oysters are quite white and grow in big flushes. I found a whole cluster of beautiful cup mushrooms. Although the soil was not overly sandy, I think it is the Sand-Loving Cup ( Peziza amophila ) or a very dark version of the Spreading Cup ( Peziza repanda ). [gallery

This time around I did find giant Dryad's Saddle . They were on the big log, looking quite amazing. I left my knife in one of the pictures just for proper sizing. The mushrooming knife is around 11 cm long There is a lot of contradictory information on the web concerning edibility and quality of this mushroom. Personally I only tried them once, baked and it was nothing spectacular. I still did not give up on this mushroom and do plan to try some more ways to cook. My favorite chef  has quite high opinion of this species and has some pointers how to prepare it, including several recipes. The good feature is pleasant smell, very similar to water melon rind. Of course, the specimens in pictures above are well beyond any usage in the kitchen. All Polypores  tend to get very tough and woody in later stages of growth. For the consumption you are looking for something like this: I did not mentioned before, but from the very early in the season you can find Mica Cap ( Coprinellus micac

It was the end of Victoria Day long weekend and my morel luck did not improve. My total harvest was a single morel. The first oysters of the season showed up. At this time in spring, they create small clusters of overlapping mushrooms. I almost always find growths on dead trees or logs. Their colour is tan and smell really great, reminiscent of anise.  There is aren't too many oyster mushrooms around so they tend to be infested.  It's best to pick only quite young and smallish specimens. I know there are farmed oyster mushrooms available in many grocery shops, but these are much better tasting. The flesh is meaty and stays firm even after cooking. In my last post, I mentioned the absence of the Dryad's Saddle mushroom. Well, this time around I did find some. An interesting fact is that they were all damaged by wild animals, most probably white tail deer. Some of the giants are yet to be found. This mushroom can be really massive and can measure more than 30 cm. Some impre

It is the Victoria Day long weekend. I was really busy the last 10 days and I was out of town for part of last week.  Nevertheless, I managed several walks through the woods, hoping to find some morels.  I must admit almost total defeat.  Altogether,  I collected a handful of mushrooms. They are beautiful, but obviously well-hidden, at least from me. On the other hand,  I encountered several different and beautiful specimens. I do not recall seeing them before and I did not have time to do some research to try to identify them. The first one looked superficially like a puffball, but when I cut into it (and it was quite tough), it seemed to be half empty. This one was quite prolific and covered almost a whole log. Looks to me like the  Pannelus stipticus , but I am not really sure. This looks like some mushroom from the genus Schizophyllum, but I am not even remotely sure about that. I noticed an absence of the  Dryad's Saddle mushroom. Around this time of the year,  they are expe

The weather in South-Western Ontario has been  quite unpleasant - cold with rain and quite strong winds. Wednesday was nice, sunny and pleasant, but the forecast is gloomy, even mentioning flurries on Sunday. I took advantage of the beautiful Wednesday afternoon and tried again for morels .  This time I visited one of my spots in the Cambridge area, some 45 km from my home. I did manage to pick enough for a decent meal. [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="41" gal_title="Morels_2_2017"] I am still finding a number of cup fungi. Some of them are quite spectacular. [caption id="attachment_3435" align="alignnone" width="663"] Sarcoscypha dudleyi [/caption] [caption id="attachment_3434" align="alignnone" width="663"] Peziza repanda?[/caption] [caption id="attachment_3436" align="alignnone" width="663"] Peziza repanda?[/caption] The trillium is out now and can be found in a great spectrum