TEST

The sudden cold snap in Southern Ontario introduced deep minus overnight temperatures. I think that will mark the end of blewitts, shaggy parasols, orange milkies and other mushrooms. Tricholomas will probably proliferate after the frost. Unfortunately none of them are on my list of edibles. Too many similar gray species and some are known to be causing severe gastric upset. The mushroom that I look forward to pick is late fall oyster ( Panellus serotinus ).  It is very good edible, greatly under valued and neglected. It will be very hard to find any sources with information about cooking this mushroom. They grow exclusively on logs and trees. If they are on the live tree, it usually means that it is dying. It greatly prefers older logs with still some bark on them. The size can vary, but cap rarely grows more then 7-8 cm. Color is mainly shades of dark green but can turn tan and yellowish if frozen or growing in the some hole. The gills are dirty yellow-tan and quite dense. Frequently...

Last three weeks I was in Scotland, more precisely Edinburgh, getting to know my first granddaughter Josephine Rae Redmond.  That was one of the best experiences of my life.     Of course, I could not help myself and snooped around checking for mushrooms. My daughters family lives near Edinburgh in somewhat country setting with lot of green areas. I was quite surprised how different mushrooms are. Before trip I did check several websites and some literature. They were all dealing with usual suspects: oyster, meadow mushroom, fairy ring mushroom, blewit, chicken of the woods etc. I did not find any of them (OK, maybe one blewit, one horse mushroom and several shaggy manes) Predominant environment is probably meadow, but I did visit some quite wooded areas with mature trees and river. In the meadows I found a number of waxcaps and great quantities of what I think is some species of paxillus. In the woodlands, under white birch I found great quantities of birch bolete (Leccinum s...

On weekend I visited forest near Cambridge (Ontario). The area is some 45 km North-West of my home. I was passing through really old hardwoods and area with mature spruce. Hardwoods The most spectacular was strong showing of clusters of Clitocybula oculus .  In my main field guide ( Mushrooms of Ontario and Eastern Canada ) the name is differently spelled, so there is some difficulty finding info on this mushroom. The main prize was my first find of the Hericium americanum. Excellent edible tasting very much like seafood (scallops). This mushroom loves old decayed logs. Some years I find them in great numbers. The one on the picture is very young and fresh, with pink overtones in the tips. It still did not develop relatively long "teeth", typical for this species. As an interesting find I will mention Geopora sepulta. Very handsome cup mushroom. I do not encounter it frequently. Coniferous Woods The first mushroom I noticed was chicken fat mushroom ( Suillus americanus ). ...

On August 22nd I was doing some work in Barrie Ontario. This is some 160 km from my home in north-east direction. I finished a little earlier than expected and on my way home visited one of the forests surrounding Barrie. As a general rule, more North you go in Ontario it is easier to find crown lands and regional forests that allow mushrooming. Barrie is surrounded with excellent mixture of forested areas. Some of them are natural and some were planted in the second half of 20th century. Planted areas are usually pines. The area I visited is situated north west of Barrie. And what a treat that was! The forest is mixed woods with hardwoods and conifers relatively evenly distributed. On the bases of my previous visits I expected to find some lobster mushropoms .  I did find couple, but the host species (Lactarius and Rusulla) were quite present, especially Lactifluus piperatus.   Therefore I expect in September much more of the lobsters around. During my short visit I found a great vari...

Since nothing overly exciting is happening in deciduous woods I visited one of the young spruce grows. Later in the season this is the place to find some Lactarius species, blewits and puffballs. This time I found really beautiful specimens of earthstars ( Geastrum saccatum ) in different stages of development. This is not something I find regularly, so I thought it is wort mentioning. All the earthstars and bird nests mushrooms belong to puffball family and are quite widespread in Ontario, but not that common. I usually encounter them while visiting North York Regional Forest or Durham Regional Forest.

It is a common knowledge that mushrooms and rain go hand in hand, right? Well, this summer in Southwestern Ontario it does not seem to be the case. I did not check any official statistics but I am pretty sure that there was not a 3 day period without rain. After quite disappointing start of the summer with absence of any significant growth of chanterelles, I expected boletes, puffballs, rusullas and milky mushrooms (especially orange milky mushrooms) to make up for that. The reality is quite different. Up to this day puffballs are almost completely absent. I did not find a single giant puffball yet. Rusullas are rare and far between and therefore almost always attacked by slugs and bugs. As far as lactarius goes I did find several Lactarius volemus and handful of Lactarius hygrophoides,  but certainly not enough even for a single meal. Retiboletus ornatipes  is present in significantly smaller numbers than usual, but still enough to collect a decent meal if you really try. The one mush...

This is my first post where all the images were taken with iPhone 6 S Plus. This phone with very decent camera made it easier to go around lagging less equipment in my pockets. Sarcodon is genus of fungi. It belongs to the tooth fungi and has quite a number of species worldwide. However in my area year after year I find only one species. The confusing part is that majority of sources and field guides for Eastern North America list Sarcodon imbricatus and Sarcodon scabrosus (two most common species of Sarcodon genus) as mycorrhizal  (this means that the fungus mycelium and the tree roots exchange nutrients to the mutual benefit of both organisms) with conifers. I never found a single Sarcodon mushroom under conifers. The only source mentioning that Sarcodon scabrosus partners with hardwoods too is Michael Kuo .  Therefore I think my finds should be identified as Sarcodon scabrosus. Common name for this mushroom is scaly hedgehog, although it is used for Sarcodon imbricatus too.  This mu...

For the last 10 days I am pounding my trails looking primarily for chanterelles . There is no doubt that this mushroom is one of the most popular on the whole planet. It is wide spread, relatively common and near the top of list of edibles.  It certainly ranks in the top three of my list. It is considered summer mushroom and fruits in the period when not many other mushrooms are around, before the bolete season starts. Although it is relatively easy to identify there is apparently every year some poisoning due to picking jack-o-lantern mushroom as chanterelle. Despite frequent rains and relatively pleasant weather the chanterelles did not show up in any great numbers. I did not find any big patches yet. Only some small clusters of 3-4 mushrooms. [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="58" gal_title="chanterelle2_2017"] According to field guides and other sources chanterelle is supposed to be quite bug resistant. Unfortunately in my experience that is quite the opposite. My fin...

The middle of July is here, but despite quite rainy and dump weather my hopes for good chanterelle season did not come true. I find some small groups, far apart and well hidden. That is hardly enough for half decent meal for one person. I am steel hoping that my luck will improve in near future. [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="54" gal_title="Chanterelles July 2017"] The very present mushrooms are Amanitas, Xerulas and Tylopilus. As far as numbers go, Amanitas are the most present mushroom in the woods in my area. That goes for both coniferous and deciduous woods. That is nothing really new since the same happens every year. Somewhat unusual is the presence of great numbers of Amanita rubescens and Amanita porphyria. Both have somewhat pink tones over the whole mushroom, but porphyria is usually dark pink, almost brownish and smaller overall. According to many sources (mainly European) Amanita rubescens (known by common name the Blusher due to above mentioned pinkish ton...

  The main thing I noticed on my recent hikes on the Niagara escarpment were Elderberries. A great number of bushes with huge amount of berries (in both green and red stage) abound. Personally, I have never tried to do anything with this berry, but this year,  I will try to make elderberry syrup. It is supposed to be a great remedy for colds and mild flu. [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="49" gal_title="elderberry_2017"] In my last post I mentioned the apparent absence of the crown coral mushroom. Well, in the last several days it did show up in many places. Maybe the growth is not really abundant, but they are certainly present and were missed up until now. [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="47" gal_title="crown_coral_2017"] Several days ago I was checking the south-east slope of the hill for Lactarius hygrophoides (my favorite orange milky, now moved to the new genus Lactifluus). The trees around these mushrooms  are mainly oak with some pines mixed in. Un...

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...