Hi there everyone! I'm not exactly new to this forum but this is my first post. After spending months of reading what everybody else had to say I didn't think I could add anything due to my limited knowledge, however after this morning I thought y'all would like to see the harvest.
Today was the first day in a week that it wasn't raining so me and s'étonner took the opportunity to go on a fungal foray in the hopes of finding something for dinner. Being beginners the fungi we were focusing on were boletes as these are easily recognized by their pores instead of gills and also are not easily mixed up with dangerous species.
After walking around one of the local woodland for about half an hour we decided to check out this one likely looking area. We could see many of what we think are buttercaps(?) and many small non-descript species which to our untrained eyes were very hard to identify. However we then came across patches of a Lycoperdon sp. which one we don't know as we couldn't be certain. Then we happened upon a small number of what we Identified as Mycena pura which although they are edible we didn't want to take the risk and trust our identifaction skills this time.
Then, thinking that this area had given us all that it had to offer I turned around to leave and this beaut of a bolete came to my sight!
We couldn't believe it! Then everywhere we turned we saw them poking their chestnut heads through the undergrowth. We identified them as the Bay Bolete Boletus badius. They were extremely large and although not all of them were in the best of condition due to slug damage there were many pickable specimens and pick them we did
(making sure we left some too though)
That one area had so many we couldn't believe our luck! We decided to try out some other locations and it appeared that we had peaked early as all we could find were Russala spp. and more of the same brown/grey unidentifiable by me kinda species. We thought our look was out but then s'étonner found a lovely little patch of Amethyst decievers Laccaria amethystea which we added to the bay boletes.
It continued like this for a while, finding the odd Bay Bolete here and there, some ready to be harvested some way too old and some way too young. Also, finding many other types of Bolete which we couldn't identify at the time, but which I have now identified as Boletus chrysenteron The Red-Cracking Boletus - these were everywhere! Apparently they are edible but aren't worth it.
Then it came time that s'étonner had to go so we split our hoards and were very pleased indeed for our first outing! I forgot to take a picture at this point but perhaps s'étonner will post one that he took?
I decided to stay foraging for another hour an a half as I was determined to find a penny bun and we hadn't seen one yet. Moving to likely locations I continued to find many species of fungi which I couldn't identify, however there were some that I could such as this Fly Agaric. Which I thought was unusual as I thought this species came out later on in the year?
Then I came across it - the king - the daddyio - the papa bear of all the boletes... The Penny Bun Boletus edulis!! I couldn't believe it, so much so in fact that I had to ring s'étonner to let him know! haha. However the little tyke was all munched up by slugs and maggots which I hear is quite common for this species? However, feeling that they had had their fill and that I should get mine I collected the beaut.
Then heading out of the woodland I managed to find a few more Bay Bolete which seen to stick out like a sore thumb once I had 'got my eye in' so to speak! Just about to get in the car and I saw a Shaggy Parasol mushroom too Then headed home to sort out the harvest.
The mushrooms were then prepared by wiping the caps and removing the pores with a spoon then cut up and laid out to dry.
However the amythest decievers and the penny bun were too tempting to preserve and I thought that I should celebrate the day's success by having them in a sandwich - and it was delicious!
Thanks for reading my first post - hope it wasn't too long. Let me know what you think, Motz.
Today was the first day in a week that it wasn't raining so me and s'étonner took the opportunity to go on a fungal foray in the hopes of finding something for dinner. Being beginners the fungi we were focusing on were boletes as these are easily recognized by their pores instead of gills and also are not easily mixed up with dangerous species.
After walking around one of the local woodland for about half an hour we decided to check out this one likely looking area. We could see many of what we think are buttercaps(?) and many small non-descript species which to our untrained eyes were very hard to identify. However we then came across patches of a Lycoperdon sp. which one we don't know as we couldn't be certain. Then we happened upon a small number of what we Identified as Mycena pura which although they are edible we didn't want to take the risk and trust our identifaction skills this time.
Then, thinking that this area had given us all that it had to offer I turned around to leave and this beaut of a bolete came to my sight!
We couldn't believe it! Then everywhere we turned we saw them poking their chestnut heads through the undergrowth. We identified them as the Bay Bolete Boletus badius. They were extremely large and although not all of them were in the best of condition due to slug damage there were many pickable specimens and pick them we did
(making sure we left some too though)
That one area had so many we couldn't believe our luck! We decided to try out some other locations and it appeared that we had peaked early as all we could find were Russala spp. and more of the same brown/grey unidentifiable by me kinda species. We thought our look was out but then s'étonner found a lovely little patch of Amethyst decievers Laccaria amethystea which we added to the bay boletes.
It continued like this for a while, finding the odd Bay Bolete here and there, some ready to be harvested some way too old and some way too young. Also, finding many other types of Bolete which we couldn't identify at the time, but which I have now identified as Boletus chrysenteron The Red-Cracking Boletus - these were everywhere! Apparently they are edible but aren't worth it.
Then it came time that s'étonner had to go so we split our hoards and were very pleased indeed
for our first outing! I forgot to take a picture at this point but perhaps s'étonner will post one that he took? I decided to stay foraging for another hour an a half as I was determined to find a penny bun and we hadn't seen one yet. Moving to likely locations I continued to find many species of fungi which I couldn't identify, however there were some that I could such as this Fly Agaric. Which I thought was unusual as I thought this species came out later on in the year?
Then I came across it - the king - the daddyio - the papa bear of all the boletes... The Penny Bun Boletus edulis!! I couldn't believe it, so much so in fact that I had to ring s'étonner to let him know! haha. However the little tyke was all munched up by slugs and maggots which I hear is quite common for this species? However, feeling that they had had their fill and that I should get mine I collected the beaut.
Then heading out of the woodland I managed to find a few more Bay Bolete which seen to stick out like a sore thumb once I had 'got my eye in' so to speak! Just about to get in the car and I saw a Shaggy Parasol mushroom too
Then headed home to sort out the harvest.
The mushrooms were then prepared by wiping the caps and removing the pores with a spoon then cut up and laid out to dry.
However the amythest decievers and the penny bun were too tempting to preserve and I thought that I should celebrate the day's success by having them in a sandwich - and it was delicious!
Thanks for reading my first post - hope it wasn't too long. Let me know what you think, Motz.
