shrooms

Mushroom hunting, identification, and foraging! Submit pics for help with identifying your own finds :)

[mushroomgay]

Cambridge, UK, September 2024

Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus)

Found some surprise chicken of the woods on the cycle home from work! It was at the perfect stage for harvesting, and I of course had to immediately make my favourite chicken nuggies of the woods. Some more is in the fridge and will likely become a stew and a risotto.

[mushroomgay]

Followed a while ago so I can send my mycologist* friend pictures of random mushrooms and their identifications, sometimes I don’t send him the ID until he guesses a few times, it’s fun

*well, he’s a construction worker with a degree in environmental science that had a focus on mycology, so… yea lmao

aw I love that!! I also get sent lots of pics of random (often blurry, often distant) mushrooms people see! and have no academic background in mycology or any biology myself

[mushroomgay]

Cambridge, UK, September 2024

Ghost bolete (Leccinum holopus)

I think this is a ghost bolete, thought I'm not sure - I don't recognise it as any other kind of bolete, though I'm happy to be corrected if anyone knows!

Ghost boletes are a good edible, but quite rare in the UK, so (along with not being certain of ID) I left it be.

[mushroomgay]

Cambridge, UK, July 2024

Common stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus)

Had a lovely interaction at Thetford Forest with a small child, who told me all about the different woodpeckers he was there to see, while I showed him he could literally 'sniff out' the stinkhorns that were all over the forest floor.

These fungi attract flies by giving off the scent of rotten meat on their gleba, the sticky substance that covers the cap. The flies that land on it distribute the spores in the gleba on their feet, allowing the fungus to reproduce.

[mushroomgay]

omg i forgot that i vented a bunch on this blog about my lil 18 month situationship angst well Anyway like a week ago i asked her to be my girlfriend and she said yes :)

[mushroomgay]

Cambridge, UK, August 2024

Devil's tooth / bleeding tooth (Hydnellum peckii)

These absolutely beautiful fungi are incredibly variable in shape and size, although nearly all young specimens have a light pink tone, and are decorated with red guttation - the small droplets of excess water being exuded from the pore surface.

It's fairly rare in the UK, so this was an exciting find!

[mushroomgay]

The way that I've been on T for 7 years this month is insane

[mushroomgay]

Cambridge, UK, July 2024

Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus)

I'm finally back to posting!! This is from a few months ago - after a devastating absence of CotW last year, this year I found loads in all my regular spots, and feasted on it plentifully.

Lots of it topped my favourite meal for several nights: udon noodle soup. I also made chicken nuggets of the woods (with chips and veg) and a vegan chicken risotto with it.

[mushroomgay]

I have so many mushrooms to post and every time i go to do so my little depressed sleep deprived insomniac brain decides this is the exact thing I don't have capacity for :'(((((((((((((

[mushroomgay]

Unless you view her as a man or him as a woman… which does happen despite the pronouns… I’m guessing you are bisexual?

I'm actually straight but dw I'm working on forcefemming my husband

[mushroomgay]

I've been slowly building up small stores of wild preserved food over the last year to use through the winter - I'm going to try next year to have about 10% of my food be wild or gardened (I'm moving to a place with a garden!!)! This is a very small target for some people, but we start somewhere :)

This is a delicious meal that I made with sauce from Hawthorn berries. I haven't used them before and was excited to find a new way to preserve vitamin c for throughout the winter. It was delicious! As I was making it, I noticed it tasted a lot like hoisin sauce, so I decided to fry up some oyster mushrooms with the sauce and make a sort of faux vegan hoisin duck pancake with cucumber and spring onions and chilli oil (in this case with gluten free wraps so my husband can eat it too). It was so good!! I'm definitely going to invest a lot of time in harvesting more hawthorn berries next autumn.

[mushroomgay]

@turtlesandfrogs SO I was aiming for a much thicker Hawthorn sauce, based on this recipe - https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/hawthorn-berry-recipes-foraging

Mine turned out much more like a syrup than the ketchup that's shown here. I think I didn't boil the berries for long enough, and didn't push soft flesh through the sieve because I wasn't sure whether to or not - I think I should have.

It still turned out deliciously though. Next year I'll probably make it my way again, and separately also try to imitate the recipe more accurately.

[spicynative]

@scyllas-revenge and @mushroomgay thank you SO much for the inspiration to make a ton of magnolia things. I followed both of your recipes to make a bunch of magnolia syrup and pickled magnolias. ヘ⁠(⁠￣⁠ω⁠￣⁠ヘ⁠)

🏵️🌸🏵️🌸

[mushroomgay]

Ahhhh I'm so glad you made some!! Your syrup has a wonderful deep colour. Let me know how you like them :)

[mushroomgay]

Final magnolia post!! This udon noodle soup had a broth made with wild garlic and the last of last year's dried porcinis, and some fresh magnolia blossoms to add a sweet gingery kick. It was delicious!

[mushroomgay]

This is how I use pickled magnolia petals - as ginger on homemade sushi! I also love it enough to enjoy wrapping a fresh blossom around each piece to eat it too.

The miso soup features wild garlic, another wonderful spring time edible.

[mushroomgay]

@spicynative 3 parts vinegar, 1 part sugar, approx 1/10 part salt (usually just a glug, it's whatever). I heat all these parts together until everything's dissolved, then add petals (I prefer chopped for easier eating on sushi, but you could easily add them whole). Pour into a sterilised jar and keep in the cupboard or fridge and enjoy on whatever you like!

[mushroomgay]

You're in the UK but we have magnolias here in the south of the US, too. Any idea if the ones here are also edible? I'd love to try magnolia syrup!

There are no known inedible or harmful magnolias, and I personally treat all magnolias as edible.

[mushroomgay]

This is how I use pickled magnolia petals - as ginger on homemade sushi! I also love it enough to enjoy wrapping a fresh blossom around each piece to eat it too.

The miso soup features wild garlic, another wonderful spring time edible.

[mushroomgay]

Magnolia syrup w tonic water + ice is a perfect summer garden drink imo. Next year I might try adding some natural red dye - maybe a little beetroot - to get a pink colour in memory of the blossoms.