#candy caps

[photozoi]

Candy Caps on rotting Doug fir stump

[c4tbus]

Went foraging for mushrooms and found some Candy Caps. 🍄

[deathandmushrooms]

Candy Caps - Lactarius rubidus

Spotted Cort - Cortinarius iodes

[fungusqueen]

Dashboard mushrooms from the pre-pandemic era. The downside of rainy mushroom picking is “processing” the mushrooms before they start growing mold or going bad from sitting wet in a basket for hours. With Candy Caps (pictured above) it’s best to clean off any dirt and then try to dry them as soon as possible. If it’s raining outside, a car dashboard with a towel might be your best method of drying...especially if the sun comes out and heats up the car! Some mushrooms, like morels, can best air dry by stringing them up and hanging them in the wind and sun (or in front of a fan indoors). 

Dried mushrooms can be rehydrated or ground into a powder for cooking after they’ve completely dried. Of course, if you have access to electricity, you can always use a real dehydrator.

[photozoi]

Camouflage

Spring Maple leaf on Candy Caps, during and after the rains.

[fungusqueen]

Mushrooms found while camping. Candy Caps on the right and some kind of Bolete on the left

[fungusqueen]

Made these vegan candy cap cookies yesterday. I know people usually use this candy cap cookie recipe from David Arora’s book All That the Rain Promises, and More... but I used his technique of sautéing rehydrated (foraged) candy cap pieces in butter and worked that into a vegan sugar cookie recipe by NoraCooks. I also added candy cap powder to replace some of the flour/dry ingredients. I really didn’t use a lot of candy cap altogether, I used about 3 TBSP total of candy caps for a doubled recipe for 40-50 cookies.

I posted my own amended recipe at the bottom right if anyone is interested. Instead of using dairy butter, I use the vegan butter by Miyokos, which is my favorite for cooking because it’s palm oil free, browns nicely, and works with both savory and sweet dishes. 

[fungusqueen]

Candy Caps and Yellow Foot