Mushroom Hunting Pictures

[Dangerously Unqualified]

So my wife and I took our kids mushroom hunting at Brown County State Park. I took a couple of pictures today but plan to take more later.
The pictures are clickable thumbnails due to size.

We found plenty of Umbrella Plants, or May Apples

These are highly poisonous but they produce an edible fruit in the summer that tastes like lime. There are a couple of these fruits starting to form in this photo.

We also found quite a bit of a beautiful purple Phlox

There were little croppings of these everywhere.

Unfortunately the only fungus we found were some Devil's Urns

Not edible but a good sign that there were fungus' growing there.

The only edible thing we found (at least the only thing on our list of things to look for) were the tiny little fiddleheads on one measly fern toward the bottom of a ravine. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of them and since there were only four and they were about the size of my thumbnail I let them be.

[Johnny]

Totally not what I expected. I was thinking of armed mushroom stalking hapless paintings.

I'd like to learn how to find and identify edible mushrooms. Fiddleheads, too.

[Dangerously Unqualified]

We went out looking for Morels, Sulpher shelves and Fiddleheads. These are pretty easy to identify - morels are very distinct looking, the sulpher shelves we were looking for are called chicken of the woods and are bright yellow, and fiddleheads are the immature fronds on a fern.

Lots of places online to look stuff up but the best way is to find someone IRL who knows what they are doing. It's easy to find a mushroom that looks like something safe and wind up seriously ill.

Fiddleheads are a great example. If you eat them raw or only cooked once they can make you sick. You have to boil them, drain the liquid, rinse the fronds then boil them and drain them a second time. After that they can be seasoned with a little bacon fat and a little brown vinegar and enjoyed. They taste a little bit like asparagus tips to me.

[Johnny]

Yes, I would never gather mushrooms without spending time with someone who knows what he's doing.

I suspected fiddleheads are the immature fronds of a fern, but I was never sure if the 'fiddleheads' I've seen are the ones that are eaten. It's been years since I've eaten any, and the last time was in a restaurant in a salad. A long time before that my boss (different job, not the one I have now) gathered some near his home and brought them into the office. I sautéed them in butter with no ill effects.

[pulykamell]

Totally not what I expected. I was thinking of armed mushroom stalking hapless paintings.

I'd like to learn how to find and identify edible mushrooms. Fiddleheads, too.

Check to see if there's a mycological association in your state/area. I just joined the Illinois Mycological Association earlier this week and hope to learn a bit on the ins and outs of mushroom picking, especially since morel season is upon us. It's something I've always wanted to do, but only just got around to it.

[OtakuLoki]

I have to say that this thread has the most ominous Subject Matter/Poster Name combination I've seen on any board.

[Dangerously Unqualified]

I have to say that this thread has the most ominous Subject Matter/Poster Name combination I've seen on any board.

I do like to make an impression.

[Dangerously Unqualified]

Well, I've met with some success.

After much coaxing I talked my Mother-In-Law into taking me to her "Double Top Secret" mushroom place. We drove around for quite a while and then turned off of the main road. After a drive back a little bit and around behind an old horse barn we found it - the small farmers market with the back room full of mushrooms.

Ok, so I didn't find them in the woods myself - yet.

Here are a few spelling out my initials, mostly because I like to play with my food.



I'm going to keep hunting though.