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Late season save


fungrrl

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Hi folks -

I've not been on here a while because mushrooming has really been a bust for me this year. I spotted a few interesting things here and there - such as a chicken of the woods and some oysters in yards near my house - but the woods I hunt have turned up very little lately. It's been very, very dry here in Northern IL. Where I normally find lots of honey mushrooms, hens of the woods and puff balls, I found nothing this year. Nada. Zilch.

However, we had a nice week of Indian Summer weather, with temperatures in the 70s and some nice drenching rain. I knew that I should get out there, but work was overwhelming this week, and I didn't have time to get out into the woods. However, a couple nights ago, as I turned into my driveway, I spotted something in my yard. It turned out to be a nice fruiting of shaggy manes, a variety I'd never seen before.

I double checked the identiy and then picked a mess of them and made an omelette. I think these just bumped hens of the woods from my top 5 favorite foraged mushrooms to eat. I thought they were really delicious. And it was nice of the mushroom gods to send a few my way. I'm looking forward to next year!

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Fungrrl can you tell me more about these mushrooms that are they healthy or not? And can we buy them from any store?

www.totalmush.com

Anam, these mushrooms are actually quite easy to grow. However, once mature, the gills and cap quickly turn to a black "ink". It is the mushroom itself that releases an enzyme which essentially digests its own flesh. This is a method to increase spore propagation. In these mushrooms the gills are very closely packed together, and when it starts turning "inky", the cap rolls back, spreading out the gills, allowing the spore to be convected away by air currents. Disadvantage, spore dispersion only last a day or two (the change to ink happens quite rapidly). Advantage, having many more gills means higher production of spores.

As this is a common mushrooms, I assume this unique evolutionary trait is a good one!

So, to go back to your initial question, no, we don't ever see these in stores (at least I haven't), because they turn inky so fast, they would be spoiled before making it to market. When you find them, you generally need to eat them the same day. That's usually not a problem because they are very good to eat!

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