Showing posts with label Mushroom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mushroom. Show all posts

Giant Puffball Mushrooms

Scientific Name: Calvatia gigantea
Abundance: rare
What: white flesh
How: cooked
Where: woods, fields,
When: winter, spring
Nutritional Value: minor
Dangers: Always be 100% certain on your identification of mushrooms

COLLECTING MUSHROOM REQUIRES 100% CERTAINTY. WWW.FORAGINGTEXAS.COM ACCEPTS NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR IDENTIFICATION ERRORS BY ANY READERS.

Growth Form: Calvatia gigantea, also known as the giant puffball, large, irregular spheres which lacks a distinct stem and grows attached to the ground by a cord.

Cap Shape and Size: The fruitbody is large, irregular globe or ball-shaped, 8-12 inches or more across, and 5.5-10 inches or more high, changing from white to yellow or olive-brown with maturity.

Gills or Pores: No gills are present.

Stipe Characteristics: Not present, but sometimes attached to the ground by a cord; cord approximately 2.5 inches long & 0.8 inches wide.

Odor: Mild and not unpleasant.

Bruising: Does not bruise when scratched or pressed.

Spore Color: Olive brown.

Substrate and Habitat: Saprobic, growing in nutrient-rich areas such as roadside verges, deciduous forests, woodland edges, and meadows.

Other Characteristics: The interior of the mushroom is completely white when young. Interior turns a yellowish green as it matures due to formation of spores, starting at the center of the fruitbody. 

Giant Puffball in woodland clearing.
Mushroom - Giant Puffball

Underside of Giant Puffball. They have no gills, pores, or stem.
Mushroom - Giant Puffball

Cutting the above mushroom in half top to bottom, the yellowish interior reveals it's past time to eat it.
Mushroom - Giant Puffball

Another Giant Puffball. This one is lumpy and misshapen but still really big!
Mushroom - Giant Puffball

Cutting it open reveals the entire interior is a uniform, creamy white color so it's still good to eat!
Mushroom - Giant Puffball

This is what it should look like inside if you're going to eat it.
Mushroom - Puffball

Check out this monster!
Mushroom - Puffball

An old Giant Puffball, already going to spore stage.
Mushroom - Giant Puffball

Tearing open the old Giant Puffball. It released a big cloud of spores.
Mushroom - Giant Puffball

Walking across a field or woods you spot what looks like a somewhat deflated soccer ball...or a bleached human skull laying in the grass and leaf litter. Touching it reveals a rubbery surface over a spongy interior. You've just found a Giant Puffball! These are pretty rare in Texas, being only found in a few counties in central Texas. They prefer cool weather so look in winter and early spring.

Texas has plenty of smaller puffballs such as Vascellum curtisii, Scleroderma texense, Gymnopilus spectabilis, Lycoperdon pyriforme, and others but none of these get much bigger than a lime and most are smaller than that. Giant Puffball (Calvatia gigantea) is in a humongous size class all its own.

When collecting a Giant Puffball to eat you must always cut it in half top to bottom to make sure:
A. It's creamy white all the way through. No sign of yellow or brown which indicate it's already making spores which will make you ill.
B. There are no immature gills or an outline of a traditional mushroom hidden in the mushroom. Seeing either indicates you do NOT have an edible puffball but rather a young, deadly Amanita or other dangerous mushroom that looks like a puffball but matures into a normal "toadstool" shape.

This looked like a puffball but cutting it in half revealed immature gills as described above in B. This is NOT a puffball mushroom!!
Mushroom Deathcap

When cooking Giant Puffballs think of them as a chunk of tofu-like matter. The favored way of preparing them is cut them into 1/2" thick slices, batter them with milk, salt, & flour, then fry them in hot oil until golden brown. You can also thinly-slice them followed by sautéing them in butter and some garlic. Good Lord, y'all have no idea how hungry I get when working on this blog!


Buy my book! Idiots Guide Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Chanterelle Mushrooms

Scientific Name(s): Cantharellus cinnabarinus, Cantharellus texensis, Cantharellus lateritius, Cantharellus cibarius
Abundance: uncommon
What: above ground caps and stems
How: cooked
Where: woodlands, near oaks; some yards
When: spring, summer
Nutritional Value: minor
Dangers:

COLLECTING MUSHROOM REQUIRES 100% CERTAINTY. WWW.FORAGINGTEXAS.COM ACCEPTS NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR IDENTIFICATION ERRORS BY ANY READERS.

Cantharellus cibarius.
Mushroom Golden Chanterelle

Mushroom Golden Chanterelle

Note how the gills run down into the stem.
Mushroom Golden Chanterelle

Mushroom Golden Chanterelle

Mushroom Golden Chanterelle

Mushroom - Chanterelle - Cody Hammer

Mushroom - Chanterelle - Cody Hammer

Mushroom - Chanterelle - Cody Hammer

Mushroom Golden Chanterelle

Mushroom - Chanterelles

Cross-section showing the false gills. There is no demarcation between the cap and the "gill" structures, they are all one continuous unit.
Mushroom Golden Chanterelle
Cantharellus cibarius Structural Features::
Growth Form: A highly prized, fragrant, edible mushroom, typically found on forest floors in summer and autumn. It has a symbiotic, mutualistic association with tree roots, often found near oak and beech trees.
Cap Shape and Size: Funnel-shaped with a diameter up to 4 inches, featuring a wavy, irregular margin, and varying from light yellow to deep egg-yolk yellow.
Gills or Pores: The gills are actually ridges that are forked and generally have blunt edges, wavy, and always decurrent.
Stipe Characteristics: The stem is central, fleshy, curved, smooth, and measures 2.4-3 inches long and 0.2-0.4 inches wide.
Odor: Has a somewhat apricot-like scent.
Spore Color: Pale yellow to creamy white, sometimes with a slight pinkish tinge.
Substrate and Habitat: Found in deciduous forest soils near oak, often under beech trees. Grows in many countries including Canada, the U.S., Europe, the Mediterranean, parts of eastern and southern Australia, and parts of Asia.
Other Characteristics: The chanterelle's flesh is thick and firm. 


Cantharellus lateritius false gills aren't as produced as those of other chanterelles.
Mushroom - Chanterelles Cantharellus lateritius

Mushroom - Chanterelles Cantharellus lateritius

Mushroom - Chanterelles Cantharellus lateritius

Mushroom - Chanterelles Cantharellus lateritius

Mushroom - Chanterelles

Mushroom - Chanterelles Cantharellus lateritius
Cantharellus lateritius Structural Features:
Growth Form: Mycorrhizal with oaks and sometimes hickories. Found growing alone, scattered, gregariously, densely gregariously, or in loose clusters during summer and fall. Widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains.
Cap Shape and Size: 1-3.15 inches across; planoconvex to flat when young, becoming shallowly vase-shaped with an incurved, wavy, and irregular margin. Color ranges from bright orange-yellow to egg-yolk yellow. ally more developed wrinkles near the margin. Colored like the cap but paler, often with a pinkish hue.
Stipe Characteristics: 1-2.5 inches long, 0.5-1.2 inches thick, tapering to the base. The stem is bald, colored like the cap or paler, and bruises slowly yellowish to orangish brown.
Bruising: Bruises slowly yellowish to orangish brown, occasionally blackening at the margin.
Gills or Pores: The undersurface runs down the stem; smooth or with shallow wrinkles, occasionally more developed wrinkles near the margin. Colored like the cap but paler, often with a pinkish hue.
Odor: The taste is not distinctive, but the odor is usually strong, fragrant, and sweet, reminiscent of apricots.
Spore Color: Pale pinkish yellow.
Substrate and Habitat: Found in deciduous forest soils near oak, often under beech trees.

Cantharellus texensis
Mushroom - Chanterelle Cantharellus cinnabarinus, Cantharellus texensis

Mushroom - Chanterelle Cantharellus cinnabarinus, Cantharellus texensis

Mushroom - Chanterelle Cantharellus cinnabarinus, Cantharellus texensis

Mushroom - Chanterelle Cantharellus cinnabarinus, Cantharellus texensis

Mushroom - Chanterelle Cantharellus cinnabarinus, Cantharellus texensis
Cantharellus texensis & Cantharellus cinnabarinus Structural Features: 
Growth Form:  Typically grows in the traditional "toadstool" shape, in a solitary or scattered pattern.
Cap Shape and Size: The cap is funnel-shaped, with a size ranging from 1 to 2.5 inches in diameter. It exhibits a bright orange to cinnabar-red color.
Gills or Pores: This mushroom features false gills that are shallow, well-spaced, and run down (decurrent) the stem. The gills are the same color as the cap.
Stipe Characteristics: The stipe (stem) is 1 to 2.5 inches long and 0.25 to 0.5 inches thick, with a color similar to the cap. It is smooth and solid.
Odor: They have a mild, fruity odor, not easily distinguishable.
Bruising: Bruising is not a significant characteristic for this species; there are no notable changes in color when bruised.
Spore Color: The spores are pale yellow to white in color.
Substrate and Habitat: Like most North Anerican Cantharellus, these are commonly found in hardwood forests, particularly under oaks, in the spring and fall.
Other Characteristics: Notable for its bright color, these mushrooms have a peppery taste.  

Walking through the Texas hard wood forests after several days of summer rain, a forager's eye will invariably spot gold and bright red mushrooms growing up from the forest floor, especially along ravines and washes. Most commonly, they will be near oak trees as these fungi treasures have developed a symbiotic relationship trading needed chemicals with the oak roots. They seem to like daytime temperatures between 80F and 100F. I personally use Mother's Day as the signal to start looking and September 1st as the end date.

There are several key physical traits you need to look for on chanterelles to properly identify these awesome, edible mushrooms. That they grow out of the ground in hardwood forests has already been stated. They do NOT grow on living or dead wood. All chanterelles have false gills, meaning their cap and gill structures are one continuous unit. They don't have gills but rather the underside of the cap is very wrinkled to the point of looking like gills. When cut in half it is easy to see there's no change in between the cap and the false gill material. These false gills will run down and merge into the stem, a term described as "decurrent". The stem lacks any ring or bulb at it's base. Several mushrooms may be joined together at the base of their stems. The caps are shaped like an upside down bowl when very young but soon invert into a funnel (convex) shape. Spore prints will be light gray/white in color.

Chanterelles sautéed in butter with a bit of garlic and a splash of homemade wine is very hard to beat. These mushrooms can be used in all the "normal" ways that mushrooms are cooked. The golden chanterelles has a mild, almost fruity flavor while the red cinnabarinus have a spicy, peppery flavor. They dry well for longterm storage and are usually rehydrated in hot water before use.

There are two poisonous mushrooms in my opinion that a novice might mistake for chanterelles. These poisonous mushrooms are Sulfur Tufts (Hypholoma fasciculare) and Jack O'Lanterns (Omphalotus illudens). Let's look at those, starting with the Sulfur Tuft mushroom.

Sulfur Tufts (POISONOUS!) going off buried pine root.
Mushroom Sulfur Tuft -Toxic

Mushroom Sulfur Tuft -Toxic

Unlike chanterelles, sulfur tufts grow on the dead wood of pines. Their caps will look similar to chanterelle but sulfur tufts have true gills and these gills may start yellowish but turn greenish then darken greatly as spore production gets heavy. The gills come to a sharp stop at the stem. Spore prints will be purple-brown.

Jack O'Lantern (POISONOUS!)


Like the sulfur tufts and again unlike chanterelles, Jack O'lanterns grow on dead/dying hardwood. They are dark orange in color, and have true gills which end at the stem. Jack o'lantern spore prints will be pale, creamy, or yellowish.
Mushroom Omphalotus olearius MIMIC IGFB25
By Antonio Abbatiello [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Indigo Milk Cap Mushroom

Scientific Name(s): Lactarius indigo
Abundance: Uncommon
What: cap, stem
How: cooked
Where: shaded hard woods
When: summer
Nutritional Value: vitamins, minerals, fiber
Dangers: beware of poisonous mimic Golden Milk Cap (Lactarius alnicola)

COLLECTING MUSHROOM REQUIRES 100% CERTAINTY. WWW.FORAGINGTEXAS.COM ACCEPTS NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR IDENTIFICATION ERRORS BY ANY READERS.

Growth Form: Lactarius indigo grows solitarily or in groups, in a toadstool shape.

Cap Shape and Size: The cap is initially convex, becoming flat to depressed, with a diameter of 2 to 6 inches. It's characterized by its striking indigo blue color, which fades with age. Concentric, darker blue rings circle the top of the cap.

Gills or Pores: This species has gills that are attached or slightly decurrent. The gills are a similar indigo blue as the cap and may stain green when bruised.

Stipe Characteristics: The stipe is 1 to 2 inches long and 0.6 to 1.2 inches thick, colored indigo blue, and may have a slightly lighter shade than the cap.

Odor: Lactarius indigo typically does not have a distinctive odor.

Bruising: When bruised or cut, the mushroom's flesh and latex turn green.

Spore Color: The spore print of Lactarius indigo is a pale yellow/off-white.

Substrate and Habitat: It is commonly found in woodland settings, particularly under hardwoods and conifers.

Other Characteristics: This mushroom exudes a milky latex when the gills or flesh are damaged. The latex is indigo blue and slowly turns green upon exposure to air.

Indigo Milk Caps have distinctive, blue rings on a concave (slightly funnel shaped) cap.
Mushroom Milk Indigo Lactarius Indigo

The gills are closely packed, stop at the stem, and don't run the etire length from cap edge to stem.
Mushroom Milk Indigo Lactarius Indigo

The gills will turn dark when touched.
Mushroom Milk Indigo Lactarius Indigo

The interior of the cap and stem are blue.
Mushroom Milk Indigo Lactarius Indigo

The cap will weep a blue "milk" when cut or damaged.
Mushroom Milk Indigo Lactarius Indigo – Version 2

The blue milk will stain things.
Mushroom Milk Indigo Lactarius Indigo

Older mushroom, having lost its circular shape.
Mushroom - Lactarius indigo

Indigo Milk Cap mushrooms are a summertime treasure in the woods of Texas. Their distinctive blue color makes them stand out against the leaf litter below shaded, moist environs of hardwood forests of oak, hickory, and elm. It's rarer but not impossible to find them in heavy pine forests. They usually don't appear in large numbers close to one another, preferring a more solitary life rather than a plentiful colony. Also, they do not grow on dead or living wood.

Damage to the cap or stem will produce a copious bleeding of the blue milk from which the mushroom gets it's name. This milk will turn a dark green as it's exposed to air. The inner surface of the mushroom will change from blue to green in the same manner.

The cap is a silvery color with blue rings. When younger the cap is circular in shape and domed. The edge of the cap will curl under the mushroom, partially hiding the gills. As it matures the cap edge spreads out and lifts, creating a depression in the top center of the mushroom and it loses its circular shape, becoming wavy. Indigo Blue Milk Caps have true gills that are made of a different tissue than the cap itself. It produces a pure white spore print. These gills are "adnate" which means they stop at the stem. The stem (aka stipe) is bare, with no remains of a cover or volva.

Cook Indigo Milk Caps as you would any other fleshy mushroom. They do well in everything from simply sauteing in butter to deep frying. The milk won't color sauces blue, unfortunately.

Other members of the Lactarius family can be poisonous. One common one is the Golden Milk Cap (Lactarius alnicola). It has the same shape, rings, and size as the edible Lactarius indigo but it has a gold color and weeps white milk.

Poisonous Golden Milk Cap (Lactarius alnicola) has the same shape and structure as the Indigo Milk Cap but is yellow/gold instead of blue.
Mushroom - Lactarius alnicola

Underside view.
Mushroom - Lactarius alnicola

Side view of poisonous Golden Milk Cap.
Mushroom - Lactarius alnicola

Crosscut view of poisonous Golden Milk Cap.
Mushroom - Lactarius alnicola


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Tinder/Hoof Mushrooms

Scientific Name(s): Fomes fomentarius
Abundance: uncommon
What: mushroom
How: infusion medicinally, smoke to repel mosquitos, inner layer to catch a spark
Where: woods
When: winter, spring, summer, fall
Nutritional Value: not applicable
Dangers: not eaten, but infusion is used internally and externally to fight infections

COLLECTING MUSHROOM REQUIRES 100% CERTAINTY. WWW.FORAGINGTEXAS.COM ACCEPTS NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR IDENTIFICATION ERRORS BY ANY READERS.

Growth Form: Fomes fomentarius typically grows solitarily, forming perennial, woody growths on trees shaped somewhat like a horse's hoof.

Cap Shape and Size: The cap is hoof or fan-shaped, ranging from 2 to 20 inches across. It has a hard, woody texture and is gray to brown in color, often with concentric zones of color.

Gills or Pores: This species has pores on the underside, which are small and round. The pore surface is usually white to brown.

Stipe Characteristics: Fomes fomentarius lacks a distinct stipe; it attaches directly to the tree with a broad, lateral attachment.

Odor: This fungus may have a "mushroom" smell.

Bruising: The flesh is too tough and woody to show bruising.

Spore Color: The spore print is white to light brown.

Substrate and Habitat: Commonly found on hardwoods, particularly birch, but can also be found on other trees.

Other Characteristics: Can continue to grow over several years, resulting in growth bands with a darker strip at the base of each growth band.

Tinder (Hoof) mushrooms on a dying tree.
Mushroom - Tinder Fungus Hoof

Side view. Note the layers and gray color.
Mushroom - Tinder Fungus Hoof

Top-angled view. The greenish color near the top is from mildew.
Mushroom - Tinder Fungus Hoof

Looking at the underside, note the tiny holes aka pores. This is in the class of polypore mushrooms.
Mushroom - Tinder Fungus Hoof

Though oddly shaped, this is still a tinder/hoof mushroom.
Mushroom - Tinder Fungus Hoof

Cut in half, the lower, dark section consists of hundreds of tightly packed tubes and the upper, brown section is called "amadou".
Mushroom - Tinder Fungus Hoof

The amadou layer will catch a spark from flint and steel.
Mushroom - Tinder Fungus Hoof


Tinder hoof mushrooms are one of several different shelf polypore mushrooms found on dead/dying trees. The distinguishing characteristics of these is the layers of grow that result in a thick/tall mushroom rather than a large fan shape. These can be found any time of the year on Texas trees, preferring hardwoods such as oaks, hickories, maples, elms, and sweet gums to pine, cedar, or cypress. The use of these mushrooms can be traced back thousands of years, even being part of Otzi, the Alps caveman corpse's kit.

Hoof mushrooms have several main uses, one of which is medicinal and the others are bushcraft. An infusing made from fresh or dried hoof mushrooms by boiling a tablespoon of chopped-up mushroom in a cup of water produces a strong broth with both antibacterial and antiviral properties. This broth can be drunk to fight internal infections as well as a wash for infected wounds.

This mushroom has some awesome bushcraft use, the first being it's one of the few natural products that will catch a spark, hence the name tinder mushroom. The inner, fibrous "amadou" layer, when dried can be used to start fires from any spark or ember generating source such as flint and steel, flint on quartz, firesteel, or fire-bows. The amadou is pounded into a flat fabric that has lots of fuzzy fiber ends to catch fire.

If you already have a fire going but want to transport the fire elsewhere, hoof/tinder mushrooms will smolder for a long time if ignited. Packed in so moss, you now have a hot coal you can carry with you to start a fire at the next campsite without the effort and uncertainty of making a fire from scratch.

The amadou also has a history of being pounded into a felt-like material used to make clothing and bags. It'll take a lot of mushrooms to get a decent-sized piece of fabric to cover yourself but fewer if you're okay with being indecent. If you look on Etsy.com you can find amadou hats and other gear, though I can't vouch they're made from real amadou.


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

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