Wild Mushrooms – Part 5

The last type of wild mushrooms that you’ll learn about here is the Puffball. So named because of the ball of spores it releases when it matures. It’s a closed mushroom that bursts open at maturity letting out its spores all at once. You can find puffballs in woods, lawns, or meadows. When you find a puffball and they have a white and fleshy appearance they’re ripe for eating. The giant puffball can grow to a foot and if you find it before it breaks, it’s good for eating.

The remaining part of the mushroom after the spores break out can be used as tinder or a styptic for minor wounds. If you have to use it for that, make sure you have some aloe to sooth as it may cause pain that can be worse than the wound itself. To make sure you’ve got a non-poisonous puffball cut it in half. It has an inner cup shape instead of a T shape.

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Wild Mushrooms – Part 4

The morchella or the true morel is a wild mushroom that is often sought out for French cuisine. Besides the value placed by chefs, they’re often hunted because of their great taste and for fun of the hunt. Another name for morels is Dryland Fish because of their similar taste to fish. Morels grow for two to three years after a forest fire but in areas where fire suppression is practiced you may be able to find them every year. The most commonly known morel is Morchella deliciosa. True morels are spongy and gray or tan in color.

Be careful when looking for morels to not be mistaken and accidentally eat a false morel which is poisonous. The false morel looks like a brown brain. The false morels will have a solid stem and the true morels have a hallow stem.

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Wild Mushrooms – Part 3

Another type of edible wild mushrooms is the Cantharellus also known as the Chanterelle. You can find Chanterelle mushrooms in North-America, Asia, Europe and Australia. The species most commonly known is the Yellow Chanterelle. It’s yellow or orange in color and is shaped like a funnel. It smells fruity and tastes peppery making it a tasty option.

Beware when looking for Chanterelle mushrooms because there are look-a-likes that are harmful. The Omphalotus olearius or more commonly known as Jack-O-Lantern is a highly toxic mushroom that you would be sorry to mistake for a Chanterelle. Before looking for any kind of Chanterelle, make sure that you know what you’re looking for so you won’t make a possibly deadly mistake.

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Wild Mushrooms – Part 2

Perhaps one of the most interesting wild mushrooms is the Laetiporus sulfurous, or the Chicken Mushroom. Named Chicken Mushroom because of its taste which is similar to chicken, it can grow to be very large in size and very bright in color. Depending on which type of chicken mushroom you’ve found it can be bright orange or salmon in color. It also may have a white edge.

Chicken Mushrooms are actually a polypore and don’t look like an umbrella, but more like a group of lettuce leaves connected in the middle. There are no Chicken Mushroom look a likes so if you find one, be happy and don’t worry about poison. If you find it dry – it’s past eating. It should be a moist, soft mushroom. It grows most commonly in the fall, but you can find it in the spring and summer.

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Wild Mushrooms – Part 1

In the need to survive you might be forced to find food in a form you wouldn’t normally think, wild mushrooms. In nature mushrooms have very specific purposes. There are so many different kinds of wild mushrooms and they require different settings to grow. Some only grow under a specific tree. Others won’t grow under that three, but will under another. Some wild mushrooms help in the process of death and life in nature. They help the decay process of things like leaves and other natural pieces.

There has been no scientific testing to mushrooms to test the toxicity of them. Mushrooms are called edible or not because of someone eating them and not having adverse consequences or becoming ill or dying after eating something. The only way to make sure you fall into the first category is to know for sure what types you can eat to survive.

For more information on wild edible mushrooms and plants, click here.