Wild mushrooms

[Joanbunting Profile]

Commonly known in the UK as saffron milk caps and red pine mushrooms.

They are a particulardelicacy in this part of the world. On Saturday a friend turned up with a basket of the saffron ones - the red ones are called sanguines(bloody) here.
I have, in the past been with same friend to pick them and was taught how to prepare them by a chef friend of his. Couldn't be simpler - was and trim then add lots of olive oil and chopped agrlic and cook over an open fire or bbq then sprinkle with chopped parsley and enjoy

Has anyone else gone on a mushroom and cooked and tasted the result?

[Sakkarin Profile]

I bought a couple of mushroom/toadstool books to identify edible ones, but in the end didn't trust myself. Originally it was because a whole patch of white things that looked like normal field mushrooms appeared in my garden, but there was a similar looking thing that was listed as very unpleasant

I think that maybe the way to do it is to seek the help of an expert. I seem to recall they do courses on mushroom foraging.

[Pampy Profile]

I went on a mushroom hunt years ago and cooked the results - very nice, they were.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

My dad was really capable of identifying mushrooms

There are a few varieties I’d happily eat having foraged them myself, notably cepes aka boletus edulis aka penny bun mushroom; there’s just nothing you can confuse them with in southern England. Ditto puff balls, morels and I’d be happy to pick a few others with a good reference

But it is worth stressing that when you know your local fungi, that’s all you know - your local fungi, quite specific to an area, to a terroir or an ecosystem. As far as I remember the last multiple fungal poisoning in England affected a SE Asian family, expert foragers in their homeland, but sadly not expert on the fungi of Wessex.

[Badger's Mate Profile]

To echo Sue's comment, I used to pick fungi quite regularly - but I knew my limits. Blewits & field mushrooms mostly. I would know giant puffballs but rarely found them. Just got to know where things were, so checked the places out at the appropriate season. MIL was always terrified that I would poison her daughter.

[Alexandria Profile]

Joan,

We call these "Níscalos" in Spanish or "Rovello" in Catalan ..

They are in season now and very very popular in the forests of: Ocejón, Guadalajara, Castilla La Mancha, Northern Cataluna (Girona and Lleida) and The Irati Región, 50km. from Pamplona, Navarra ..


I prepare mine the same way. My dad and grandfathers forage and are always bringing home Níscalos and the jewels of Boletus !!

Evoo, fresh minced parsley and a clove or 2 of garlic minced depending on size and a sprinkle of salt ..


Lovely thread .. Have a great week ..

[Joanbunting Profile]

Your dad was a pharmacist wasn't he Sue? As you well know if you wish to have a haul of wild mushrooms identified here you take them along to the local pharmacy.

Even the local supermarket had 6 different species on sale last week - some didn't look as fresh as I would wish but the display looked most impressive.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

I am fascinated by my friend who does this with utter confidence.
With my haul, fry and use in a simple ....... look away now Joan .............. pasta plate, with lemon.

Mushroom and lemon go so well. And rosemary.

We have a feeling in this country that mushrooms kill if they are poisonous.
But I think you just get a nasty nasty reaction? I wouldn't like to test my theory out. I seem to remember reading this somewhere.

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I am fascinated by my friend who does this with utter confidence.

Utter competence would probably be better...

I know I got it wrong once, luckily most wrong species are unpalatable rather than poisonous and most of the poisonous ones cause discomfort and inconvenience rather than death. There are a few deadly ones of course and they tend to be easily identified. I would be wary of a bag of mixed fungi that someone else had foraged, especially if they (the fungi!) were not whole.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Your dad was a pharmacist wasn't he Sue? As you well know if you wish to have a haul of wild mushrooms identified here you take them along to the local pharmacy.

Even the local supermarket had 6 different species on sale last week - some didn't look as fresh as I would wish but the display looked most impressive.

Yes, and in fact country pharmacists often used to identify foraged material here, but it seems to have died out after WW2; it was never mandatory here as it is in France

When dad was an apprentice in 1938/9 (in those days you did your apprentice year before college) he often had branches of berries and fungi brought in, and once a live adder in a surprisingly small jar. Sadly he had to chloroform it, as they couldn’t work out a safe way of releasing an angry viper.

As he went into academia he was never in a country shop again after the war, and seldom in a city one.

As a retirement project he took portraits of local fungi for the poisons unit to use to identify the fungi people had eaten.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

We have a feeling in this country that mushrooms kill if they are poisonous.
But I think you just get a nasty nasty reaction? I wouldn't like to test my theory out. I seem to remember reading this somewhere.

Yes and no
Most people don’t die, many reactions are mild
But of the family I mentioned above I think 2 died and a third was left with permanent damage

Very rare as Brits aren’t great foragers.

These days I either buy the cultivated “woodland mushrooms” or pay a fortune in Borough market

[Joanbunting Profile]

The last time I saw someone bringing in their mushrooms for identification at the pharmacy she was thoroughly told off. She had brought them in a plastic bag and not , as she should, in a basket!

Mushrooms deteriorate very quickly in plastic. So why are they nearly always sold in the supermarket in plastic bags or boxes ???

[Suffs Profile]

To echo Sue's comment, I used to pick fungi quite regularly - but I knew my limits. Blewits & field mushrooms mostly. I would know giant puffballs but rarely found them. Just got to know where things were, so checked the places out at the appropriate season. ....

Ditto.

I do know where I can find giant puffballs and used to get one or two most years, but the land has been sold and I don't know the new owner or his attitude to an occasional fungus scrumper in his sheep meadow, so although my car slows right down as I go past I've not stopped since he took over.

I also saw some wonderful Shaggy Ink Caps at the weekend ... sadly I was not within reach of a kitchen and they wouldn't have waited until I was

I also know where there are what I'm 99.9% certain are Parasols ... hundreds of them .... but I'm not totally certain ... I'd have to have someone confirm my ID ...

[Badger's Mate Profile]

Parasols are lovely. I've only had them in the West of Britain though, never found them near to home. I don't think that's biogeographically significant, just haven't found any.

I have heard that more people are made ill by manky mushrooms than by poisonous ones - no idea if that's true, but I don't bother with old, slimy or potentially high-protein fungi.

ETA
I remember reading in Food for Free that one of the ink caps contains some chemical similar to Antabuse, which make you feel ill if taken with alcohol.

[Suffs Profile]

I remember reading in Food for Free that one of the ink caps contains some chemical similar to Antabuse, which make you feel ill if taken with alcohol.

So I understand so I've never risked it ... and talking to a fellow fungi scrumper at the weekend she said the same thing.

[Alexandria Profile]

Joan,


Plastic is a true sin for anything ..

Have a lovely day ..

[Alexandria Profile]

My view point ..

Having two foraging grand-fathers and father, meaty mushrooms like: Portobello, Porcini, Boletus Eduli, Níscalos ( The burnished red orange rusty colored mushrooms, Joan is discussing called Red Pine Mushrooms) and Morels (morilles), tend to pair best with earthy full bodied reds such as:

100 % Sangiovese Abruzzo or Tuscan Reds
100% Tempranillo Ribera del Duero, Castilla León Reds
100% Syrah Reds
Oak Aged Noble Nosed Red Burgundies from the Rhone Alps Designation of Origin, France



French White Burgundies and Pinot Noir are veered more toward Chanterelles ..

All my life I have been eating un-cultivated, wild mushrooms and have never been ill from Mushrooms that are foraged and as a true Mediterranean, we pair and drink wine with all our meals ..

[Suffs Profile]

]

I remember reading in Food for Free that one of the ink caps contains some chemical similar to Antabuse, which make you feel ill if taken with alcohol.

I've done a bit of checking ... apparently it's the Common Ink Cap which, while perfectly edible otherwise, can make you very ill if eaten when you have alcohol in your system, even if taken a day or so prior to eating the mushroom.

http://www.gallowaywildfoods.com/shaggy ... edibility/

Forewarned is forearmed

[Sakkarin Profile]

Found a couple of clumps of these on my afternoon walk. Any ideas? In the meantime I'll see if I can find my mushroom/toadstool books....

They had some rather unpleasant looking flies on them, I wonder if that's a clue they may be nasty...

I remember last time I bought morels I had to throw them all out because they were alive with wiggly things.

http://www.sakkarin.co.uk/foodforumpix/foraged-mush.jpg

EDIT: Doesn't look like any on that site you linked to Suffs

[Suffs Profile]

Those look to me very like immature Horse mushrooms or maybe Field mushrooms

https://www.wildfooduk.com/mushroom-gui ... -mushroom/

However, check the 'Possible Confusion' with the Yellow Stainer

And of course, please don't just take my word for it .... I can't smell them from here