Edible Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest

[darrin6109]

anyone tried any of these?


www.rivermenrodandgunclub.com/edible-mushrooms.html (http://www.rivermenrodandgunclub.com/edible-mushrooms.html)

[wildcatter]

Yeah, I've had chantrelles, king bolete, oyster, puffball also shaggy mane.
I love mushrooms and would be interested to chat with others about it.

[kennyj]

Yup. I've tried most of those and some others and will pick them whenever I see them. This year was excellent for mushrooms.
kenny

[Brew]

How do you prepare these types of mushrooms guys? I do see all of these mushrooms every year and there were tons this year but am not trusting of myself to eat them.

[RJ]

As much as I would love to try em, I just don't trust myself enough with identification. One bad mistake and you're toast :???:

[BuckEye]

chantrelles and shaggy mane's were those most consumed in my house growing up. My mum had a great eye for the shaggy's years ago. Her and her hubbies wild game these days are the Chantrelles. We hunt for the fur baring ones and some hunt for mushrooms. Both are great reasons to get out and into the woods. Learn your mushroom ID's and do both.
My friend and I picked chantrelles every spare daylight moment we could find during our late teen years. (Van Island upbringing) We had a number of secret patches, a nice buyer station, and every year and it paid for the drive-in movie nights and beer.

[LukaTisus]

At least shaggy manes and puffballs are easy to identify! Taste great fried up with a grouse-breast, olive oil and some garlic and onions, too. :D

[Shooter Jr.]

Why should immature Chanterelle's be avoided?
I'm sure I had a few immature ones before.

[naes]

I love to pick and eat wild Mushrooms Chanterelles are my favorite. :-D
When I find a good patch of them I feel like a kid in a candy store!
I don't know why you would want to avoid immature ones other than letting the grow.
If there is another reason I would like to know too.

[Steeleco]

This is the book to get and keep handy in the fall.

http://bookstore.manfioz.com/sornd-20/detail/0295964804

How do you guys get rid of the grit in your Shaggy's?? I love the taste, but gravel I can do without.

[saskbooknut]

Shaggy manes in the fall for cream of mushroom soup, starter for a meal of Blue grouse
Morels in the spring with cutthroat trout from Saltspring Island
Life was good on the Coast in the early 70s for my young family

[tadpole]

In central Europe wen I migrated from over 30 years ago mushroom picking is a big thing. People go by buses to the woods to pick shrooms every fall in there. Lot of them die accidentally every year by consuming Amonita variety by mistake. I keep on shrooming tradition in our beautiful BC with great success. Of course I pick up only the type i recognize well. It will probably be no more than dozen types. Five or six from Boletus family, couple of milk caps family, Chantliers of course(orange and yellow), Couple of parasol mushroom variety, Morels, and another 4 that i don't even know Canadian names for them. I fry them, dry them, stew them i sour cream, make souses etc. All depends on variety used. When I get them home, I clean them, fast boil them, zip-lock them
and to the freezer they go. Great to use them later for gourmet type of dinners.

[Walking Buffalo]

For those new to shroomin',

Can you tell the difference between a Coho and a Chinook, or between a Mulie and a WT?

With a little bit of teaching and personal experience, you will learn to ID the different mushrooms. And it is worth it!

If you don't have someone to teach you, my advice is to pick up a good mushroom guide book. This is one of the best.

All That The Rain Promises and More: A Hip Pocket Field Guide
http://www.amazon.com/All-That-Rain-Promises-More/dp/0898153883/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228442606&sr=8-1
A great technique for learing to ID mushrooms is to take a few home from your hikes, and compare them to the guide. With time, you will gain the confidence in your ID skills.

There are few lethal mushrooms , most of the BAD ones will give you time to read your Mushroom book while in the can. :oops:

From the OP list, I regularly pick the Hedgehogs, Chantrelles, Oysters, and Morels. Each one is unique in flavour and texture. My favorite may be the Hedgehogs.

[gamehunter6o]

In NZ September and October (spring) had record rainfall, then November into December no rain fell and drought conditions were declared. Then 4 days ago warm rain came and mushrooms are every where, 4 months early. Just unheard of, mushrooms on the barbie for Christmas.:-D
I gave up after three, 10litre buckets today.


http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq225/mossoprd/Zacs2ndpig004.jpg

[Morel]

I am a mycologist by training (a person who studies fungi), here are my two cents.

You need to be certain of your identification, get a good field guide, get an experienced friend to take you mushroom hunting or join a club! The information on the link you included is a good start but not nearly sufficient for safe collecting - e.g. the description of telling the difference between puffballs and Amanita species (e.g. destroying angels). Even though these species are "safe" and "unlikely to be confused with toxic species", inexperienced mushroom hunters can mistake common edibles like Morels for toxic species like the "false morel" Gyromitra esculenta. (Although some people do eat Gyromitra esculenta, they need to be properly prepared to remove the toxins). When in doubt, throw it out. Although there have been a lot of suggestions for field guides in this thread, I would personally suggest "Mushrooms Demystified" by David Aura (~$30) on Amazon. This book is used in a lot of introductory mycology classes across North America. Simply following a key to identify a mushroom is not a guarantee that you have the correct identification. The main advantage of Mushrooms Demystified over other field guides I have seen is that once you come up with a name, the author provides some references to other species that are similar that you should check first - especially before eating anything.

[Morel]

Walking Buffalo suggested another field guide by David Aurora. I have not used it but it is likely just as good and a little lighter to haul around than Mushrooms Demystified. I may need to get a copy too.

[Ubertuber]

I have the field guide by David Aurora. It's helped me identify quite a few different mushrooms over the years. I'd recommend it. It's always in my pack, no matter where I go.

[deezday]

picking mushrooms is great fun with the family the most important thing though is making sure you know what your picking, when i first started i would use various id books and then take the mushroom to the mushroom buyer in campbellton across from the walmart and he would give me the ok mushrooms found so far, cauliflower, chanterrels, yellow foot chanterelles, hedgehog, pine. they are all good but my favourite is the pine mushroom (matsutake). I hope this coming year is better it didnt seem like there were all that many mushrooms out there.

[shotgunjohn]

If anyone finds a large patch of what they think might be hedgehog mushrooms I'd be happy to come and make a positive I.D. for them.

Seriously always try and be sure. Had a friend bring me what he thought was a pine mushroom and I.D. it as an Amanita. (deadly poisonous)

Some great eats out there , just be careful.

[Mikey Rafiki]

Great year for the shrooms in the Valley. Rain, rain, rain. Puffballs the size of yer head:
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Shroom4.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21831&ppuser=20705)
(There is one that looks like a bum)

Blonde Morels by the river, cutty's weren't biting:
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Shroom3.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21830&ppuser=20705)

Shaggy's all September made up for some slow Elk hunting days:
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Shroom1.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21828&ppuser=20705)

Giant shrooms that likely shouldn't be eaten:
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Shroom2.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21829&ppuser=20705)

[darrin6109]

are there any courses in the lower mainland?

[jaeger]

Have tried them all (chef by trade) they are all very tasty!
My personal fav is the Morel followed by Chantrelle then Bolette followed by the rest.
I dry the Morels and Bolette they dry the best. I find Chantrelle turn fibery and loose the taste when dryed,so I sautee them with onions and garlic then Vac. pack them and freeze em. They taste as good as they were fresh picked! Just my 2 bits.

[Morel]

are there any courses in the lower mainland?
You might try the Vancouver Mycological Society (http://www.vanmyco.com/). I have only lived here a few months so do not know the members but the website indicates they do forays - usually a bunch of people walking in the woods collecting mushrooms. Generally a pretty fun time. This is a great way to learn about fungi and maybe get a very different perspective of the great outdoors.

[Samsquantch]

Ive had the chicken of the woods aka chicken fat mushrooms before. Be careful, they closely resemble another shroom which is toxic.
Made pasta sauce with it (the one 4 lb shroom my bro brought home).
It was delicious as are all wild fungus.

[Morel]

Ive had the chicken of the woods aka chicken fat mushrooms before. Be careful, they closely resemble another shroom which is toxic.
Made pasta sauce with it (the one 4 lb shroom my bro brought home).
It was delicious as are all wild fungus.

I was under the (mistaken) impression that chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) was an easy to identify edible. Laetiporus sulphureus is the scientific name for a single species whereas chicken of the woods refers to multiple species that look very similar. I have often seen chicken of the woods but have not collected it to eat. Since the issue was raised, I did a little research.

In the Pacific Northwest the species found on oaks is Laetiporus gilbertsonii and the species found on pines is Laetiporus conifericola (http://www.mykoweb.com/TFWNA/P-52.html). Both species are considered edible but some people have gastrointestinal reactions to these species (http://www.mykoweb.com/TFWNA/P-52.html). It is not clear to me if the tree species it is growing on makes a difference. It is recommended to try small amounts at first and cook wild collected mushrooms well before eating (even non-toxic species can cause food poisoning from bacteria in the mushroom). Two people may have different reactions to the same meal!

Further to the west (Great Lakes region), another species Laetiporus huroniensis is indistinguishable from Laetiporus sulphureus but occurs on pines (L. huroniensis) rather than oaks (L. sulphureus) (http://blog.mycology.cornell.edu/?p=52). Laetiporus huroniensis has been associated with more frequent gastrointestinal reactions and the advice is to avoid specimens growing on conifers (http://blog.mycology.cornell.edu/?p=52 , http://americanmushrooms.com/edibles4.htm).

For me, the take home message is read before you eat, be sure of your identification, go slowly (eat only a little at first) and thoroughly cook wild mushrooms.

Happy collecting!

[wolverine]

Just be positive of what you are picking. Every year there are those the buy a book and out they go and wind up meeting God instead ... or wishing they would have. Mushrooms are nothing to mess with if you don't know your stuff. Very powerful neuro toxins which can reduce you to the same state as the mushroom. Be careful .... don't be a stat.

[BCHunterFSJ]

Morels go really well with most wild game recipes. A shaggy mane omelet is pretty hard to beat. Delicious! Marinated boletes make excellent hors d'oeuvres. Just add some pickled herring and shots of ice cold vodka...

[Morel]

It is well worth the effort to learn about and collect wild mushrooms. Morels can't be beat.

[wildcatter]

It is well worth the effort to learn about and collect wild mushrooms. Morels can't be beat.

Hi Morel,
Are you in Vancouver?
This coming spring I want to try to find some morels, but don't really know any good areas.

[Singleshotneeded]

:-DThere's also an app called Rogers Mushrooms that has pics and info to help ID your wild mushrooms. I have it on my Iphone, and it's probably available for other smart phones as well.

[bcbrez]

I find morrels and lobster mushrooms taste the best. But I do pick lots of shaggies and oyster mushrooms too.

[Morel]

Hi Morel,
Are you in Vancouver?
This coming spring I want to try to find some morels, but don't really know any good areas.

I am new to Vancouver and have not had time to find good morel spots. Areas that have recently (1 year+) experienced fires are often good locations. Collecting in the midwest, I found slightly disturbed sites were often good - e.g. areas that contain recently killed trees or trees blown down in storms. One of my colleagues in Ontario would drive through the country looking for large elms killed by Dutch Elm disease as the disease moved through Ontario. He found these prime morel spots (he collected them in green garbage bags.
In the lower mainland there are a lot of restrictions on where you can collect wild mushrooms. Most parks GVRD and provincial parks do not allow collecting.

Happy collecting

[hunter1947]

I have 3 different books on how to identify wild mushrooms but I won't find and eat any of them looking at a picture and seeing the mushroom and making sure it is the right kind are two different thing.

I would want to be out in the field with someone that knows what they are doing in order to get used to the safe ones to eat ,there are a few that look the same that can be deadly if consumed..

[knighthunter]

I have 3 different books on how to identify wild mushrooms but I won't find and eat any of them looking at a picture and seeing the mushroom and making sure it is the right kind are two different thing.

I would want to be out in the field with someone that knows what they are doing in order to get used to the safe ones to eat ,there are a few that look the same that can be deadly if consumed..

This sounds like great advice to me.

[Morel]

I have 3 different books on how to identify wild mushrooms but I won't find and eat any of them looking at a picture and seeing the mushroom and making sure it is the right kind are two different thing.

I would want to be out in the field with someone that knows what they are doing in order to get used to the safe ones to eat ,there are a few that look the same that can be deadly if consumed..

Great advice. I could not agree more! Comparing something you collected with a picture in a guide book is not good enough. You really need to be certain of your identification.