Mushroom Foray #2: The Hunt for Black Trumpets

If you read about my first experience with a mushroom foray, then you’ll know about my odd obsession with mushrooms. I won’t embarrass myself by raving about them again.

Instead, I’ll just tell you all about the second foray I went on!

Our goal this time around was to find some black trumpets. They were supposed to be pretty easy to spot. They looked like trumpets. And were black. But – spoiler alert – we didn’t find any.

But the actual act of foraging for ‘shrooms is only half the fun anyway. I love it because it feels like a treasure hunt. I feel like a pioneer or a Native American. It’s nice to just wander around in the woods and get away from society for a while. Plus, I always learn so much on these trips. And I’ve met some really cool and interesting people.

For this specific foray there were two options. The first was the lower (easier) trail. We’d stay pretty close to camp and just walk around the woods nearby. The second one was the upper trail. This involved an apparently death-defying ride in the truck and a harder trail at the top of the hill. Dad and I decided it’d probably be safer to do the lower trail for our first time!

And this time we were smart enough to bring along a basket. Here’s our first find:

These are called Indian Pipes (everyone at the foray was calling them Indian Stovepipes, but it’s the same thing). And guess what? They’re not actually mushrooms! They’re non-chlorophyll  plants. Believe it or not, they’re related to rhododendron, dogwood, and wintergreen. They don’t need sunlight to survive and tend to thrive in moist areas (which is why they’re often mistaken for fungus). These are kind of funny looking ones – most of the ones I’ve found on the internet are pure white.

Next up I found this cute guy. He’s called an Eft.

After looking up some information about him, I found out that an “eft” is a life-stage (considered a juvenile) and that this is actually called a red spotted newt. He’s pretty cute!

The only other mushroom I found was this thing:

Nothing spectacular to me (and definitely not edible), but the president of the society seemed pretty excited about it. Not sure what it is, but I collected it anyway!

Everyone on the lower trail seemed to be finding mini-mushrooms. Everything was so small! There were no black trumpets and nothing else edible. We were kind of disappointed, but I had fun searching anyway. The only other find we had was this cool bright yellow mushroom:

Everyone on the upper trail seemed to come back with gargantuan sized mushrooms. They were kind enough to share with us though.

The next two pictures show the two different types of sulphur shelf, which is edible. This is also called chicken of the woods because – that’s right – it tastes like chicken!

Here’s a picture of the same mushroom all cooked up. I can attest that it tasted like chicken! It has that same plain-ish taste, and the stringy texture of chicken meat. The only difference is, this is a bit more watery (which makes sense!).

Someone also found jack-o-lantern mushrooms. These are actually poisonous (they won’t kill you, but it won’t feel good) and glow in the dark. How cool is that!?

They found a few other mushrooms, but I don’t know what they were:

But the best part, by far, was the food. Oh, my God. It was so yummy. Here’s a picture of my plate:

That thing at the top was some sort of taquito with mushrooms inside. Down below that was a mushroom fritter (the chef made up the recipe the night before!) with some crazy interesting mayo concoction on top. The kielbasa to the right of that was the best I’ve ever had. Then there was the pasta salad with mushrooms, and the various dips with mushrooms. The pepper at the bottom was stuffed with provolone and prosciutto.

I ate good. I ate so good.

I also got to try black trumpets that they had left over from the year before, but I didn’t think to take a picture of them. They were yummy too! Not too much flavor and fairly small. I think they’d be good to try if someone didn’t particularly like the texture of mushrooms. If you look at the picture of my plate, all the way to the right, there’s a white dip with bits of black in it. That had black trumpets in it.

So, over all, not a super successful foray. But it was really fun! We’ll definitely be going on the next one. Hopefully we’ll have better luck.

What do you think? Have I convinced you to go on a foray yet? Did any of that food look good to you?

Hunting for Mushrooms

I love mushrooms. Like, a lot. I mean, I really, really love them. This is ironic because I never used to. When I was younger, I wouldn’t touch the things. Not in a million years! Then, one day (or so it seemed), I suddenly craved them. I remember being at the salad bar in college, eyeing them. Should I or shouldn’t I? It’d been a while since I tried them and I was feeling brave. Plus, I wanted to eat healthier (hence, the salad). Sure, why not?

Okay, so they weren’t amazing. But I actually didn’t mind them. The next day I tried more. And then I started looking forward to eating them (yes, I’m one of those weird types of people that gets excited about food and wakes up thinking, Yay! Breakfast time!). Then I suddenly wanted them on everything – salads and burgers and steaks, oh my! And in every which way – raw and cooked and in piles of onions.

Long story short, I really, really like mushrooms now. So much so, that I get a little sentimental when someone brings me pizza or salad that has mushrooms on it. I tend to profess my undying love to said person in situations like these. (And no, I’m not exaggerating here. This really does happen.)

So, what do you think my answer was when I found out that we had a mushroom society and that they were going on a foray in mid-May?

I answered that question with three of my own: when, where, and CAN WE EAT THEM???

I found out that it was on May 19, that it was about 20 minutes away, and that YES, WE CAN EAT THEM!!!

I was sold.

So, my dad and I piled into the car and drove into the sunrise (okay, it wasn’t that early, but I hate mornings) and toward the Susquehanna Valley Mycological Society’s meeting place. When we got there, I was a little intimidated. It seemed like a lot of people already knew each other, and we were newbies. Luckily, someone nice (who was also a newbie) came over and started talking to us. Yay, friends!

When the ball finally got rolling, we got a lesson in what we were looking for: morels. They were the biggies, the diamonds in the rough, the oasis in the middle of the desert, the…well, you get the idea.

(ALL pictures come from SVMS’s website and ALL credit goes to them! Also, these are all from previous years.)

Morels look like this:

Weird, right? These things are hard to find. We found them under ash trees and apple trees, but there are some other spots where they pop up. In all the places we found them, there was typically only a group of two or three. We spent a couple of hours in the woods and only came back with 16 of them. It was worth it though! (Even if I didn’t find any myself .)

Next up, we have Dryad’s Saddle.

These are definitely way too big to eat.

These are typically found on dying elms. (Note to self: learn different kinds of trees, will make finding edible mushrooms easier.) They can get HUGE. They are edible, but you really only want to eat the smaller ones, as they’re much more tender than the big ones. We could just barely tear off a chunk on a big one, so imagine what it’d be like to try to eat it – yuck! (And I found a group of these all by myself, whoo!!)

Oh – and we found a few oyster mushrooms too. They threw them in with the Dryad’s Saddle.

The last main type that we stumbled across were called rubber cups. I found some of these too! Dad picked one and handed it to me to hold onto for a minute. And then I threw it. On purpose. In my defense, there was a nice sized spider sitting on my hand and I wasn’t thinking clearly. Luckily, there were enough that we could pick another one.

I lied. This is actually from the Wiki article because the pictures from my foray aren’t online yet.

These are generally considered inedible around here, but apparently they eat them pretty regularly in Malaysia.

So, I had tons of fun! The people were all fantastic – very welcoming and knowledgeable. I doubted anyone felt out of place once we all bonded over the hunting process. Looking for mushrooms in the forest is like going on a treasure hunt, and I can tell that this is quickly going to become an obsession for me. Also, the food there was incredible. This isn’t your typical get-together. These people can cook. And of course pretty much everyone made something with mushrooms in it. (I brought chocolate chip cookies – lame.)

If that year was anything like this year, there would be another table laden down with food in addition to this one.

But I know what you’re thinking right – what about those mushrooms? Those mushrooms that you pulled from the forest and ate. What did they taste like? Well…nothing, really. They weren’t slimy or chewy or weird in consistency (and more so than your typical mushroom). They had a slight taste to them, but it wasn’t anything overwhelming. They would be better suited for putting into other dishes than just eating them on their own. Either that or they could’ve used some serious seasoning. But, in the end, I liked them and I would definitely keep trying new varieties.

Here are some lessons I learned:

1. I know nothing about mushrooms, except that I like them.
2. Bring a basket. Plastic bags aren’t good (they don’t spread the spores so more mushrooms can grow).
3. I definitely ate a wider array of mushrooms on this day than I have in my entire life.
4. Wearing my Hunger Games t-shirt made me feel invincible, even if no one knew what it was.
5. Plan all other events around the weekends of the forays, because this is going to become a regular thing.

So, there you have it! That’s what a mushroom foray is like. Next time – oh, there will be a next time – I’ll be more prepared. And I’ll take my own pictures. And I’ll have another post for you guys.

Do you like mushrooms? If not, how come? If you do, what’s the weirdest looking one you’ve eaten?

(P.S. Please do your civic duty and add one more page view to their website. It’s totally worth it. Check out all the pictures, and the great commentary the photographer has on just about every single one. You’ll get a good laugh, I promise.)