Five Common Mushrooms and Their Uses

A good mushroom haul. Not all present are edible though...

Wild mushrooms are bad, right? They're hard to identify and aren't safe to eat? They plan on taking over the government and terrorizing the public? Well, yes.

Actually...

Wild mushrooms are, like any wild food, a thing to be carefully researched before partaken of. They are not for children or people without common sense. They can be deadly. You can misidentify a mushroom and eat something that's poisonous. However, if you learn the key characteristics and habitats of mushrooms, it's a pretty safe way to gather food. I say pretty safe because I can't guarantee that you won't make a mistake. In fact, if you eat a poisonous mushroom, it's not my fault. You can't depend on my knowledge. If you want to go mushrooming, do the work. As a wise man once said, there are mushroom hunters who are bold and mushroom hunters who are old. They are rarely both. 

Now that we have my dire warnings out of the way, let's get into basic identification of a few easy to find, easy to recognize species! Don't forget, don't pull mushroom out of the ground!!! Cut them at the stocks. Pulling them out can destroy their mycelium, or root system and prevent them from growing again next year.

I'm going to give a culinary rating based on my experience. 1 being not really suited for the kitchen to 10 being excellent. 

Indigo Milky    

Two cut indigo milkies

The indigo milky if not the most tasty, is one of the most beautiful mushrooms out there. The first one I saw was under the low boughs of pine trees. All I saw was a vibrant blue in the undergrowth. I thought that surely it must be a piece of trash, but as I crept up to it, my heart nearly stopped. When I cut one off, it bled a blueish ink. Amazing! 

Characteristics: 1-6 inch caps that start with a lip, but become flared out with age. The cap has an indent in the middle that grows more pronounced with age. Vibrant blue color that bleeds when cut. Grows more silver with age. Bruises dark blue to greenish.

Habitat: Oak and pine forests. Look for them after good rain on westward facing slopes in the summer and fall. They sometimes grow in scattered association with others, though not in clusters. I generally find two to three together. Look close to pine trees, often underneath the boughs, even alongside paths.

Fruiting Time: July-October

Odor: Not distinctive

Spore Print: Cream

Taste: Fairly mild, but can have a bit of bitterness. Perhaps this is due to soil quality? Not sure.

Culinary Uses and Preservation: Some people fry them, I've tried sautéing them. Honestly, they aren't my favorite. They are a meaty mushroom, so they're easy to dry. Slice them thinly and dehydrate or sauté in butter and freeze them. They could be a filler mushroom in a soup or in latkes.

Gil's Kitchen Rating: 5

Hedgehog Mushroom: 

Hedgehog mushrooms are easy to identify and delicious! They are amongst my favorite wild edibles. They are unmistakable as they have tiny "teeth" that hang from the underside of their caps. They aren't a very large mushroom, but since they grow in association with trees, you're likely to find more than one at a time.

Characteristics: Tannish, orange cap that often looks cracked on top. Thick stock that is creamy white. Underside has pores that resemble teeth or tiny stalactites.

Habitat: Mixed woods. I've found them both in oak/pine woods and in oak dominated uplands. I've not found them in river bottoms in my area, but on slopes near creeks or lakes.

Odor: Mild

Spore Print: Cream

Time of Year: July-November

Taste: Rich, yet light, nutty, and a bit chewy in the stalks. One of the best tasting wild mushrooms out there and very easy to identify.

Culinary Uses and Preservation: It lends itself perfectly to soups, particularly cream based ones. They are excellent sautéed. I've not tried to preserve them, but I'm sure you could sauté and freeze them. Not sure about dehydrating.

Gil's Kitchen Rating: 10

Sulphur Chicken of the Woods

This is truly impossible to mistake for another mushroom. They are large orange and yellow bracket mushrooms that can grow to truly large sizes. Bracket means they grow on the sides of dead wood in layers, like overlapping plates. They are found on the trunks and bases of dead or dying deciduous trees from May-November. It's sister species, which looks much the same, but is a cream color, is reputed to be more tender.

Characteristics: Often large shelf of mushrooms, growing on dead trunks. Vibrant orange with yellow at the tips. Underside does not have gills. It will have a complex, maze looking structure.

Habitat: Mixed woods, deciduous forests. Look for areas close to rivers with plenty of deciduous trees. The only specimen I've found was on a fallen log near a river. Think older woods since this is found on dead and dying trees.

Odor: Mild

Spore Print: White

Time of Year: May-November

Taste: Reputed to taste like chicken. Older specimens get harder and chewy at the stalk. It's recommended to cut off the ends and use them instead.

Culinary Uses: Chicken of the woods can be substituted for chicken in enchiladas, chopped and made into mushroom latkes, or simply sautéed. Try a small amount of every mushroom first before eating a meal of it. This is particularly important for this species because some people are allergic to it. It can make your tongue swell!

It doesn't, in my experience, work well for soup. If you want to preserve it, I recommend either sautéing and freezing or pickling. By other report, dehydrating them makes them very woody and only useful if ground up.

Gilbert's Kitchen Rating: 8

Wood Ear

If you step into an Asian supermarket, you're likely to run across this mushroom in dried form. It's used in Chinese cuisine and traditional medicine. This is one of the easiest species to find and identify. There are no lookalikes in Missouri! I've found some at the Nelson Atkins Museum grounds in downtown KC (don't tell them).

Characteristics: Tan/brown rubbery fruiting bodies. They resemble ears at times. Older specimens will be wrinkled and darker brown. Don't bother to pick those. They will reappear in the same spots often.

Habitat: Found in mixed woods and river bottoms where there is a lot of moisture and dead trees to grow on. Unfortunately, that may mean braving mosquitoes to find them. They often grow in large numbers on decaying wood, so areas that receive flooding can be a good place to look.

Time of Year: May-November

Taste: Don't eat the mushroom itself. It's rubbery and gross.

Culinary Uses: That being said...it's an excellent choice to make stocks out of. It creates an earthy, warm stock that could be used in a variety of dishes. It also dehydrates and keeps very easily. Definitely hold on to some of this specimen for soup making.

Gilbert's Kitchen Rating: 7

Bearded Tooth (Lion's Mane) 

This is one of my absolute favorite mushrooms (I have many). *He has many favorite mushrooms. What a nerd!* Anyways, this one is truly remarkable. It has long toothlike spines that feel somewhere between fur and the weird water filled squeeze balls you can buy at toy stores. I've only found one in my mushrooming life thus far and I had to climb a tree to get it, but it was worth it!

Characteristics: Around palm size, sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller. White to yellowish depending on age. Has long, furry appearance. Grows on dead or dying deciduous trees. No lookalikes.  

Habitat: Mixed woods, river bottoms, anywhere with lots of moisture and dying trees. This is a mushroom you'll probably have to look up for.

Time of Year: August-November

Taste: Light, but meaty. They have a mild, pleasant taste that some say is similar to crab. It's excellent.

Culinary Uses: Can be fried or sautéed. I haven't tried it in soup, but it's a creamy enough texture that it would probably be good. It's a mushroom I can see being used very creatively. Could easily be used in latkes. Hopefully I'll find more this year and experiment.

Gilbert's Kitchen Rating: 9








Some Tips on Gathering
Hopefully you can find a few of these species this year! Remember, always eat a little bit at first just to see how you react and always cook wild mushrooms thoroughly. When you're hunting, squat and look around, make sure to look up into the trees as well. When you find a mushroom, make careful note of your surroundings. Mushrooms often reappear in the same spots every year. Before eating a new species, look at ten or fifteen different pictures to make sure you've gotten the right species.

Be safe and get out there to find mushrooms! Be prepared for more mushroom related blogs in the future. Stay Nerdy!