Golden frog hotel and restaurant

In yesterday's post, I briefly mentioned a project to save Panamian golden frogs from deadly fungus that is threatening to wipe out the entire species. Here is a short video of how it is done.

They put the frogs up in a hotel room and feed them crickets and bugs that are collected at nights by research project staff. I admire these people's dedication, but am I the only one who also finds this hilarious?

In any case, enjoy the video, and see you next week. I am planning to go foraging again on Sunday, and if I'm very lucky, I'll be bringing home some ceps. I'm greatly looking forward to it!

Runners, stalkers and clickers

I regularly follow the news of videogame world, and with my love for mushrooms, this particular piece has naturally drawn my special attention. Last week, I wrote about a nice casual game (hold on, I think my little namekos have run out of food... will be back in a second...)

Right, where was I? Oh, yes. Games featuring fungi. I am talking, of course, about "The last of us". Unlike the cheerful inhabitants of "Mushroom garden", these fungi are not something you'd want to meet in real life. They infect humans, turning them into zombies, and trust me, it's not pretty. Here is a link to some artwork. 18+. You have been warned.

This is the correct position

The inspiration for the plot comes from ant disease caused by a fungus called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis. Once a spore settles on an ant, the fungus rapidly takes over its body and alters its behaviour. Eventually, the ant dies and the fruit body ruptures its exoskeleton, releasing spores and spreading the infection. The insects die attached to leaf veins on the underside of leaves. Curiously, almost all of the images I have seen on the web are the the wrong way up. Why? No idea.

So, how likely are humans to be infected by a mutated fungus and turn into hideous zombies? Not at all, actually. Ants are very small and have a very simple nervous system. It doesn't take much to take over it. Now, if we think of a slightly larger animal, such as a frog, things are not so disastrous. A good example are golden frogs, whose population is being decimated by parasitic fungi in Central America. However, it is only untreated frogs that die, so in the attempt to save the species, conservationists capture the frogs, quarantine them and treat them with antifungal drugs. The frogs recover fully and are released back into the wild. Going up to human scale of things, I think I do remember a case when a young girl with an impaired immune system had such a severe fungal infection that she had fruit bodies growing inside her nose. But did she turn into a zombie? Nope. Once the cause of her illness was discovered, the treatment was trivial, and the infection cleared within days. So I don't think we have to worry about stuff other than athlete's foot and ringworm. Just keep some clotrimazole capsules at home, and we should all be safe from this particular kind of apocalypse.

But who needs to worry about plausibility of apocalyptic scenarios anyway?

Some shades of grey

Grey heron

Monday's visit to the forest was marked not just by a decent crop of chanterelles, but also a few encounters with local wildlife. There are several shallow lakes (we call them "lochs" in Scotland) scattered around the forest, which are home to many birds, such as mallards, greylag geese, mute swans, coots, moorhens and many others. One particular resident of the loch decided it was happy to pose for a portrait, and here is the result. Grey herons are very common but also quite shy, and it is unusual to get a photo of one so close.

Grey russula

And what about mushrooms? The only sighting, apart from the edible fungi, was a grey russula, making a lonely appearance in the middle of a pine wood. But was it a Russula grisea? A pale-coloured cyanoxantha? Or, perhaps an amoenolens? Although, the latter is unlikely as it did not have a fishy smell. In short, yet another dose of russula-related frustration: we will never know the answer.

Warm salad with courgettes and chanterelles

Ingredients

Today's recipe is one of my old favourites, as it brings out the best in its ingredients - especially the chanterelles. I've tried cooking it with other mushrooms by the way, and the only alteration it tolerates is the replacement of no more than half of the chanterelles with ceps. Also, you need a really big pan to make this dish in any quantity. The version I cooked today serves two, and the two in question were both complaining about the size of their portions. Don't expect a massive dish. A couple of handfuls of chanterelles makes for a couple of handfuls of salad. It's a starter, ok?

Right, on to the ingredients:

Mixed, ready to go onto the pan

• a couple of handfuls of chanterelles
• a few baby courgettes or one normal courgette
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tablespoonfuls of olive oil
• 1/4 lemon
• a handful of basil
• salt and pepper

Process:

The salad, ready to be served

Cut the courgettes into thin slices, leave chanterelles whole if small or tear into halves/quarters if larger. Put them together into a bowl, with salt, pour over the olive oil.
Mix well. Heat a frying pan over high heat, put the mixture into it. Arrange the courgette pieces around the pan. Wait until golden on one side, turn over. Once cooked, turn off the heat, add finely chopped garlic and ground pepper to taste, put into a serving bowl. Squeeze lemon juice and put basil leaves on top. Serve warm and enjoy!

For the thorough-minded, the original version of the recipe can be found on the BBC Food web site.

Update from the frontline

The new bit of equipment

I was away this weekend, so today's post is delayed slightly. In fact, I have only just back come back from the forest, and what a trip it was! A good crop of chanterelles, and some wildlife spotting. The said wildlife was even kind enough to pose for the camera, but I will save this for another time.

But let me not digress. Revenons a nos champignons.

The season is definitely picking up - I got at least 500g of chanterelles, even though the ground in the forest has been fairly dry. It was actually raining rather heavily all the past week - where did all that moisture go to, I wonder? In any case, chanterelles did not seem to mind.

I also got the first chance to test out a new mushroom knife that I got as a birthday gift recently. I think it's going to become my new favourite - very convenient grip, nice blade, a brush is a useful extra, too. The only issue with it is that because the blade is so sharp, it tends to slice right through the slugs instead of moving them away. I guess I'll just have to be more careful.

The day's result (with slugs removed). There is enough for a quiche!