And now, some good news

The best thing ever

The Scotsman reports:

"If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a mushroom surprise. Fungi experts are predicting a bumper year for wild mushrooms in Scotland this year thanks to a hot and dry summer."

Indeed, the recent trip has been a fungal paradise. Being an experienced mushroom hunter, I was not really surprised as I am aware of the fact that hot dry summers provide excellent conditions for the mycelium to accumulate nutrients, which, with the arrival of cooler weather and rain, translate into beautiful ceps and orange birch boletes and chanterelles. I am going to the forest tomorrow, despite the forecast for torrential rain, and it had better be worth it!

Have a great weekend, everyone, and I'll be back next week, with further reports from the fungi harvest frontline.

Deadly webcaps, again

Deadly webcaps: GILLS

This has been on the news, and therefore it must be true.

An "experienced forager", who "had been collecting mushrooms for many years" fed deadly webcaps that he mistook for ceps to himself, his wife, brother-in-law and brother-in-law's wife. Result: all four eaters in hospital for weeks, with varying degrees of kidney failure, one of them needing a transplant. Luckily, the children, who were also invited to sample the poison, wouldn't have any, otherwise they would have almost certainly died.

Deadly webcaps. Mistaken for ceps. You've got to be kidding me.

Ceps: TUBES

*HEADDESK*

In this post I have already wondered how a deadly webcap could be possibly mistaken for a chanterelle. Now I wonder no more - at least, both mushrooms are of similar size, and they both have gills. After all, I've observed small children to confuse dogs with cows, so why not. But ceps and deadly webcaps? It's like mistaking a chicken for a pig! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll just go into a quiet corner and cry. Today the world's stupidity is a bit too much for me.

Image credits:
Deadly webcap, Cortinarius rubellus
Ceps, Boletus edulis

Scarlet and scary

Boletus luridiformis,
a perfect specimen

John Wright, the author of the River Cottage Handbook on Mushrooms, says thus: "Do not worry about the Leccinum's tendency to go various shades of greens and pinks and blacks when cut - they are just trying to frighten you".

Now, I have eaten a good number of orange and brown birch boletes (both of which are Leccinum species), but when it comes to this relative of theirs, the scarletina bolete, Boletus luridiformis, it took me several years to get together the courage to put it into my cooking pot.

The reason is, it's indeed lurid: velvety dark reddish-brown cap sits on top of a densely scarlet-dotted stem, the cap underside is dark-red, and its bright yellow flesh turns a vivid blue when cut. Everything in this mushroom screams: DO NOT EAT ME!

There is a method
to my apparent madness...
(if you don't have one,
NEVER eat strange mushrooms!)

However, the abovementioned reference book says that it is safe to eat as long as it is thoroughly cooked. So the scream apparently just means, "don't eat me raw". I'm fine with that!

The method for cooking I chose, just to be on the safe side, was to slice one cap, boil the pieces in plenty of water for 15 minutes, discard the water, and then fry the fungus in some butter with salt. The result was pleasantly firm, mushroomy and nutty. I only ate a little bit at first, as this fungus is known to cause gastric upsets in some people, but if all is well in the next 24 hours, it would mean that I'm one of the lucky majority who are unaffected, and then there will be yet another mushroom that I'll be able to harvest!

Image credit:
Boletus luridiformis aka Boletus erythropus

Lots of ceps!

However, let me not get ahead of myself.

The trip started with finding a beautiful specimen of edible Amanita rubescens (or possibly deadly poisonous Amanita pantherina). I left it alone as the gamble wasn't worth it, but there was immediately a good feeling about the trip, as the emergence of this fungus usually means that ceps are in season.

Delicious or deadly? If unsure, leave it be

Right next to it, some small boletes - also a sign of bigger things to come. I took a few for spore prints and positive ID, although I very much doubt they offer much in terms of edibility.

Edible, possibly - but why bother?

And then, some beautiful false chanterelles. Contrary to popular belief, they are not poisonous, but merely inedible. I still love them dearly, because, like the two encounters above, they are a definite indicator that deeper in the forest, something big awaits.

False chanterelle - note the strictly bifurcating true gills distinguishing it from its true namesake

Some wild sorrel - I picked a bunch to put into my salad.

Tender leaves with delicate sour taste, excellent in salads with pickles

And then, finally, the big ones. Meet Boletus luridiformis - hideous on the outside, delicious on the inside (or so most reference books are telling me anyway). I have never seen or picked these before, and the plan is to cook them tomorrow. The largest cap is currently resting over a white paper napkin for a spore print, but I am absolutely positive of its identification already: its appearance is unmistakable. Provided I survive sampling the dish (don't see why not), I'll post its species highlight tomorrow, as it is a most remarkable fungus.

Beautiful and deadly... no, just beautiful (and its seven brothers nearby, too)

Turning the corner... and words fail me. Spirits of the forest have smiled on me (even though, as everybody knows, they don't exist). Just LOOK at the size of these fungi!

...! ...! ...!

Here is the final image, after which I'll leave you in peace: the total haul of the day. This is the reason why mushroom hunters love their pursuit so much: you never know what you are going to get. One week it's a handful of chanterelles, and then the next - this. 3 kilograms of finest mushrooms! Today, life is good!

Mostly ceps, but also lurid boletes, larch boletes, chanterelles and false saffron milk caps

Mushroom-filled eggs

Ingredients

I know it's Monday and I'm supposed to post a foraging report, but this weekend I had visitors who were not keen on mushrooming. They were keen on my cooking though, so today I'm posting a recipe, and foraging report will be tomorrow. Please, forest spirits, let there be ceps, please!..

Ahem.

There are, of course, no spirits in Scottish forests. Everybody knows that. Now, to the recipe.

Ingredients:

Main ingredient (fried)

• 4 eggs *
• 6 small forestiere mushrooms (or any other mushrooms would do, but this recipe works best with stronger-flavoured varieties)
• half an onion
• real mayonnaise (the one that has fresh eggs on the list of the ingredients and NOT egg powder, otherwise I recommend to use olive oil instead)
• salt and pepper
• fresh herbs to garnish

Ready to blend

* The recipe can be scaled to any number of eggs. The limit is only the size of your pot and your patience.

Process:

Put the eggs into a small pot, add cold water and plenty of salt (this is needed for the eggs not to leak out if their shells crack during cooking). Bring to the boil and cook for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, chop the onion and mushrooms and fry on medium heat in a little olive oil until nice and golden.

Eggs, filled

When the eggs are ready, carefully remove the shells and cut the eggs in half, remove the yolks and put the whites onto a serving plate. Combine the yolks, mushrooms and onion in a blender, add salt and pepper to taste. If you do not have a blender, just use a fork to mash the yolks and mix them with the rest of the ingredients by hand. If the mixture turns out to be too dry, add a bit of mayonnaise, but not too much, or it'll turn all runny and ugly.

Using a teaspoon, distribute the mixture onto the egg whites: fill the yolk hollows first and then spread any remaining mixture on top. Glaze the egg halves with a bit of mayonnaise (this is not strictly necessary but it conceals the drab brownish colour of the filling) and decorate with basil or parsley.

Enjoy! Eggs and mushrooms are a match made in heaven, and this recipe is yet another proof of it.

Tastes better than it looks!