Early arrivals, late encounters

Some early-flowering crocuses

Despite the current drop in the temperature (it was even snowing yesterday!), plant life is waking up. Snowdrops and aconites are out in huge numbers, and now later-flowering plants are joining them. Crocuses are now out, as well as a few butterburs, which I thought were summer flowers, but it looks like this year they were impatient to get out.

Impatient butterbur

Despite the relative abundance of flowers, there are still no pollinating insects in evidence, so I don't know what those early starts are hoping for. Must be invisible pink unicorns. They do exist, right?

Isn't it bedtime for your guys?

So, flowering plants are thinking that it's spring already, but fungi seem to be rooted in conviction that it's still late autumn. As evidenced by this fresh growth of sulfur tufts by the roadside.

Nature, you are not making any sense this year. Can you get your act together please?

Stash in the freezer

The ingredients

With all the recent frost and wind and fog, it seemed like spring was far far away, and mushroom season even further, so I was reluctant to open up my freezer. After all, what if it wasn't just a normal winter but the coming of a new ice age?..

However, with the arrival of snowdrops and aconites it became clear that we were safe from that catastrophe for now, and it was time to start eating into the stashes so that they are fully emptied before the new growth of ceps arrives.

I was really pleased that I was able to supplement my own ceps with an addition of wild mushrooms from a supermarket shelf, consisting of hedgehog fungus (bottom left) and grey chanterelle (bottom right). The three mushroom species, combined with some shallots and single cream, produced a great sauce for goose-fat roast potatoes we were having that evening. They all worked really hard: ceps provided flavour, grey chanterelles added colour, and hedgehog mushrooms were responsible for the firm, almost crunchy texture. White wine and cream took care of the rest!

And here they are, all together in a frying pan, just beginning to soften -

Ahh,, Beautiful!

Winter surprises

First aconites on woodland floor

I don't know what has been happening with the weather this year. Spring seems to be continuing, and it's a very wet a windy one. In addition to snowdrops, the first aconites have appeared, and I don't think those can be fooled by a brief warm spell.

At the same time, I am still spotting a surprising number of late autumn fungi. Lots of common ink caps, and just today a troop of large brown fungi that looked a lot like soapy knights, Tricholoma saponaceum, but could be some other similar-looking species.

All this fresh growth has reminded me that it's only five months to go till next mushroom hunting season, and I have barely started on my stash of frozen ceps. So next post  will definitely feature them, and it will be soon!

Soapy knights (possibly), in tight formation.

Fungi's magic for climate change

Today's snowdrops

It has been a long while since the last post, since my mind has been on subjects far removed from mushrooms. My obsession with all things fungi must have decided to take time off for Christmas - but it's back now, all refreshed and ready to keep me going for yet another year.

And not a moment too soon, as it looks like spring has arrived to Scotland two months early. First spring flowers have come out, buds on the trees are opening, and little birds in my garden just wouldn't shut up. As for the drakes on the mill pond... Ahem. All right, I'll stop right there, but you get the idea.

While I was pondering over the current weather anomaly, a message dropped into my inbox with a link to an article about fungi competing with microbes for nitrogen in soil, therefore preventing the latter from breaking up plant matter. This results in more carbon being retained in the soil, as opposed to being released into the atmosphere to add to the greenhouse effect. The article notes that not all fungi are created equal in this respect. It is just the ecto- and ericoid mycorrhizal fungi that do this, with their soil samples containing 70% more carbon than those of arbuscular mycorrhizal ones.

The most famous example of an ectomycorrhizal fungus is the cep (Boletus edulis). So here is an additional incentive to learn to cultivate it: if only we learned how, in addition to an amazing food source, we wouldn't need to worry about climate change anymore...

Winter hunt

Winter is upon us, and I don't care what the calendar says because the temperatures in this part of the world have dropped below freezing already.

Naturally, mushrooms are not keen on the weather, and apart from an occasional bunch of ink caps, there is nothing to be seen among all the frost.

These days my hunts have to happen in mushroom isles of supermarkets. And I can tell you, the latest hasn't been bad at all! Behold - grey chanterelles:

Craterellus tubaeformis, all cleaned and ready to be cooked. Origin: South France, according to the label.
I have a feeling I'm missing out here in the frozen North...

Curiously, despite their name these fungi are only distantly related to the golden chanterelle, and in fact recent molecular phylogenetics studies have placed them in a different genus, Craterellus. Still, when it comes to putting these fungi into omelettes, they are just as good as their better-known cousin.

Sunday brunch: served!