Autumn is a very good time for fungi. The bits of the fungi we call the "mushrooms" are actually the fruiting bodies of much larger organisms, which are mostly hidden underground. Just like traditional fruits (e.g. apples and pears) many fungi produce the mushrooms at intervals of approximately a year. You won't find a lot of fungi in Spring, but you can find loads of them in Autumn. This year seems to have been a very good year for mushrooms, probably on account of the mild but fairly dry weather.
Yesterday I went on a fungi hunt in a place that I hadn't visited before, and I found a lot of lovely mushrooms. My knowledge of fungi is increasing rapidly and I am now able to confidently identify several edible species, so I came home with a big bag (250g) of these:
They are Hydnum repandum, the Hedgehog Mushroom, aka "Pied de Mouton" (Sheep's Foot), so called because of the shape of its cap.
The Hedgehog name comes from the fact that the undersides of the caps are covered with spines, instead of gills or pores.
The (soft) spines are a unique feature. There is no other fungus in the UK that has this feature, which makes this one of the easiest fungi to identify with certainty. One of my favourite resources for fungus-identification is a website called Wild Food UK, and they have a page giving their Top Ten safest wild mushrooms for novice foragers. They list the Hedgehog Mushroom as 10 / 10 for safety of identification and 9 / 10 for culinary value, which makes it a winner in my book.
I also found a good specimen of the Brown Birch Bolete, another type which I think I can confidently identify these days.
This is a mushroom that has a lot of similarity with the Boletus Edulis (Cep, Penny Bun), and is very firm and "meaty". That single specimen weighed 115g.
I did bring home another Bolete of some sort, in order to try to identify it. It may possibly be an Orange Birch Bolete.
I am not sure of the identity of this mushroom, so there is no way I would eat it. This is advice which all sources give - unless you are really sure what a mushroom is, don't eat it.
Well anyway, the long and short of it is that the Hedgehog Mushrooms and the Brown Birch Bolete went into our dinner last night. The dish I made was intended to be a beef and Guinness casserole, but it ended up being a Mushroom and Guinness casserole with beef - and I only used half of the Hedgehogs!
Since I'm on the subject of fungi today, I'm going to include in my post some photos of other fungi I saw yesterday...
I emphasise that these photos show only some of the fungi I saw yesterday. This is why the study of this subject is so fascinating - there are literally thousands of different types to find, many of them incredibly beautiful, in a weird and wonderful way! Expect to see more coverage of this subject here on my blog...
That is a LOT of diversity, especially you only showed a portion of those you saw. That stew looks delicious - did the mushrooms taste similar to any of the commonly available varieties? I'm sure not many people can claim to have had a stew with hedgehogs :)
ReplyDeleteThe Hedgehog Mushrooms tasted very nice - ever so slightly sweet. I understand they are sometimes called Sweet Tooth Mushrooms, for this reason. The texture was good too - quite firm, even when cooked. Not at all sloppy like some wild mushrooms can be.
DeleteWhat a variety! Fascinating. My husband is fairly knowledgeable about wild mushrooms but has not foraged lately. My stepdaughter is a bus driver and spied a puffball the size of a bowling ball. She brought it to us and we ate many meals. Unfortunately someone else was watching it grow and felt robbed
ReplyDeleteI have yet to find a Giant Puffball, but I live in hope!
DeleteWow, what an amazing diversity of fungi! I find them to be fascinating but haven't gotten to the point of trying to forage for them. Yet. I do try to identify what I find, but it's not always very easy, even with some very good books.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely variety of fungi and great pictures. I'm not going to lie, though, when I realized you weren't going to have pictures of the animal hedgehogs, I was a little disappointed. One day I hope to see a live hedgehog in the wild. I would much rather taste the fungi hedgehogs, though, and your stew looks delicious.
ReplyDeleteSorry to disappoint you! I have not seen any hedgehogs in my current property, but if I see any I'll try very hard to get some photos of them.
DeleteA fantastic photographic collection of so many different varieties of fungi Mark.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little nervous of foraging and collecting them... knowing me I'd probably get the wrong variety and suffer the consequences :/
I'm amazed at the variety of fungi available in your area. Been following your posts on Facebook. I can't identify the edible ones and only stick to the ones that come from people who 'know'. Your dish looks delicious.
ReplyDelete