From commentor Carbon Dated:
This bounty is from the best garden of all: Nature untended. I’ve been collecting mushroom for eats (mycophagy) since the Carter Administration. The summer/fall of 2011 is by far the best mushroom year I’ve ever known in the Northeast. So much frigging rain. These are all from Bridgehampton, Long Island, plucked last week.
__
Puffballs. I’ve never seen so many in one spot (in a meadow, around elm trees). Not my favorite, gustatorily speaking. Kind of bland, like tofu, but they do absorb whatever flavor you fry them in (garlic and butter, in my case).
Two things about Hurricane Irene: she brought lots of rain and knocked down trees. Mushrooms love it when that happens. This superb specimen is a chicken mushroom (Sulphurous polyporus), so-called not because it tastes like chicken but because of the texture–truly like a succulent piece of chicken breast when cooked.
Another one growing high up on a tree. I couldn’t reach it!
The gorgeous aforementioned chicken mushroom, in the kitchen. They are very versatile in cooking. Here’s a quick and basic recipe: Sautee garlic, green peppers, and onion in olive oil in a frying pan. (Optional: add a jalapeno). Wash mushroom well, cut out woody or brown spots; tear or cut into small pieces. When onion begins to become translucent, add shrooms. Fry for five to ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a bit of white white. Cover for a few minutes. Bang, it’s ready to eat. Also optional: stir a little tomato sauce.
These are inky caps (Coprinopsis atramentaria); very tasty but unfortunately they contain a chemical compound similar to that of Antabuse, so you shouldn’t eat these with alcohol. Thus, I had but a nibble at breakfast in an omelet, to give me plenty of time before I started drinking wine, which usually happens in the late afternoon. (If you an image search of ‘inky cap’ you can see the interesting states of decay, which happens very quickly–a day or two–and you’ll see the “ink”.)
Temperatures around here went from 40-ish early Saturday morning to 80-ish Saturday afternoon, which means it’s officially Autumn in New England (such a range being responsible for the foliage colors that attract leaf-peeping tourists). No frost in my particular microclime yet, but I doubt the last flowers on my Beefsteak tomato vine will succeed in setting fruit.
__
What’s it like in your local microclimates, this Sunday morning?
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
Amazing! It has not rained in this part of Georgia in almost 2 months. Irene and whatever that one in the gulf was missed here entirely. So, today we are off to the Growers Outlet to get plants. The girl is the eternal optimist!
RossInDetroit
We’re all ‘shroomed up as well. We’ve lived in this house for 10 years and I’ve never seen so much fungus all over the place.
Every spring morels pop up around the old spruce trees in the side yard. I usually collect between 10 and 30 of them a season. They make outstanding omelets. This year I found one that was over 6″ long.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@RossInDetroit: Get your truffle pig a runnin!
magurakurin
no thanks.
I don’t even really like mushrooms that much, but I do really, really like my liver.
Be careful.
JPL
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): My brother and his wife are coming for a visit today so expect at least three days of heavy downpours.
Stuckinred
It rained in LA last week!
WereBear
We are having a spectacular fall color season:
see the lake vista
And this whole weekend is in the seventies… our visit to the Corn Maze was great fun.
WereBear
Took this just a few minutes ago:
Fall view, late season
Maude
@Raven (formerly stuckinred):
I’ll do the rain dance for the plants.
JPL
@WereBear: Wow.. Are you in NH?
bjacques
Yum! A friend of mine harvested some in the city park on the way to work. It was a little bit tough, one day past its prime, but very tasty!
WereBear
@JPL: Wow.. Are you in NH?
Nope, Adirondack Park, NY. The BEST fall foliage in de wurld! (That’s the spelling you get for asking while I’m catching up on my LOLcats…)
Southern Beale
I’d always wanted to learn more about mushrooms. Too scared I’ll pick the wrong kind and end up a headline in the newspaper.
In other news, if you thought Erin Burnett’s take on the Occupy Wall Street movement was condescending, check out the wretched humor piece by Marketplace’s Kristina Wong.
Southern Beale
@WereBear:
That’s gorgeous! Almost as pretty as the Smokies!
:-)
Seriously, fall foliage is gorgeous everywhere. The colors turn later in the season down south so you can follow the color down here ….
JPL
@WereBear: When we moved to GA from the Dallas area, my youngest son thought something was wrong with the trees. He had never seen the fall colors.
WereBear
@Southern Beale: As a partisan New Englander, Smokies ARE my second favorite :)
One of the advantages of living in the mountains is an increased fall season length; I’ll be able to take scenic drives down to the Lake Champlain coast until the end of the month.
When I first moved up here, the vistas were so stunning I had to keep pulling over until I got my head together… very distracting while driving!
Southern Beale
@JPL:
That’s so cute!
I grew up in Southern California. Even we had fall colors … people planted exotics in their yard and of course you could go to the mountains.
Husband has to go to Kentucky today to help a friend clean out a basement. I begged off that trip … trying to decide how to spend a glorious fall day today. Clean out my pond? Give the dogs a bath? Wash floors? Get drunk with a six pack of beer and watch a football game?
:-)
JPL
@Southern Beale: Well that’s easy… I nice relaxing day watching a game with a cold beer. Since company is coming, I am going to finish a few chores and cook. Of course I can have the TV on and enjoy a beer before they come.
Southern Beale
@WereBear:
I just did a travel piece on fall foliage drives for a silly little magazine I write for on occasion. They asked me to pick the top 5 fall color destinations — they had to be in separate regions of the country and I had to include the Smokies because they had sold an ad to the Gatlinburg tourism office.
Love this journalistic freedom. Eh what the fuck it was a stupid travel piece. Anyway, my top 5 considering those constraints were the White Mountains Trail in New Hampshire, Great Smoky Mountains, Top Of The Rockies Scenic Byway in Colorado, Door County, Wisconsin and Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Washington & Oregon.
I’d really love to go to Door County sometime, it looks really charming and beautiful.
Southern Beale
Back to politics, Washington Post has a really good piece on “5 Myths About Voter Fraud.”
WereBear
@JPL: That’s adorable! I spent ten years in Florida; and really missed the autumn colors. Making up for it now.
Southern Beale
@JPL:
Oh maybe I should cook. A big pot of chilli or red beans and rice.
amk
murdock screws the simpsons’ cast with a 30% pay cut and 0% profit sharing.
bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/entertainment-arts-15231778
Off Colfax
@Southern Beale: Oh THANK you for including the Top Of The Rockies on that list. Giving yourself a reason (read: bald-faced excuse) to drive that road is one of the best reasons to dedicate a trip to bag the Mount of the Holy Cross without any side-hikes to bag other peaks. One of the best drives in Colorado, with Peak To Peak National Scenic Byway coming in a fairly close second.
Carbon Dated
Nice spread, Anne Laurie. Thanks! (Small edit: the last line should read: “(If you do a Google image search of ‘inky cap’ you can see …”)
@magurakurin: Yes, caution required! I think anyone who wishes to collect shrooms for food should seek the mentoring of a seasoned fungus hunter, do some research, and get a good guide (I use the ‘Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms’)
It should be noted that a positive I.D. on a mushroom species involves more than just comparing a specimen to a photograph. A short check-list of criteria — type of cap, gills, ring, habitat, spore print, and a few other physical characteristics — can remove all doubt. And if (when) the slightest doubt remains, leave the shroom alone.
Re foliage: Had a couple days of driving in Vermont and new Hampshire this week. One needn’t eat mushrooms to appreciate the brilliant colors. :) But I had a hard time finding a room in West Lebanon, as busloads of geriatric leaf-peepers had invaded from Virginia.
Southern Beale
@Off Colfax:
Another place on my “must see” list, too.
I discovered as we were hiking around the Canadian Rockies this summer that my husband’s knee is unfortunately kaput. Hope I can convince him to get an MRI and get it looked at because a one-day hike puts him out of commission for three days now. That is NOT GOOD. We used to hike ALL the time.
Linda Featheringill
@Raven (formerly stuckinred):
What will you be planting?
Svensker
@RossInDetroit:
Morels in your YARD? Gah. We used to go tramping all through the woods to get them. Most delicious thing in the world. The big debate was were they better just cooked in some butter with a tiny bit of garlic, or finished with some fresh from the farm unpasteurized cream. Sigh.
Svensker
@WereBear:
Where are you? That is just gorgeous!
ETA: I see Adirondacks was answered. I was a nearly elderly adult before I got the hang of pronouncing that. My family still makes fun of me. (Well, for other stuff, too…)
Southern Beale
CNN still doesn’t get it.
arguingwithsignposts
@Southern Beale: Wow, the inclusion of the Smokies pretty much precludes any chance to include the really beautiful areas of the southeast, like, say, the Blue Ridge Mountains.
arguingwithsignposts
@Southern Beale:
Are all these questions about Romney’s religious beliefs a form of journalistic underwear-sniffing?
Honestly, I really don’t think any politician has the chops to answer that question from a theological perspective. Expecting them to is just stupid.
And WTF does that have to do with jobs?
OzarkHillbilly
Waiting for rain in this corner of the Ozarks. Dry as a bone and nary a fresh mushroom to be seen. I am jealous Carbon Dated.
Kristine
I’ve seen some of those mushrooms around here, I think. It’s the “I think” part that stops me from picking them.
Here in NE Illinois, we’ve had 70s/80s and 100% sunshine for eight days straight counting today. I think we set a record. I’m out on the deck in shirtsleeves, shorts, and flip flops, and still have tomatoes on the vine. A check of the weather forecast shows that temps will drop around midweek and hit the hi 50s by next weekend. Still not sure if/when to harvest the crop and bring it inside because they’re not calling for a hard freeze yet.
The foliage is gorgeous this year. So much gold, bright orange, and deep brick red.
Emma
We have been rained out since Friday afternoon. Infuriating, as I’ve been planning a new flower bed for the front of the house all week! Oh well. Next Saturday, I hope.
I’m starting a butterfly garden. Turns out I’m on several of the migration paths, as well as having some pretty local species. If anyone has recommendations, pitch them my way!
(edit) forgot to say: South Florida, near enough to the water to have a microclimate that grows things from zone 9, 10, and 11.
Gus
@Southern Beale: There are probably mycology organizations in your area. I went mushroom hunting with some folks from a group locally last year. It was a dry fall so there wasn’t much there, but I did find a hen of the woods (aka maitake). Made some very nice cream of mushroom soup, though I didn’t do a very good job cleaning them, so there was a bit of grit. Hen of the woods are nice, because they don’t look like anything poisonous.
kideni
@Southern Beale: Door County is lovely, although I think of it more as a summer destination than fall, since the thing to do is get a cabin on/near Lake Michigan and eat the local blueberries and cherries (and perhaps enjoy some Death’s Door gin or vodka, made from juniper berries and wheat grown on nearby Washington Island, although you don’t have to go to Door County to get it). The colors can be really stunning along the Mississippi River up here, particularly from around La Crosse down into Iowa, since you have the bluffs making the vistas all the more impressive. Plus, bringing in politics, Door County keeps electing Republicans, but southwestern Wisconsin is trending blue.
An acquaintance was talking about hunting hen of the woods mushrooms just yesterday. Apparently a mushroom-hunting friend of his had made them stop at a city park in northern Wisconsin to look for hen of the woods, since apparently they like the kinds of trees in city parks, and indeed they found enough of them for two meals. Supposedly, they cost up to $25 a pound, which makes it especially satisfying if you can find them for free.
opie jeanne
@Carbon Dated: Those are beautiful mushrooms and thanks for the information.
I’ve always been too chicken to eat the stuff growing in our yards because of the consequences of getting it wrong. We’ve had things that looked exactly like brown button mushrooms growing on nearly every property we’ve owned in California and now in Washington state, but not having a history of the property (as in, have the previous owners eaten them successfully) I’ve avoided them.
We had a cat who would dig them out of the lawn and take a bite if we were watching because he knew we’d yell at him and chase him, and he loved that part. He never became obviously sick, but cats have a very different digestive system from humans.
Those inky caps? We have something that looks just like them that everyone calls death caps for good reason.
keestadoll
Good lord but we have a bounty of fungal yumminess here Humboldt County, CA) but I’m petrified of eating something that can potentially land me in ICU. It’s such a shame to buy them in a market when conceivably I could wander the forest (ie: my backyard) to satisfy my cravings for them!
Death Panel Truck
So they go from $8 mil to just over $4 mil a season? However will they put food on their families?
And do people actually still watch that show? It lost its edge in 1994, for fuck’s sake.