Yeah, I carefully read the description of its distinguishing features, studied the photo, and concluded I have no idea what I’m looking at and how to tell them apart.
I’m really good at spotting differences or inconsistencies, I’m totally lost with mushrooms though, and I go multiple times every Autumn with a woman in her 70’s. She is very clear about what we are looking for. She throws out at least half of what I gather.
They are so goddamned good, I highly recommend looking around white oak trees by carefully clearing away the leaf litter a few days after it rains. They can’t really be bought in stores and when they do show up they’re like $50 a pound because you can’t really farm them as they have a symbiotic relationship with only certain trees and are very vulnerable to other fungus like mold.
Where I live (mountainous region in Austria) they are everywhere. I just go hiking for a bit so I’m at not too frequented spots and then I can just pick as many as I need, often the floor nearly is more yellow than brown on certain spots.
We don’t have white oaks here but they typically grow in needle forests.
(And we call them Eierschwammerl = egg mushrooms, to explain my previous comment, I just think that sounds much nicer than chanterelles)
And this is why I grow my own. I’m very fond of Albino Texas PE6. Easy to grow, consistent, and you can clone and agar spawn over and over again. Such an aggressive little strain. And looks very distinct. Unmistakable.
In my experience, they are quite poor in producing anything worthwhile. Look up the Uncle Ben’s Tek. 90 minute mycology or The Rookie Mycologist have great guides for this, and they’re easy to follow. I’ve gotten amazing results so far.
Looking over the wikipedia page on this mushroom and all the similar, very edible ones…Yeah I’m never foraging mushrooms.
Yeah, I carefully read the description of its distinguishing features, studied the photo, and concluded I have no idea what I’m looking at and how to tell them apart.
I’m really good at spotting differences or inconsistencies, I’m totally lost with mushrooms though, and I go multiple times every Autumn with a woman in her 70’s. She is very clear about what we are looking for. She throws out at least half of what I gather.
Do these conditions have anything to do with a person’s ability to identify mushrooms
Very likely. Experience is a thing
If she’s that old and likes to forage there’s only so many bad mushrooms you can eat
chanterelles are pretty safe to forage if they grow near you.
they are very distinct looking.
egg mushrooms 😋
They are so goddamned good, I highly recommend looking around white oak trees by carefully clearing away the leaf litter a few days after it rains. They can’t really be bought in stores and when they do show up they’re like $50 a pound because you can’t really farm them as they have a symbiotic relationship with only certain trees and are very vulnerable to other fungus like mold.
Where I live (mountainous region in Austria) they are everywhere. I just go hiking for a bit so I’m at not too frequented spots and then I can just pick as many as I need, often the floor nearly is more yellow than brown on certain spots.
We don’t have white oaks here but they typically grow in needle forests.
(And we call them Eierschwammerl = egg mushrooms, to explain my previous comment, I just think that sounds much nicer than chanterelles)
Image of a typical spot, took it a month ago ^
Mushroom foraging can be safe, but the rules are:
Always learn from a local guide first. It’s not transferable to other regions. Which makes books a bad way to do it, and the internet a horrible way.
You don’t rule out dangerous mushrooms, you identify a specific edible mushroom.
Never trust a little white mushroom.
And this is why I grow my own. I’m very fond of Albino Texas PE6. Easy to grow, consistent, and you can clone and agar spawn over and over again. Such an aggressive little strain. And looks very distinct. Unmistakable.
There’s nice little kits you can buy online for your kitchen. :)
In my experience, they are quite poor in producing anything worthwhile. Look up the Uncle Ben’s Tek. 90 minute mycology or The Rookie Mycologist have great guides for this, and they’re easy to follow. I’ve gotten amazing results so far.
Those don’t have very good reputations among growers. Bunch of crap you don’t need, and the stuff you do need is garbage quality.