Fungi forum?

Don't know if this has been suggested yet or not, but...
Is there interest?


add in my vote.

This message was edited Jan 22, 2005 8:47 PM

I'd welcome it if there is enough other support

I'd be delighted to see such a forum. I do a lot of wild harvesting, and have grown my own Agaricus.

Which Agaricus Chilko?

Just the common-garden campestris, philomel. But I have those coming up now in my vegetable gardens, so I no longer bother. I don't have a place where I can grow them in the winter--greenhouse is freezing, and no in between places.

I did try shitake on a log, but could never get results.

I haven't tried Shitaki, but got field mushrooms to grow just by putting old ones on the compost heap and using it as mulch. They came up in lots of places :)

It's an interesting topic. I would surely be a lurker, but I would have nothing to contribute..... well maybe if I got enough information, I might try my hand at growing.

I'm really more interested in collecting and identification, but I know I'd get seduced over to growing if I wasn't careful!

I have a number of identification books but there is so much variation, and so many possibilities for a lot of them that it is often difficult to be sure, even with a spore print. With so many people having digital cameras now, I think ID would be speeded up remarkably when a picture was circulated on a forum--and hopefully, occur before the treasure lode fades away!

I don't really grow them, at least not yet, but I might get interested by learning and interacting in a possible future forum. Those fungi are always popping up in my yard and garden anyway. I've seen quite a few threads on fungi, I thought the topic might deserve a shot at a forum of it's own. We'll see.

Identification would certainly be worthwhile, especially if it was poisonous. I've never known anyone who gathered/ate wild mushrooms. I believe that is mainly because we have so many poisonous varieties in our area and we just do not have the knowledge base to determine which ones are not. Kinda like a snake, most people kill it ... just to be 100% sure.

(Even I got in that frame of mind with Slim Jim Tucker, the snake who thought he was a dog ... came when I called the strays to dinner. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/463875/ )

Judy

This message was edited Jan 23, 2005 11:16 PM

Hi Judy

We do a lot of collecting here--we have a lot of forests and meadows around us, and no people. But I often find huge collections of very tasty looking 'shrooms that I can't identify for certain, and I'm always sorry to see them die away before I can eat or dry them.

We have a lot of European friends who are far more accustomed to hunting and eating wild mushrooms than North Americans are, and they are always delighted to help me forage. At one meal last summer we had 5 different varieties! They have SO much more flavour than supermarket 'shrooms, for the most part.

There also is a large industry in this part of B.C. for the collection and sale of Pine Mushrooms (Armillaria Ponderosa, or Matsutake) to the Asian market. I can't see what the fuss is about, taste-wise, but they hold for a very long time in a firm state and are good at all stages from button to very mature, so they are good to ship. A few years ago for a short while the pickers here were getting $200/lb! so the buyers were obviously getting a lot more.

Morels are big too, commercially. With all our forest fires there will be even more pickers out for them this year--they grow well in an area that has been burned.

My favourite find is the giant puffball, the Calvatia, which I think you might get around your area. ??? We get mostly small ones around here (which are great sauteed in butter and garlic!) but I found a soccer-ball sized one in the central B.C. that was incredible. I sliced it 3/4" thick, marinated it in soya, oil and garlic, and then grilled it! Also visiting where I was staying was the chef of a large hotel complex from Vancouver, and he was in ecstasy.

I think everyone is familiar with puffballs--they turn black and puff out "dust" when old--they are great to collect because they are not poisonous so long as they are still white inside (always slice them, even the small ones). You just need to make sure it is a puffball and not the embryo of a gilled mushroom! Of course, some are tastier than others.

My motto re collecting is "Don't be afraid, be informed"

Sounds like a feast to me, chilko! Yummy!

We have puff balls here! Friends of mine eat them but we don't find so many on our land as they find on theirs.

The ones I do find I collect mainly for the powder inside. It's great for stopping bleeding.

Would love to one day come up your way and learn more about edible shrooms!