Shaggy Mushrooms

With all the wet weather and leaves falling from the tress, we're well into mushroom season. On the way to work today I was delighted to discover a Shaggy Parasol the size of a dinner plate on Leigh Hill. After a bit of research to confirm the find, I also discovered that these are not quite so tasty as the normal parasol but I still plan on having it stuffed with garlic breadcrumbs with Rosie tomorrow night.



As if this wasn't enough, on the way home I also found some Shaggy Inkcaps on Leigh Hill, which definately are good eating. I shall be having those with Mum this evening as they won't keep. Dad refuses to try them as he won't trust anything that's not bought in the shops. Although he's right to be wary, these mushrooms are so easy to identify correctly he's just being silly...

Mushroom feast and incredibly early blackberries!

More rain = more mushrooms! :)

Because I'm back home this week I was able to go down the Leg'O'Mutton field with Dad earlier and got a whole punnet of tasty fresh Field Mushrooms. I can smell the risotto we're cooking them in as I type and it's making my mouth water. If my parents hadn't gone and bought so many cultivated ones last week I would have been down there every day! Will probably go back on Friday for more.

On the way home we swung by Leigh Hill for some raspberries. there weren't many worth having as the birds like them too, but we did find three of four ripe blackberries! That's unbelievably early, we're hardly out of June!

Mushrooms in the Rain

I went back to check on the mushrooms today. I picked some of the Fairy Ring's making sure that they were the right ones and not the Cream Clots or Cracked Caps that they could be confused with. The big white Horse buttons still haven't broken their veil yet.

I should probably say at this point that I spent about 3 years studing wild mushrooms with field guides and online resources before I ate any, and I still stick to those that are easy to identify and hard to confuse. If you ever plan on picking mushrooms, it is adviseable to learn all the posible poisinous look-a-likes and find examples of both them, and the ones you are lookin for, in different stages of development so that you can familiarise yourself with their different features. It is also worth taking spore samples and important to note the habitat in which you find them.

Rasberries in the rain

Its been another wet weekend. Went out mushroom hunting with Rosie on Kingsley Common yesterday morning. Found a few baby field mushroom buttons which we might go back for, and lots of Fairy Ring which we didn't bother picking, although they are supposed to be good for stews so maybe we should have! What really made the trip worthwhile though, was finding a wild rasberry bush. Only a few ripe fruits but they were a taste explosion in our mouths. Mmmmm...

Elderflower foraging

Went out foraging with Rosie on Sunday on Kingsley Common. Our main objective was Elderflowers which we picked in abundance. Also found what looked like some old Horse Mushrooms, although they could have been yellow stainers. they'd already been picked and were pretty old anyway so we left them. Should have been out mushrooming the other week after all that rain! I've started making some elderflower cordial with a recipie from the Food for Free book. (See below)



I got home today to find Mum had an accident with my two pot courgettes which now have lots of mangled leaves. I also found my best sprouts are infested with whitefly, and the ones outside are being eaten by caterpillars. I'll be impressed if anything survives....