The Outdoor Treasures In Your Own Backyard. ( Or Your Neighbors...)

Free WIFI again

Another Secret Stealth  Post from the Secret HyVee Parkinglot on their Pirated WIFI . With the forest being too wet to explore  this weekend,  I have decided to take a more "local" slant on the mushroom hunting.  After this much rain, surely our own mushrooms must have been stimulated towards a fall fruiting.  For the last few days, I have been finding small Boletes in our back yard.  One or two at a time, nothing spectacular like that time in the forest. 

Chanterelles in our yard

Happy to see them once again.

But today, I discovered that the late summer rains have triggered our small patch of Chanterelles to fruit again.  I am very excited about this.  They are a little small at the moment, and I know they are prone to overharvesting.  They were never that large in the early summer fruiting, so I'm not sure how much larger they will grow.  Bu if they happen to go to spore earlier than I imagine, then I will be ok with it.  I feel like I have already had a good time with the Chanterelles his year. 

Some are pretty big this time.

My daily Bolete Collecting.

The Field Boletes have sprouted up once again.   They grow so fast!  I have been going out every day and I coninue to find new ones.  I even found a patch that I missed!   I have never seen them under the stairs before.   Looks like I will have to start checking that area as well. 

They grow so fast, it is easy to miss them

These guys are past their prime.

At least with the Boletes, you definately know when they are past their prime.  They are firm and bright and colorful when fresh.  Within 24 hours, they turn spongy, slimy and soft.  That is if they white or yellow fungus does not ge them first.  Other mushrooms, however, are not so clear.

Massive Ash Bolete from the nighbors yard.

Puff balls have turned.

I decided to take a look around the neighborhood to see if the spots that produced Mushrooms earlier this year had a fruiting.   The Ash Boletes were MASSIVE!   I have never seen them this large before.   Even though they are edible. ( and not bad, might I add.)   I was not sure how old they were.  I could see that many of them had already released a spore print.  A sign that they are past their prime. Still,  I picked a few to show Cheryl.

No longer white inside.  Ready to Spore!

Lovely shade of Golden yellow.

Looks like the Puffballs are past thier prime as well.  When they are too old to eat, they turn yellow and then green inside.  Looks like these guys will be ready to release spores soon.

Check out all the local mushrooms.

Massive Amanita!

Speaking of large mushrooms.   I found a HUGE Amanita near the house on the corner.   THere were several in the yard, but I decided to bring the largest one home.  I'm sure that the neighbor would not mind that I take a toxic mushroom out of his yard.   (Hopefully...)

A False Milky Cap.  Tastes STRONGLY like pepper!   Awesome!

Another find!  The False Milkcap... or something from this family.  This one excited me very much.   I took a bite out of the cap and chewed it for a few second before spitting it out.   I was IMMEDIATELY hit with a STRONG PEPPERY taste.   I have read these descriptions in the books before and this was the first time I got to experience it.  The sensation was similar to licking an open bottle  of Black Pepper!   It was so cool to finally experiencing it, I had to do it again!   Oh!  And if you are wondering, I think it is not edible...  Unless you blanch it in boiling water for 5 minutes.  I still have to do some research on that one.

Cheryl shows off the PennyBun Bolete.  (Or possiblhy Pine) 

Having been 24 hours since my last experiment/ taste test with  the Baretooth Brittlecap.   And I'm still here.    So let's move on to our next hopeful!   The Pennybun Bolete.   How do I know it is the Pennybun and not the Bitter?   Because it was very tasty.  (It might be the Pine Bolete... Also a tasty choice edible) Not bitter flavor at all.  The texture ( and taste) reminded me of Mom's Fried Summer Squash.    She would slice it up, roll it in flour and fry it in butter.  Crispy on the edges but soft and mildly chewy in the center.   Add salt to taste.  I imagine this tasting really good in a stir fry or noodle dish.  I remain under "Observation" by Cheryl so  I can't experiment any more for the day.   Also, I can't drink any beer.    Which is sad.

Frying up just a little.

Tastes like fried summer squash.  Yumm!

Many mushooms, even safe ones, are not blended well wih Alcohol.  Something about the liver having to work too hard.   Taking a break from beer has not really been a big deal.  I think the last beer I had was over a month ago now.   And I don't miss it too much... Now that I have all these natural treasures to sample; Who needs beer? 

Cheryl's Cracker Mushroom Pizza Flat Bread Experiment.

Cheryl continues to experiment in her own way with the flat bread mushroom pizza concept.   Today's presentation was where she cooks the flatbread first and then adds the tomatoes and mushrooms later.   The results?

   Mushroom and Tomato Crackers!

Taste is Great!  But texture... and Chew factor.. kinda iffy.  Cheryl says the word "Crunchy" should be in the description.  Although I'm not sure that will be a selling point.   She shall continue to experiment.

I have been Hacked by Noryh Korea!

And so another long and tedious blog posting.  Oh!  By the way, I think my Facebook page has been hacked by a Korean girl.  So much for Facebook keeping my information safe. No worries, I only use facebook to promote the blog.  And with no internet to bother me,  she can have her way with it.  Maybe I will get more hits!   I have yet to reach out to Korea!  So many people to read my blog and enjoy my musings. 

Looks like it may be another week before my next blog posting.   Good thing eh?   I seem to get more long-winded as my opportunities dry up.   So much to say, so little bandwidth to say things in.   Have a great Week!  And Thanks for Stopping in.