A Late Summer Rain Brings Iowa Mushrooms!

Summer rain Brings out the Chanterellesand other
Mushrooms.

 Last night, it rained and thundered and lightnening-ed....  and continued well into the morning.   For this reason,  Cheryl and I skipped the bike ride/run because... one:  Rain.   And two:   We JUST ran a half Marathon!   ( Still,  Cheryl was so eager to get out there and get soaked!  Crazy Person!)

Bright color, fresh specimens! 

After milling around and having nothing to actually do in Iowa City,  we decided to give a go for some Mushroom hunting.  Aside from the Golden Oysters,  This year has been a bust so far.  Only a few fawn mushrooms in the lawn were I water the tomatoes. 

Our daily mushroom grab.   Perhaps
2 lbs. 

Look mom!  No Gills!  (or ridges of
any type....) 

But we were pleasantly surprised when we discovered several species on our search.   I believe there is the possibility that there could be more over the next few days, as the rain water settles into the land.   But we found about 2-3 lbs of various mushrooms that I can't wait to eat!

Small Boletes.   Yumm! 

First,  the Mini Boletes.   One of my favorite and the easiest to ID.  ( Tastes like creme cheese in scrambled eggs....Yummy!)   Too soft for Pizza though.

Bare-toothed Russulas.  ( Brittle gills.) 

Second.   Brittle Gills!   Also known as Russula mushrooms.   These guys..if you find the right ones. ( Lots of different Russulas that look alike)  taste like Almonds!  The ones I brought home I did the "taste test" to see if they taste "sharp"  ( bitter or like pepper...) I found no sharp flavor, so I'm very excited to fry them up.  They are not called "brittle" for nothing.  Most of them did not make the trip still in one piece.

The spore print will have to decide it. 

Purple Cort.. Or Blewit?  Scaly top
suggest a Cort...

We also discovered a Blewit ( lapista Nuda)   We think.   The jury is still out until I get a Spore Print.   The color of the spores should be Pink... not rusty brown.   If it is a Blewit,  I will finally work up the courage to eat one.   ( they are a choice edible.)  But since so many  Purple Corts hang out in the same forests around here,  sometimes it is difficult to ID.   And last year, I was too chicken to try them. (not poisonous, just bad tasting/tummy ache possibility)

Smooth Chanterelle.   Wonder how it gets its name. 

And finally,  the Chanterelles!  Fresh!  HUGE!  Chanterelles from a new species. ( family, sub-species...whatever.)  The Cantharellus Lateritus.   Also known as the "Smooth Chanterelle"   We found a LOT of them... and there were many many more out there.   A first we thought these were Lobster Mushrooms ( another tasty edible... Cheryl buys them from the Mushroom place and loves them.)

Very similar to a Lobster mushroom.. But Lobsters are
larger in size. 

 But they were rather small compared to the Lobster.  ( a parasite mushroom that genetically takes over Milk caps mushrooms and Russulas!  How cool is that?)  But we have ID-ed them now and are very confident that they are the Smooth Chanterelles.   Note the lack of ridges under the caps.   I managed to find a "normal" chanterelle for comparison. 

Compare to the "false Gills" or a "normal" Chanterelle.

Either way,  both the Lobster and the Chanterelles are choice edibles.  We will have to spend some time cleaning them all up because, being so fresh after that rain, they popped up through the mud and clay.  Most of them are rather dirty.

So,  I'm off to clean and cook a few up.  I'll probably begin with the Boletes and Russulas since they are the most fragile.  And they are the ones that will probably all be mine.   I'll have to see if Cheryl even wants any.