# Mushroom hunting



## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

Anyone else do it? 

Today I found some purple spore puffball mushrooms, and a good 10lbs of black staining polyspores! I thought at first I hit the jackpot of hen of the woods when I found the polyspores, but it's something new and I've never tried it, so it's still as exciting!

Believe it or not, I live in a pretty urban area, and I just find these in people's yards. :lol: 
I also checked on my 'spot' in the woods where my chicken of the woods has been coming from, and they're GROWING! I'm very excited, because they skipped a year in growth.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

You are the only other person I know of (other then myself) who harvests wild fungi, other than morels, which are almost impossible to misidentify. do you use the other stuff as dye, as is implied by your post? I like oyster mushrooms myself...those chicken of the woods don't grow in Minnesota except in the southeast corner where there are a lot of spring fed streams and dense woods. My uncle took me back to the spring and pool that fed his trout farm and proceeded to leap over logs and rocks to get to them. They were gone before I had a chance to say 'Hey!'

I saw them one other time in the state park near there, but we highschoolers in the Biology club weren't allowed to touch them.*sulk*


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

The black staining polyspores are named that because when you handle them, they bruise and turn black! I don't use them as dyes, no. 

Hopefully they are tastey like the chicken of the woods, and maitaki that they are so similar to.


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

I pick them also,mushrooms,blue legs,wood bluets and puff balls


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## laoshu (Sep 16, 2009)

I am also a mushroom fan although I cant claim to be a picker anymore. I used to love mushroom picking when I was younger and had a good knowledge of the various types .. unfortunatly I don't recognize that many now , only the more common ones.. I used to love picking the puff ball ones on holiday when camping and having them on toast 
My faves ( not for eating though) are the ear fungi on trees like the jews ear and lumpy bracket.


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

My faves are the ones that look like horse poo and grow on trees and the toxic red ones with white spots which I've only ever found once.The ones I've mentioned are the only ones I know 100 % so I stick with those for picking.


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## laoshu (Sep 16, 2009)

I have not heard about the horse poo one.. I must look that up  .
I also love fly agaric ( the red with white spots ) very pretty.


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

I like sulfur shelves and chicken of the woods! Orange!


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## salemouse (Oct 9, 2010)

I'm trying to get into mushroom picking and plant identification. Ive found wild mint so far, chamomile, cinguefiol, made teas and such. But its difficult! so many poisonous kinds! Im going to get a mushroom book though.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

One must be sure of what one is picking and putting in the cakehole; a really good color guide is essential, especially for the beginner.


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

cakehole is obviously multi national lingo :lol:

I've looked up the horse poo as I have thought of it since childhood
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Daldin ... d=0CCkQsAQ


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

Sarah those are so ugly! But when cut open, some are very beautiful! How interesting! 

I found this beauty yesterday, and haven't a clue what it is:


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

it looks like something from the moon.They are interesting,you can see why they figure in so many fairytales.


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

That was my thought! This one doesn't even look real. I spotted it from the car and shouted OMG LOOK AT THAT and my boyfriend was like WHAT WHERE!? 

It looks like it's made of stone. It's very large, 7-8 inches tall. Doesn't look edible, it has several signs in fact of something I'd think is poisonous, but I'm still interested in figuring out what it is!


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

It's also good to know the field tests for toxicity. You break off a little piece, and if it turns dark blue, black or brown quickly, it's no good. Doesn't work with all of them, but if caught in an emergency out in the woods without food, one would do the test, then nibble a tiny bit to see if it made you sick. Of course the lovely amanita or anything that looks like it is to be avoided; pretty, and I understand it is used in shamanistic rituals, but they need very careful preparation.

Minneapolis has a large population of Hmong, and you used to here at least a few times a season of someone, or sometimes several members of a family, getting ill or dying after picking up some 'shrooms that looked familiar. Maybe they looked like something they used to pick in the mountains of Laos or that region.


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## Stina (Sep 24, 2010)

y'all inspired me to go looking for mushrooms after I got home from work today...lol I just went out behind the house and didn't find too much...but I did see a couple interesting ones I took pics of with my phone.... Anyone know what any of them are???

largest intact shroom I found.... 

backyard explorations with my cell by CSBeck, on Flickr

backyard explorations with my cell by CSBeck, on Flickr

Big group of these ones....

backyard explorations with my cell by CSBeck, on Flickr

backyard explorations with my cell by CSBeck, on Flickr

backyard explorations with my cell by CSBeck, on Flickr

adorable little shrooms!

backyard explorations with my cell by CSBeck, on Flickr

backyard explorations with my cell by CSBeck, on Flickr

backyard explorations with my cell by CSBeck, on Flickr

Wondering what in the world this one looked like before it got eaten/fell apart!....

backyard explorations with my cell by CSBeck, on Flickr

This stuff was NEON and AWESOME looking!

backyard explorations with my cell by CSBeck, on Flickr

backyard explorations with my cell by CSBeck, on Flickr

backyard explorations with my cell by CSBeck, on Flickr

These were tiny, gorgeous, delicate, frilly looking things!

backyard explorations with my cell by CSBeck, on Flickr

I also saw some sort of much larger shroom that was half eaten and pretty much unidentifiable so I didn't bother taking pics


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

I -think- those little orange ones are edible. But I might be mistaken. I'll have to find an identifier I think they're called false chantrelles?

Or it might be the red ones. . . or it might be red and orange. :lol:

I never eat white, stemed, gilled mushrooms, because there are just so damn many that look EXACTLY the same to me, that I just won't touch them. :|


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

Hmm nope, not false chantrelles. . .


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

Dacryopinax spathularia, is your orange fungus Stina! Keep an eye on it, let it grow, and it's edible!


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## Stina (Sep 24, 2010)

lol...I won't eat them....but steve might...


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

:lol:


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## Anne (Mar 21, 2011)

I come from a mushroom loving family and ever since I was a little kid I have been "hunting" for mushrooms every year, mostly in public forest.

There is nothing like a mushroomstew on a piece of toasted bread :mrgreen:


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## Anne (Mar 21, 2011)

Stina said:


> Big group of these ones....
> 
> 
> I think I know these, but I would have to pick of the "hat" to look how that looked like and to smell it. If it is what I think (and I am not sure as you proably have other mushrooms as us) they are eatable, but only cooked. The latin name is Marasmius oreades


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

Here are some I've found today, and yesterday:

King Boletus (black), Ringless honey caps (yellow), purple spore puffballs (white) and cinnamon chantrelles (red)!










Here's a photo of the honey caps I have strung up to dry, I have 7 or 8 of these strings hanging up, AND all the ones I have on the plates too! :shock: These things are everywhere!


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

You're making me hungry! My those platefuls of sliced 'shrooms are so lovely.


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## Rhasputin (Feb 21, 2010)

The honey caps are delicious, they taste like roast pork. :love

I'm makin a pasta sauce out of them.


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