Midwestern mushrooms for beginners
Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2020 2:13 am
Almost every season there are mushrooms about. Where I live in the midwest, there are a bunch of easily identifiable ones that you can look for if you're a beginner.
First up is one of the ugliest fuckers I've ever had the displeasure of looking at, the Chaga mushroom. This parasitic mushroom grows on birch trees and looks like a tumor that's been set on fire and burnt to a gross black crisp. The black part of chaga makes wonderful and healthy tea. The cork like center of chaga is great for starting fires once it's dried out. A little more can be learned on chaga from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inonotus_obliquus and here https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/chaga-mushroom
Next up is one that is really hard to miss, the scarlet cup or the scarlet elf ear. These are BRIGHT red and they grow on sticks in the leaf litter. I personally wasn't too impressed with them. They just kinda taste like regular mushrooms. The annoying part is they get covered in leaf litter and take a little work to clean up. You often find so many of them that you can easily fill up more than one plastic shopping bag. This one grows in the spring time so at the moment, you're going to have to wait. Take or leave it. https://gallowaywildfoods.com/scarlet-e ... tribution/
Another super easy one to identify is the chicken of the woods. This shelf growing mushroom is a polypore, meaning it doesn't have gills like a regular mushroom it has tons of tiny pores on the bottom. Aside from the blindingly bright orange, white, and polypore nature of the chicken of the woods, it has very few look alikes. Grows mostly on Oak trees. Cooked down it has the consistency and stringy nature of meat. It also tastes like chicken (ish). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laetiporus
A look alike for the chicken of the woods is the chanterelle. As you can see, it looks slightly like the chicken of the woods because of its bright orange color but it lacks other similar markers. First is the fact that it grows on the ground in clusters and not in shelves on trees. Second is it has gills that extend from the cap down the stalk that often fork. There are false chanterelles that were thought to be poisonous, but they just kinda make you shit yourself a bit. If you feel comfortable with this one, go for it. I would say it's the hardest to identify in terms of easy mushrooms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanterelle\
It wont let me add anymore pictures for some reason.
First up is one of the ugliest fuckers I've ever had the displeasure of looking at, the Chaga mushroom. This parasitic mushroom grows on birch trees and looks like a tumor that's been set on fire and burnt to a gross black crisp. The black part of chaga makes wonderful and healthy tea. The cork like center of chaga is great for starting fires once it's dried out. A little more can be learned on chaga from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inonotus_obliquus and here https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/chaga-mushroom
Next up is one that is really hard to miss, the scarlet cup or the scarlet elf ear. These are BRIGHT red and they grow on sticks in the leaf litter. I personally wasn't too impressed with them. They just kinda taste like regular mushrooms. The annoying part is they get covered in leaf litter and take a little work to clean up. You often find so many of them that you can easily fill up more than one plastic shopping bag. This one grows in the spring time so at the moment, you're going to have to wait. Take or leave it. https://gallowaywildfoods.com/scarlet-e ... tribution/
Another super easy one to identify is the chicken of the woods. This shelf growing mushroom is a polypore, meaning it doesn't have gills like a regular mushroom it has tons of tiny pores on the bottom. Aside from the blindingly bright orange, white, and polypore nature of the chicken of the woods, it has very few look alikes. Grows mostly on Oak trees. Cooked down it has the consistency and stringy nature of meat. It also tastes like chicken (ish). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laetiporus
A look alike for the chicken of the woods is the chanterelle. As you can see, it looks slightly like the chicken of the woods because of its bright orange color but it lacks other similar markers. First is the fact that it grows on the ground in clusters and not in shelves on trees. Second is it has gills that extend from the cap down the stalk that often fork. There are false chanterelles that were thought to be poisonous, but they just kinda make you shit yourself a bit. If you feel comfortable with this one, go for it. I would say it's the hardest to identify in terms of easy mushrooms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanterelle\
It wont let me add anymore pictures for some reason.