There hasn’t been much mushroom hunting going on with all the dry weather we’ve enjoyed, but recent storms gave me a bit of hope, so the dogs and I headed for the enchanted mushroom forest to see what we could see.

Boletes: none
Chanterelles: none
Hedgehogs: none

However, I do know a hemlock bog that grows plenty of Hypomyces lactifluorum – which we call The Lobster – and I was able to pick a basket of these delicious items. The lobster is what happens when a certain ascomycete fungus attacks a host mushroom. The host is either the Russula brevipes or the Lactarius piperatus – neither of which are palatable until attacked by the Hypomyces (after which they are most tasty). A few things happen. The host becomes distorted and quite firm and it becomes covered in the parasite. It starts off scarlet and changes to a deeper red. Anything deeper than scarlet is typically past it’s expiry in terms of edibility.