In mid-August in Southern Ontario the lobster is the mushroom hound’s best friend. They’re plentiful right now and they are wonderful mushrooms, which retain a great firm texture when cooked. The lobster, Hypomyces lactifluorum, is what happens when a certain cup fungus attacks host mushrooms.… Read More
All posts tagged “mycology”
Early morning foraging
I wanted to get out to the enchanted mushroom forest this weekend but the only opportunity was going to be an early and quick trip out this morning, so I hit the road at dawn. I’m glad I did because the forest was fairly generous… Read More
A (fun) test for my ankle
Early this morning, I drove up to the enchanted mushroom forest to see if I could find some tasty edibles for dinner. I hadn’t been in the forest since messing up my ankle, and I wasn’t sure how well I’d do, but I picked a… Read More
Careful what you eat…
Somebody landed on this blog today after searching “can mushrooms give upset tummy.” Yes, mushrooms can give upset tummy. Some wild mushrooms found in Ontario can make you very sick and some others can kill you dead dead dead dead dead. During mushroom season, I… Read More
Puffballs?
A surfer landed on this blog today after making a search for where to find puffball mushrooms in Ontario. There are a number of varieties of puffballs but I normally come across three kinds, the giant puffball, Calvatia gigantea, the gem-studded puffball, Lycoperdon perlatum or the… Read More
A morning walk in the Enchanted Mushroom Forest
Sunday morning, the dogs and I headed up to the Enchanted Mushroom Forest for a good long walk. Well, I’ll admit I had an ulterior motive. The forest has enjoyed the magic combination of rain and heat that leads to the fruiting of mushrooms. In… Read More
A Prediction I Like
The Weather Network has predicted normal summer temperatures this year, but in the Toronto area, higher than normal precipitation. This is good news for the amateur mycologists in the crowd. Last season started off well enough with plenty of morels and plenty of oysters but… Read More
Slowly Moving North
My brother emailed the other day to say that morels were spotted in late February in Georgia and Alabama. Serious morel freaks track the progress as each week these tasty mushrooms appear farther and farther north. Sometime more or less in the middle of May… Read More
Where’s the King?
Yesterday, someone landed on this little chunk of paradise after entering “King Bolete Ontario Map” in a search engine. King Boletes are Boletus edulis. They have a number of common names, but you may know them best as Porcini – the little pig mushrooms. These… Read More
Monday afternoon in the Enchanted Mushroom Forest
There were plenty of Ash Boletes in the forest today. These are edible but most people say they aren’t very palatable. Since I almost always get lots of choice mushrooms when these are fruiting, I’ve never tried eating one. Many of these boletes had been… Read More