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chilliwack, bc
Canada
134 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2012 : 4:04 PM
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I see so many different mushrooms along the trails.
It would be nice to hook up with a resident CT shroom expert for a hike and forage.
Does anyone know their mushrooms and want to pass on a little of their knowledge?
I like to hike the Chilliwack area.
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 Fungi Filmin', Wine Drinkin', 'Shroom Eatin', Early Risin', Deer Whisperin', Curry Cookin', Macro Maniac
Chilliwack + Osoyoos
3620 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2012 : 4:22 PM
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Wally Wildman is your expert... But tough to pin down on a weekend...
Wrong time of the year too (although I've seen lots of LBM's out there)... |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
77 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2012 : 4:37 PM
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Fall is a good time, there's a mycology group in Vancouver - probably your best bet:
http://www.vanmyco.com/ |
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New Westminster, British Columbia
Canada
14 Posts |
Posted - 04/06/2012 : 11:52 PM
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| I've been picking for about 10 years now so I know a bit about local mushrooms. I am also knowledgeable about other wild edibles. The problem is, there are very few mushrooms to pick at the moment, so I suggest getting in contact with me in early September. |
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Trail blazin', backcountry bushwackin', pine huntin', photo takin', long winded story teller
3841 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2012 : 05:53 AM
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Morels should be coming up starting around the middle of May onward.
They are great to eat and very distinct so easy to recognize from other mushrooms that are not editable. |
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3022 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2012 : 09:11 AM
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Oysters and morels are about the only worthwhile shrooms this spring, and morels can be hard to spot or grow over suspicious nonorganic firepits.
Please try to cut, not tear nor pull the fungus, and allow at least 15% retention to propigate.
So many many forests are missing, and alders that support oysters need to be mature & dead, something not seen all-to-often, and Parks in the fall are one of the few refuges left for fungus.
There may come a time when species such as chanterelles & pines are listed as threatened and pig's- ears as functionally extinct. |
Edited by - cambium on 04/07/2012 09:12 AM |
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chilliwack, bc
Canada
134 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2012 : 6:04 PM
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Thanks for the info!
Polish D I will definitely contact you in the fall.
Hope everyone makes it out this weekend for a nice hike! |
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Abbotsford, BC
Canada
725 Posts |
Posted - 04/09/2012 : 7:41 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Wildman
Morels should be coming up starting around the middle of May onward.
They are great to eat and very distinct so easy to recognize from other mushrooms that are not editable.
Morels are out now! Ran into a couple this afternoon who were picking them on an urban trail in Abbotsford adjacent to a busy thoroughfare, a place I wouldn't have expected to find any in my wildest dreams. They each had a shopping bag about half full and they were complaining that they hadn't found as many as in previous years. |
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Trail blazin', backcountry bushwackin', pine huntin', photo takin', long winded story teller
3841 Posts |
Posted - 04/09/2012 : 8:19 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by greyowl
quote:
Originally posted by Wildman
Morels should be coming up starting around the middle of May onward.
They are great to eat and very distinct so easy to recognize from other mushrooms that are not editable.
Morels are out now! Ran into a couple this afternoon who were picking them on an urban trail in Abbotsford adjacent to a busy thoroughfare, a place I wouldn't have expected to find any in my wildest dreams. They each had a shopping bag about half full and they were complaining that they hadn't found as many as in previous years.
Some years ago I seen them, (naturals), growing in the bark mulch in the decorative plant beds at my bank this time of year also, so perhaps the natural morels start sooner than the fire morels.
Up north the snow usually leaves the ground in the middle of May and as soon as it melts the natural morels start to grow in the coniferous forest.
Seems like on the coast they start to grow earlier in the Spring. |
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3022 Posts |
Posted - 04/09/2012 : 10:39 PM
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For some reason the only few places I know where to find morels I owe to my daughter & was by pure luck... I got out of my vehicle to have a pee near foot high grasses and my eight-year-old points and exclaims "what's that daddy?!"
We go back there every year.
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Trail blazin', backcountry bushwackin', pine huntin', photo takin', long winded story teller
3841 Posts |
Posted - 04/09/2012 : 10:54 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by cambium
For some reason the only few places I know where to find morels I owe to my daughter & was by pure luck... I got out of my vehicle to have a pee near foot high grasses and my eight-year-old points and exclaims "what's that daddy?!"
We go back there every year.
My boys when they were young used to find them and many other mushrooms and things way before I did on the ground.
Stands to reason they were shorter and closer to the ground so their angle and distant view was much closer than mine.
See who spots things in trees faster or more often, you or her.  |
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2421 Posts |
Posted - 04/10/2012 : 08:43 AM
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Basic survival skills:
If you have a choice between eating
1. a six-legged bug
2. a mushroom
3. a plant
eat the bug.
One of the most common causes of mushroom poisoning in Canada is Europeans who see a mushroom they think is the same as one they used to eat, only to discover (the hard way) that's it's something completely different.
Of the more common species listed in Handbook of the Canadian Rockies, fully half are accompanied by warnings that they are poisonous, hallucinogenic, or have a lookalike that is dangerous. identification takes time - it requires a spore print as well as thorough knowledge of of the external features.
You mention morels. The Yellow and black morels are choice edibles, but the black can be upsetting if eaten with alcohol. The conifer and saddle-shaped false morels are poisonous, and they resemble the harmless ones closely enough that people get poisoned by them every year. The fluted white helvella is also potentially poisonous. The toxin in all three is monomethylhydrazine (or gyromitrin, which metabolizes into MMH). Symptoms are severe gastrointestinal upset followed by muscle cramps and loss of coordination. In severe cases you will see fainting, convulsions, coma and even death.
If you want to go mushroom-picking, you'd BETTER be sure about what you're doing.
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3022 Posts |
Posted - 04/10/2012 : 10:45 AM
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^ still alive I am
True enough don't guess, don't experiment, and if in later doubt toss it out.Find a knowledgable person to help identify these plants. |
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opinionated-stove huggin'-fleece wearin'-arse burnin' hill virgin
Here
Canada
4643 Posts |
Posted - 04/10/2012 : 10:54 AM
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Well I don't know it it counts but I was out foraging for two types of tinder fungus yesterday, Fomes fomentarius (Horsehoof Fungus) and Inonotus obliquus (Chaga). Both are found growing on birch trees. Chaga makes an excellent tasting tea just filled with anti-oxidants as well as being good for tinder.
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Edited by - Hiker Boy on 04/10/2012 10:55 AM |
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207 Posts |
Posted - 04/10/2012 : 11:33 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Hiker Boy
Well I don't know it it counts but I was out foraging for two types of tinder fungus yesterday, Fomes fomentarius (Horsehoof Fungus) and Inonotus obliquus (Chaga). Both are found growing on birch trees. Chaga makes an excellent tasting tea just filled with anti-oxidants as well as being good for tinder.
Thanx for the info. I had never heard about this before. However I seem to recall seeing some birch trees with these growths. |
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Trail blazin', backcountry bushwackin', pine huntin', photo takin', long winded story teller
3841 Posts |
Posted - 04/10/2012 : 5:53 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by peter1955
Basic survival skills:
If you have a choice between eating
1. a six-legged bug
2. a mushroom
3. a plant
eat the bug.
One of the most common causes of mushroom poisoning in Canada is Europeans who see a mushroom they think is the same as one they used to eat, only to discover (the hard way) that's it's something completely different.
Of the more common species listed in Handbook of the Canadian Rockies, fully half are accompanied by warnings that they are poisonous, hallucinogenic, or have a lookalike that is dangerous. identification takes time - it requires a spore print as well as thorough knowledge of of the external features.
You mention morels. The Yellow and black morels are choice edibles, but the black can be upsetting if eaten with alcohol. The conifer and saddle-shaped false morels are poisonous, and they resemble the harmless ones closely enough that people get poisoned by them every year. The fluted white helvella is also potentially poisonous. The toxin in all three is monomethylhydrazine (or gyromitrin, which metabolizes into MMH). Symptoms are severe gastrointestinal upset followed by muscle cramps and loss of coordination. In severe cases you will see fainting, convulsions, coma and even death.
If you want to go mushroom-picking, you'd BETTER be sure about what you're doing.
That's why you go with someone who knows.
Also alcohol should never be taken with any mushrooms especially when eating a species you have never eaten before. Also some mushrooms effect peaple differently. Some people can eat certain ones and others can't.
Also unless you are a idiot you can not mistake a basic morel from those other ones but still do not pick any mushroom and eat it unless with someone that knows and has eaten them before and then only eat a some amount the first time.
That's why the guy was asking to go with someone! |
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chilliwack, bc
Canada
134 Posts |
Posted - 04/10/2012 : 10:32 PM
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Ya what Wildman said!
Wildman I pick you to take along on my foraging trip! |
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2421 Posts |
Posted - 04/13/2012 : 10:31 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Wildman
Also unless you are an idiot you can not mistake a basic morel from those other ones but still do not pick any mushroom and eat it unless with someone that knows and has eaten them before and then only eat a some amount the first time.
There's reason they are called 'false morels'. I guess enough "idiots" have gotten sick from eating them. And as I pointed out, I'd be careful of anyone who says they 'know' mushrooms unless they're an actual certified expert. Those are the ones who can get you into a lot of trouble.
You might also want to consider that the shape and texture of a mushroom can change fairly quickly. What looks like a harmless puffball in the morning might actually be something quite toxic, but you wouldn't know it until it spreads out later in the day. |
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3022 Posts |
Posted - 04/13/2012 : 1:56 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by cutthroat22
quote:
Originally posted by Hiker Boy
Well I don't know it it counts but I was out foraging for two types of tinder fungus yesterday, Fomes fomentarius (Horsehoof Fungus) and Inonotus obliquus (Chaga). Both are found growing on birch trees. Chaga makes an excellent tasting tea just filled with anti-oxidants as well as being good for tinder.
Thanx for the info. I had never heard about this before. However I seem to recall seeing some birch trees with these growths.
we don't have much in the way of birch & elm trees on vancouver Island, I am curious just the same to see other pictures of these 'chaga'.
Our old dead damp standing-alders if given a chance will harbor the right ecosystem for oyster mushrooms in spring & fall.
In the fall a similar species called angel wings grow from downed dead conifersusually hemlocks covered in debris.
Yummy, but don't confuse those ones with muscarine-whites which grow right out of old roadbeds... it'll mess up your heart muscle. |
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Trail blazin', backcountry bushwackin', pine huntin', photo takin', long winded story teller
3841 Posts |
Posted - 04/13/2012 : 11:16 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by peter1955
quote:
Originally posted by Wildman
Also unless you are an idiot you can not mistake a basic morel from those other ones but still do not pick any mushroom and eat it unless with someone that knows and has eaten them before and then only eat a some amount the first time.
There's reason they are called 'false morels'. I guess enough "idiots" have gotten sick from eating them. And as I pointed out, I'd be careful of anyone who says they 'know' mushrooms unless they're an actual certified expert. Those are the ones who can get you into a lot of trouble.
You might also want to consider that the shape and texture of a mushroom can change fairly quickly. What looks like a harmless puffball in the morning might actually be something quite toxic, but you wouldn't know it until it spreads out later in the day.
Yep, you're right these false morels look almost like the true morels pictured below them.
False Morels:
   
True Morels, (Called Naturals):
   ..These are natural morels and taste pretty good and they are the earlier ones in the spring and should be up now around the coast.
True Morels, (Called Fire Morels):
 ..Blacks, least tasty but still good.
 ..Browns, taste better than blacks in my opinion.
   ..Blonds, very good.
 ..Greys, the best, excellant tasting.
Fire Morels grow where forest fires have been and usually start in the middle of May and keep growing into August.
I could give you a bunch of scientific names for them and confuse the hell out of you but when you pick with real pickers that are out to eat them we don't throw scientific names around and just use discriptive names which help identify them when you get to know them.
That's like calling horses by their scientific name instead of just horse as we all know them by. Unless you are a bonified mycologist, you don't have the credentials to call mushrooms by their scientific or biological names and are blowing hot air and know nothing about mushrooms in my opinion.
These are the two mushrooms that get mixed up with good morels and false morels...
  ..Verpa, their ridges are much larger.
and...
 ..Beefsteak morel, also called Big Red...
 ..or Brain.
These mushrooms are editable but I will never try and eat them. They look to much like the false morels.
There is another group of morels called thimbles or chinese hats.
They are small and the main mushroom body is near the top of the stem.
There are other assortments of mushrooms, including verpas which have long stems also and can be mixed up with the good morels.
Don't eat any of these. Some you may be able to eat but others will get you sick so don't take a chance.
   
Chinese hats can be created by cutting the head off the stem of good morels also. The head will grow back in the shape of a chinese hat. They are just small chucks of mushroom when they grow back like this and to me not worth picking again.
Commercial mushroom pickers cut the head off the mushroom and leave the stem.
The reason for this is not to leave the stem and root so the mushroom keeps growing in the same spot. Only the heads are cut off because they are hollow and sold to restaurants where they are prepared by stuffing the head and the stem is not used. Another reason the stems are left is because morels picked commercially are dried before they are shipped and the stem takes to long to dry.
If you pick morels for your own consuption you can pick them whole with the stem.
These mushrooms propagate by spores and even if you leave the stems in the ground they may not grow back in that same local ever again.
FOOTNOTE: I have heard and read about more people being killed by bears than dying from eating poisonous wild mushrooms.
Maybe Peter1955 can find scientific data to prove what I've heard and read wrong. |
Edited by - Wildman on 04/13/2012 11:54 PM |
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3022 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2012 : 10:59 AM
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^
Yeah, don't put these in your goodie basket, you might get an upset tummy.Apparently 'Elf Saddles' a.k.a. gyromitas, have a toxin similar in chemical composition to rocket-fuel.
But once you know your stuff, they are hard to confuse with morels.
This picture taken days ago, still haven't found any morels yet.
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Mushroom Foraging
