Mushroom hunting early this morning, though I didn’t find any edible ones. A few mushrooms caught my attention:
Firstly, this dryad saddle fell from a tree. It’s dried up, and this looks like just a quarter of it; the rest was broken into parts.
Then this branch is full of oakmoss and ramalina.
A little further, a cluster of King Alfred’s mushrooms stood out to me, growing at the end of a big fallen branch.
Then I found more!
These mushrooms grow on dead or fallen ash trees, as plenty of ash trees have been cut down recently, so these mushrooms appear everywhere here.
Smaller ones just started to grow.
Growing under the bark.
I decided to gather some.
This humble mushroom often considered ugly, but it is quite beautiful if you look closer.
I sliced them at home, and it is even more beautiful inside.
It features striking concentric rings, each representing a year of development. One reason I don’t pick them unless I have a purpose is out of respect for their role in the ecosystem and the time it takes for them to grow.
A few months ago, I made a post about it and created an infused oil, which yielded an amazing red oil that I’ve been using for massages, bites, and similar purposes.
One amazing fact that attracted me to King Alfred's mushroom is its antifungal property, despite being a fungus itself.
Photograph: Pubmed
I decided to look up more details about this humble fungus and discovered some very interesting facts.
In the study, King Alfred’s cake gives off natural chemicals (VCO's) that prevent harmful fungi. Most of the VCOS I’ve researched were used as flavouring for food, so they’re safe.
Photograph: Pubmed
The study found that these chemicals prevented mould from growing on dried fruits and eradicated fungus on peanuts during storage. Researchers used lab tools to study the chemicals and found they have germ-fighting properties.
Based on this, I decided to experiment.
I've placed a slice of King Alfred’s in one container with a slice of apple and one without. I’m curious to see the result in a week! What do you think will happen?
As the weather has gotten nicer, these are now drying as fire starters for outdoor cooking, and I'm looking forward to barbecues!
Have a lovely day,
Mariah 🍄💗😊