Hello fellow fungi lovers,
It's already #fungifriday! (How time flies!) I'm afraid I did not have another amazing mushroom morning and who knows? Maybe never will again. But if you ask me, even once is pretty damn lucky.
This week we had very little rain (ergo very few mushrooms). Last week my winecaps had a two day run before melting back down into the earth from whence they came. Hopefully today's deluge will bring a return visit. 👀🙏🤞🤞🙏
But there are other mushrooms to be found...
Have you met megacollybia playtphylla? (Try and say that ten times fast.) Commonly known as the platterful mushroom, these unpretentious fungi have been practically the only game in town, at least along the wooded paths I roam.
I've been cautious about expanding my foraging to new species, sticking with the "beginners" mushrooms for my first two years.
But last winter I had a number of enoki finds, which I thought were quite recognizable. They are not considered a "beginners" mushroom. So it made me feel qualified to maybe try some new ones?????
I really had no intention of trying this species when I took the pics.
It wasn't till I came home and did a little research. I felt reasonably certain of who I was dealing with, and, of course, found out that it was an edible mushroom.
The next day on my walk, there they were, plentiful platterfuls along the pathways.
Mature specimens can become radically inverted. Maybe it's just me but I think the gills kind a look like flaky white fish.😋 It's not considered choice and probably doesn't taste like halibut, but I've decided to give it a try!
Course it had to pass the spore print test, (making for a pretty cool photo op). Other identifying characteristics are white, fibrous stem with a hollow spot up the center and no ring.
I'll be cooking them up tonight and will let you know what I think.
Thanks for reading my post and thanks again to for hosting #fungifriday!