My thoughts on niche partitioning in fungi With so many plants and fungi jostling for space on a forest floor or open grassland, you’d think that they should all be… Read More
Myco-Community Cooperation
Category: Fungi
Chicken of the Woods
Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) within reach! This particular one was a tad too dry to eat sadly, however it can still be powdered and added to a campfire… Read More
Wrinkled club fungus
Clavulina rugosa Phylum: Basidiomycota – Class: Agaricomycetes – Order: Cantharellales – Family: Clavulinaceae.
Yellow earth tongue
Spathularia flavida Also known as the yellow fan, this fungus is a member of the club fungi and found in mixed conifer forests in mosses and decaying leaf or needle… Read More
Wild Hen of the Woods
Passing an old oak tree today looking in the grass for pink purslane, the old giant whispered to me as I walked past. As she did the thought entered my… Read More
St George’s Mushroom
From ‘British Edible Fungi: How to Distinguish and Cook them.’ By M. C. Cooke, M.A., L.L.D., A.L.S. London, 1891. St George’s mushroom: Agaricus gambosus 1821, Tricholoma gambosum c1891, Calocybe gambosa… Read More
Winter fungi
Between Christmas and New Year, it’s so nice to get outside for a crisp walk & forage, even at zero degrees. Today I found some velvet shanks (Flammulina velutipes) edible… Read More
Scarletina bolete
Boletus scarletina. There’s a brown topped mushroom with red pores, an orange stem, and bright yellow flesh than turns dark blue as soon as you cut it. And yeah, it’s… Read More
Wild Mushroom Pâté with Hen of the Woods
In late September it seems as if there’s a hen of the woods around every oak tree. I’ve found 8 in the last 4 days. It has a lovely almost… Read More
How to Dry Mushrooms
Porcini powder is the most fabulous, deep, rich flavouring for stocks, soups, casseroles, in fact almost everything! Birch bolete powder comes a good second and most mushrooms produce an intense… Read More
Wild fungi in August
It’s been a good year for fungi already and the combination of a hot, dry summer with a few days soaking from the post-Hurricane Bertha rainfall, has resulted in a… Read More
Hairy Curtain Crust bracket fungus
Hairy Curtain Bracket (Stereum hirsutum) is a great name for this wood loving fungi that thrives on dead wood and can often be found right through the winter months. It… Read More
Fungi season in Scotland
It’s early November and the fungi season is coming to a close in Scotland. Well, not entirely! September and October are really the bumper months especially for chanterelles, porcini, boletes… Read More
Porcini Parma Lasagne
This is a delicious dish that’s easy to make using most kinds of mushrooms, particularly porcini (ceps), oyster mushrooms, chicken of the woods, and any other firm textured fungi. I’ve… Read More
Giant porcini mushroom
One of my guests on Sunday’s Fabulous Fungi Walk spotted this huge penny bun. Also known as ceps or porcini Boletus edulis this monster mushroom weighed about 850 grams. Still… Read More
Orange peel fungus
Orange Peel Fungus Aleuria aurantia is a choice edible fungi with a fondness for following the edges of paths ad tracks especially where there are also decaying stumps and debris.… Read More
Purple Stocking Webcap
Purple stocking webcap (Cortinarius mucifluoides) Pretty but not edible – may contains dangerous toxins. #fungi
Turkey Tail mushrooms – Trametes versicolor
Turkey tail mushrooms are found growing on logs, especially fallen beech, throughout the world and certainly here in Scotland. Their rather obvious name is due to them looking literally like… Read More
Chanterelles – Cantharellus cibarius
Exquisite flavour, slightly fruity and slightly peppery, this is one of the most popular of the edible mushrooms. Most foragers have a secret patch that they visit and the secret… Read More
Mushroom breakfast
Gently fried in butter with some chopped chives, salt and pepper and garnished with chive flowers. This is mixture of chanterelles and hedgehog fungi. Before… and After!
Hedgehog fungus – Hydnum repandum
Luckily for foragers, hedgehog fungus is far less well-known that it’s cousin the chanterelle. It is easily identified by its spines or teeth under the cap which look vary different… Read More
The Mushrooms are Back!
Watching the tractors out mowing and baling in the fields fills me with dread, knowing that summer is drawing to a close and winter is on its way. So the… Read More
Books about Medicinal Mushrooms
Mushroom Bibliography. This lists some of the books available about medicinal uses of fungi. Listed according to most recent publication date. Hobbs, C. (2021) Guide to Medicinal Mushrooms: Boost Immunity,… Read More