I was dancing with joy today as I spied a nice hen of the woods fruiting body roosting at the base of a large red oak (Quercus rubra) tree on the grounds at work:
After clearing the leaves from the base of the tree, I found two more fruiting bodies, but one of them looked past its prime- dry, tough, and playing host to mold. I left that one behind... as I rule, I never grab everything, I want these beautiful mushrooms to proliferate, after all. All told, though, I had a major mushroom score:
I don't know the weight of my find, but it totally filled a standard plastic grocery bag. Needless to say, I am an extremely happy individual right now and I will be scarfing down delicious mushroom for weeks. The post title is inspired by a very silly song by Robyn Hitchcock:
I referenced Listening to the Higsons in a post about the possible discovery of the Higgs boson, the song also provided the name of a fabulous live album, a personal favorite of mine, by Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians. I've got this hen out of the woods, and now I've gotta get this hen in mah belly!
11 comments:
why is all delicious fungus so fungingly ugly? Happy eats, luv.
It all comes down to lifestyle. An apple says, "Look at me, I'm beautiful, eat me and help me spread my descendents." The mushroom says, "What are you looking at? I'm just forest floor detritus, don't eat me, I want to spread my descendents."
sadly we have had no morels to harvest for 2 seasons now...keeping my fingers crossed that this may will bring us some...
I have a sad.
I've never encountered this hen. I miss living in the woods of Mendocino County, sometimes. They are filled with many delicious fungi. My favorite is Craterellus, the black trumpet "chanterelle."
It's immorel I tell you. All this hyphing up of fungi.
Congrats, B^4!
p.s. Do not listen to Mandos, his methods are unsound.
~
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Mycelium.
NO IT'S MYCELIUM I WANT IT NOW
That's not _food_ porn, that's _ingredient_ porn. In my sordid past I've done many things - some unprintable - with fun guys and fungis.
Me, I'd probably supplement the maitaki with some other shrooms, basic button mushrooms would be okay, and make a mushroom ragu to put over polenta.
WTF did you do with those delicious fungis?
FWIW, Gavin from the mid-period SadlyNo, along with his S.O. have been doing some crazy work about harvesting fungi in their environs, an posting the results on FaceHell...
sadly we have had no morels to harvest for 2 seasons now...keeping my fingers crossed that this may will bring us some...
That's a bummer. Morels are among the most choice of mushrooms.
I have a sad.
That's not a sad, that's an envious.
I've never encountered this hen. I miss living in the woods of Mendocino County, sometimes. They are filled with many delicious fungi. My favorite is Craterellus, the black trumpet "chanterelle."
Those are some beautiful 'shrooms.
It's immorel I tell you. All this hyphing up of fungi.
Heh, indeed...
NO IT'S MYCELIUM I WANT IT NOW
When should I pick you up at the airport?
That's not _food_ porn, that's _ingredient_ porn. In my sordid past I've done many things - some unprintable - with fun guys and fungis.
I've only begun to deal with this 'shroom... it's huge. So far, I've stir fried it with pork, carrots, onions, splash of soy sauce and sesame oil, then tossed with cut noodles. Tonight, I sauteed some in some butter and olive oil with garlic and onion, then added sauteed medallions of pork and a splash of Marsala. Tomorrow, it'll probably be sliced beef and oyster sauce, probably with spinach and perhaps tofu. I'm going to be dealing with this 'shroom for a while... The ragu and polenta sounds great, I always keep cornmeal on hand because my ancestors on dad's dad's side were polenta and pesto people.
FWIW, Gavin from the mid-period SadlyNo, along with his S.O. have been doing some crazy work about harvesting fungi in their environs, an posting the results on FaceHell...
Good to know he's doing okay. It's funny how the fungi thing is becoming more popular.
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