Wild Mushrooms

Feels like everyone who forages upstate has a special and very secret mushroom gathering location. I had hoped to find some of our own to enjoy but I had no idea where to start so I didn’t make it a priority. A few weekends back my childhood best friend came out to visit with her family. Most of the weekend was spent fawning over my friends’ baby, playing boardgames, and slowly exploring Mountaindale’s downtown.

Though we planned to go out to eat, while out on an adventure into the back woods of our property we spotted some very elegant and very obvious oyster mushrooms. Mushrooms don’t last long so we harvested quite a number them for dinner and beyond - this round was fried and the rest were dried for later use.

To our surprise, we also discovered a very fresh batch of Chicken of the woods by merely looking up as we hiked. One of our friends had put into the universe that he’d like to try this weird fungus and a few minutes later, there it was. The pieces we brought home were breaded and fried. Now we totally get why these mushrooms have their name, they taste and have the same consistency as fried chicken nuggets.

A few weeks later I thought we had hit the jackpot again but this is just a reminder that there are a slew of wild mushrooms that grow in these parts. High up on a maple tree, we had discovered Northern Tooth, a bitter and unenjoyable tasting mushroom that is too tough to eat. Note the long teeth under the mushroom. So into the compost pile these go.