EDIBLES IN THE MICHIGAN WOODS

[Peyton Manning]

Turned out sunny finally

 

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[tamrock]

So those are edible. What are they called? I've only ate the morels and dang those are good. I should have thought of doing a little looking for some when I was in Iowa.

 

[Peyton Manning]

I don’t really know. I’m not a reliable source on fungi

 

[tamrock]

I don’t really know. I’m not a reliable source on fungi

Me either. Morels are the only ones I've eaten that I've picked. All the other are the common white mushrooms, shiitake and the eonkitake that I can easily pick in the produce section at the grocery store. Outside of that I best just stick with those in my limited knowledge of fungi also. I did see here on the news that they passed a new initiative it's now okay to eat the magic mushrooms and not be tossed in the slammer. It's still illegal to sell them though.

 

[Megalodon]

I don't believe those woody shelf fungi are edible.

We don't get morels around us but we do get some nice puffballs. You pick them as soon as they come up. Wait too long and they get infested with insects or go to spore. We've picked them as large as a softball. Slice them up and just lightly fry the 3/8 - 1/2" thick white slices in a pan like home fries. Light, mild and Delicious.

 

[WannaDig3687]

Well, at least you figured out how to post pics with your new contraption.

 

[Peyton Manning]

It’s videos I can’t figure out

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Nice photo!

 

[Peyton Manning]

Going out fishing this afternoon!

 

[huntsman53]

I will be going after some Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms this Fall in an area where I found nearly 100 pounds on two downed trees that was already rotting because I was too late in getting there to find them. I also scored about 20 pounds of Chicken from a live tree closer to where I park in the National Forest. I also hope to find some Hen of the Woods Mushrooms this Summer along with some other edible Fungi.

 

[Megalodon]

There's a saying that goes "There are old mushroom hunters and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old bold mushroom hunters."

When I was in grad school in the 70's, there were times, even with my teaching and research stipends and part-time carpentry work, that little cash was left for food after expenses. So I supplemented a garden with edible wild plants like young pokeweed shoots and lamb's quarter (aka pigweed). I also took a USDA graduate class on mushroom identification. One of several books used in that class is still very useful today and i recommend Orson Miller's book "Mushrooms of North America" to anyone interested. You can find a used one on ebay or at most used book shops for a couple of bucks.

 

[Peyton Manning]

So is the one I found really edible? I have no idea, but franks look good

 

[Megalodon]

So is the one I found really edible? I have no idea, but franks look good

Not the shelf fungi in the first pic of this thread.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Years ago I bought a Mushroom Field Guide that listed edible mushrooms, and the rest as well.

For every "Sweet Happy Cap" there is an identical looking "False Happy Cap" or "Shrieking Death Pixie". And some of the poisons/toxins - "no symptoms for 6-12 hours", or worse, "no symptoms for 3 to 20 days after ingestion".

I have gathered and eaten Morels, but I haven't been hungry enough to get much braver. Even morels can be confused for this fungi - that some idiot has posted on the web as a "beefsteak morel". This is

Gyromitra esculenta​

and contains a metabolic poison that will cause brain damage and hemolysis if eaten raw. You shouldn't even handle them raw. Potentially very deadly. Cooking breaks down some of the toxicity but not all of it.​

My favorite edibles from the woods are whitetail deer and ruffed grouse. ;-)

 

[Megalodon]

In addition, there are many mushrooms that have toxic properties only if consumed with alcohol.

When I suggested Orson Miller's "Mushrooms of North America", it was not a suggestion that a field guide was all that was necessary to pick mushrooms from the wild for dinner. Even after taking a semester class from a national expert, I stick only to the easily identifiable mushrooms - and those that have nothing toxic with similar appearance. My motivation for taking the class was occasional food shortages. Combined with a refusal to ever ask for help, I took the class to feed myself. I developed a taste for some species and now enjoy their gourmet qualities, long after the starving grad student days.

 

[Toecutter]

the pic is a Polypore and those are past the due date, should be white and have a nice snap when bent and broke, fry em up and enjoy, Iv tried them once...