Mushroom Hunting

Porcini, Chanterelles, and Horns of Plenty

Huntress

If one is to go mushroom hunting, it is imperative to assemble a skilled team. These are two of the neighbor's children and an older nephew from Germany who was quite fond of mushroom soup, epecially the one that resulted from this expedition. The photos will enlarge if clicked and the collection includes porcini on the left (with a dark old-man-of-the-woods and a couple red lobster mushrooms). In the center are horns-of-plenty or black trumpets. The French call them trompet de mort (trumpets of death, but you rarely see that name on a menu).

Hurricane Charley crossed over Florida from west to east and turned back for landfall in South Carolina before it raced up the east coast. By that time it was mostly water with much less wind. In the caribbean, when you get rained on you look for rainbows. In the northeast, you look for mushrooms. We picked over a pound of both the familiar orange chanterelles found in supermarkets on the French side, notably US Import/Export and Match, and the black chanterelles.

This is a Jack O'Lantern mushroom (Omphalotus Olearious). It is sometimes called the false chanterelle. The similarity to the true chanterelle (above) has caused gastric distress for many.

Above is the Coprinus Comatus, a very tasty mushroom, also know as the shaggy mane, lawyer's wig (referring to British lawyers), or the ink cap. This last name is a result of the entire mushroom dissolving into an inky black mess, sometimes within 24 hours. We have learned (the hard way) that this process is not stopped by refrigeration.
Below is an Agaricus Campestris, related to the common button mushroom or Champignon de Paris. Note the lovely brown color of the gills and the chocolate brown color of the spores overnight on the white paper. It was a lovely, tasty mushroom with lots of body.