Identifying Cottonwood Trees
One of the key habitats for early-season mushroom finding in the Pacific Northwest is with cottonwood trees. Western Washinton has fewer deciduous trees than the east coast, so identification is easier. Our cottonwood species is Populus trichocarpa. To find black cottonwood, start by finding areas near rivers, streams, and lakes. The leaves of cottonwoods quite…
Morels are edible and poisonous
It comes as a surprise to many when I say that the edibility of mushrooms is on a spectrum. Poisonous mushrooms can often be eaten when prepared in sometimes quite elaborate ways. For instance, there is a method for preparing the classic Amanita muscaria in a way that can remove the toxins. This involves boiling…
Spring Foraging – Stinging Nettles
Before most edible spring mushrooms start flushing here in the Pacific Northwest we start to see stinging nettles. In fact, one of my most anticipated signs of spring are the nettles popping up in the green spaces around our home in NW Seattle. The deep emerald color of nettles are a herald of warmer times…
Fire Retardant and Burn Morels
Trent recently posted about the safety of eating morels that are foraged in burn zones due to the use of fire retardants in the area. You can find the original post here. Here my key takeaways from the article. Firefighters have a much greater exposure to these chemicals than a typical forager. So far there…
Toxicity of Morels and False Morels in the Pacific Northwest
Introduction Navigating the spectrum of mushroom edibility and toxicity presents a complex challenge. Even widely accepted edible mushrooms can cause adverse effects in some individuals, while certain mushrooms known for their toxicity, such as Gyromitra esculenta, have been eaten safely after specific preparation techniques. The determination of a mushroom’s safety for consumption varies from mushroom…
Deer Mushroom Cultivation – Pluteus
In January 2023 I stumbled upon a log of fresh Deer mushrooms in the Anacortes Community Forest in Northwest Washington. Deer mushrooms are broadly distributed around the world and are fairly common west of the Cascades. January can typically be a strange time to find such fresh mushrooms. After a brief freeze in mid December…
12 Days of Mushrooms
As we pass the winter solstice and look back on a fungi-filled autumn, here’s a fun reimagining of the 12 days of Christmas for all of you mycophiles.
Milk Caps
The Milk Caps can be a fascinating and sometimes overwhelming genus to observe. Scientifically known as Lactarius, the name indicates one of the genus’s unique characteristics: a strongly-colored juice known as latex or ‘milk’. Dozens of Lactarius species grow in the Pacific Northwest and the characteristics of any one species can vary significantly from mushroom…
Candy Caps
Candy Cap Mushrooms Candy Cap mushrooms are mushrooms in the milk cap genus Lactarius. They are small, orange mushrooms that can be found on or near rotting wood, and soil. There are multiple species that have the characteristic maple scent when dried. Lactarius rubidus is known from Baja to BC. New Lesson: Candy Caps Free Key…