Edible Mushrooms of Oregon A forager’s guide to the coast, the Cascades, and the Willamette Valley Oregon is one of the best places on earth to forage for wild mushrooms. From the rain-soaked Sitka spruce forests of the coast to the Douglas fir and hemlock of the Cascades and the pine country east of the…
“Is This a Morel?” A free photo quiz to sharpen your morel identification skills before you hit the woods Morel season is approaching, and every year we see the same questions in foraging groups: “Is this a morel?” Sometimes it is. Sometimes it’s a Verpa. And sometimes it’s a Gyromitra — which can make you…
A guide to some of the most popular foraged mushrooms in the Pacific Northwest and suggestions on how to find them
The following is a selection of mushrooms found in our region in January. Some have very specific habitats and might only be found in a small part of the region. Cat’s Tongue Pseudohydnum gelatinosum Considered a species ‘complex’, which includes multiple closely related species that can be difficult to separate visually. Chanterelle Cantharellus Chanterelles can…
Seattle-area mushroomers may be preparing for an excellent late-summer mushroom season this year. Cooler temperatures and above-average rain will prompt fruitings of many species found in our region’s late summer months, including choice edible species like king boletes and chanterelles. There is more to love about mushrooms than just these popular choice edibles. There…
The genus name Gyromitra comes from two Greek words: gyros – circle or ring (as in gyroscope) mitra – headband or turban, later the bishop’s headdress (mitre, mitre joint) The “false morels” were traditionally all placed in Gyromitra, including brain-shaped, saddle-shaped, and disc-shaped species. Recent molecular work has split them into several genera (Maublancomyces, Paragyromitra,…
Morels are among the most widely foraged mushrooms in the United States. They are broadly distributed and easier to identify than most wild mushrooms, but they have toxic look-alikes (see below), so careful identification still matters. Their popularity has also produced a lot of misconceptions. Here are some of the most common. Morels are all…
Introduction Mushroom edibility is not a simple yes or no. Even widely eaten species cause reactions in some people. Some foragers in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe eat Gyromitra esculenta after repeated boiling, but that does not reliably remove its toxin, and we do not recommend eating it. Reactions vary from person to person and with…
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 Cap Mushrooms Candy caps are small, orange-brown mushrooms in the milk cap genus Lactarius that smell of maple syrup when dried. Several similar-looking species exist, and only some have that scent. Lactarius rubidus is the name usually used for the local candy cap. Mushrooms of Cascadia (Siegel & Schwarz) reports it from western Cascadia,…
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