Mushroom advice

[Dave]

I believe these are "Hen of the Woods" mushrooms.  Anyone know for sure?  They seem like they may be toward the end of their life cycle as they "looked" older and seemed to fall apart a little.  I took two home but obviously want to make sure they're "hens."  They were at the base of an oak tree, which is where they grow, from what I researched.

Here are a few pics.
This one is where it grew


Here it is picked



Also ran across these little guys.  ANyone know what they are? Growing on a Maple tree.

 

And one last variety







"Hey HuntnCarve, how bout a side of mushrooms with that venison steak!"

[coyotehunter_1]

Hey Dave...
I'm not into mushroom hunting but here is a pretty good reference site that may help.

http://americanmushrooms.com/ 


Like they say... "If in doubt, throw them out"   


Chet

[FinsnFur]

Yea, since one of the deadliest mushrooms in the world looks a lot like the famous grocery store Bella Mushroom, I'd be scared to sample anything I was questioning.

[Dave]

I looked into all these further.  The first two pics are Hen of the Woods, or Maitake mushrooms.  Good news with them is that there are no similar looking mushrooms that are poisonous!!  Wegman's (a grocery store) has them for sale at $12.99/lb, and listed as both Maitake and Hens.  It's the most expensive ones they have. 
This one here is probably 8-10 lbs. 

[Hawks Feather]

“All mushrooms are edible - once” - Unknown

[Dave]

Well I've aborted the meal.  I brought them inside the house for cleaning, pulled one out of the brown shopping bag, placed it on a dark cutting board and saw what I thought was the mushroom spores falling onto the cutting board.  In the bag I hear tiny little noises  as if someone were dropping sugar granules onto the bag at the rate of about 3 every second.  I start looking at these things and they appear to be moving and 'popping' on the cutting board.    They are about the thickness of a piece of thread and maybe 1/32 of an inch long.  I'm guessing some type of tiny fly larvae/maggots.    I quickly whisked them out the back door before my wife came by. 

[bigben]

Yeah ya got to get them when they are fresh. Remember the spot cause they'll be there next year to. Get em in early september or august. Earlier the better

[FinsnFur]

Ohhhh K  now see the larvae I coulda ate!

[HuntnCarve]

Aw shucks!   Here I was going to cook you up a batch the next time I was down...
PS.  I'm going to tell your Misses what you had in her kitchen! 

HuntnCarve
Dave

[Ladobe]

In the 60's Psilocybin mushrooms could show up on grocers produce counters in San Francisco, so you had to watch out for them if shopping mushrooms just for their awesome food value.   Many that were unwary took "trips" they didn't intend to.    The ex and I learned how to recognize them to avoid them.

As a kid I was taught to only "sample" wild collected mushrooms I was not positive of their species.   Never really learned how to identify them beyond those local to the many places where I lived though.   Worked out OK, I'm still here and I didn't take any unplanned "trips".   

[FinsnFur]

So they sold hallucinogen mushrooms in the grocery stores?
I'll never look at my Baby Bellas the same way again.

[Dave]

As a kid I was taught to only "sample" wild collected mushrooms I was not positive of their species. 

I think i will take that approach with the mushrooms I AM positive are edible (edible more than once, that is).

[Hawks Feather]

So they sold hallucinogen mushrooms in the grocery stores?

Jim,

Think about it - Southern California.  They are probably still doing it.  Well at least Nancy P. looks like she is still eating them.  Maybe she really isn't getting Botox injections in her face and it is the results of the mushrooms.  (Now where is that icon with eyes that can't shut?  Maybe this guy, just pretend his head doesn't shake.)   

Jerry

[FinsnFur]

Got it Jerry

[Ladobe]

LA LA Land (aka the southern Republik) had a long ways to go to let it slide like SF did, and probably still does.

In the 60's the original counterculture ran pretty much unchecked in the Bay Area, as did most of the "dealers".   In the right "districts" especially you could get anything on the street, in places of business, etc, and often free of charge.   Nobody even tried to hide it because nobody tried all the hard to stop it for the most part.   Lots of businesses were owned by cc or cc supporters, and that included many in the establishment.     SF was folks mostly getting along no matter what their ethnic background and beliefs were.   One of the reasons why SF had always been successful as a major melting pot of the world.   Yeah there were gangs, the HA and BP and a drug cartel, but they really didn't bother other folks that much.   Folks just found a level to coexist pretty well there.   After living there for a time you seem to gain a sixth sense and became street wise, and it was recognized.   I had more than my fair share of "run ins" with gangs, both HA and BP, dealers and pimps, including in the wee hours on the streets of the city and with my wife in tow sometimes.  None of them escalated into anything.   Probably sounds weird, but I was never afraid of SF or its residents despite living there at the height of some of the most radical infractions there.   So I really enjoyed the years I lived there.   Not as much as those after when I lived down in Carmel, but only because life was slower and so easier there, and in one of most beautiful places to live in CA.   Would I live in CA again?  I didn't think so, at least not near any of the population centers like LA or SF etc.   But last week I was talking to a realtor on the Monterey Peninsula about a place almost across the street from Lover's Point in Pacific Grove with a balcony that overlooks the bay just for S&G.   Not going to happen, but the thought was kind of nice.   After 22+ years I'm tired of the hot desert, can't handle the deep snow country anymore and the climate on the peninsula is just about perfect all year.