FungusFun.com

tsagaglalal · Newbie Joined: Nov 04, 2004 Posts: 2

Hey folks---So yesterday, I stumble across first a single bright red-orange mushroom, then a whole BATCH of them, maybe 30-40, spread across an area about 10x15 ft. Doug fir/Oregon white oak woods, in SW Washington. Nearby were some humungo whitish/tan mushrooms, 8 inches across and more, very well nibbled; unaffected by the red fungus. Also a lot of white worm coral mushrooms all over the place, plus at least a dozen other interesting small species I didn't try to figure out.

I'm not a mushroom id'er, up to this point only know a few by name, but have been appreciating them for beauty & diversity for many years.

My question: These must be lobster mushrooms. But I haven't seen any references to them growing in numbers. Is this common? It sure was cool! Not to mention kinda eerie.

Also, next question: Is there any way to make long-lasting specimens of mushrooms? (like a herbarium collection of plants) Drying doesn't seem to work very well.

Thanks for any comments/advice.

c · Member Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 155

My book says that they grow solitary, scattered or gregariuos. Usually fruiting from Lactarius and Russula species (they grow from other mushrooms).
I think the other guys on the board might be of more help to you regarding the lobster mushroom. I have never picked any over here on the east coast.

peterthinks · Junior Member Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 54

Have you ever seen those globes that you fill with water and put some roses in and then invert?
you could try that with mushrooms but I'm not sure what you'd put in...water is right out,it'd just start growing funky stuff in it
olive oil maybe? or glycerin or isopropal alcohol.
I know there is a way to preserve them in oil so you can eat them later and you can pickle mushrooms.
Isopropal alcohol is pretty cheap about $2 per liter..it's clear and it is used to preserve bugs parasites and tissue samples.
Formaldehyde would work too but it causes cancer and may be hard to get.
and mineral oil may work too but it doesn't harm mycelum so the mushroom may stay "alive" might not work if you want to preserve it in a fixed state
try samples in each and see which ones hold thier color the best.
A good set of pictures is probably the easiest to share and store.
put sections and cross sections on a piece of glass and scan them on a scanner for very detailed close up pictures put spore prints on a half black half white piece of paper and scan those too.

I have seen lobster mushrooms too and there were worm like coral growing nearby(coincidence?)
http://members15.clubphoto.com/peter627123/2597268/guest.phtml I read they were edible or poison depending on what they grew on.mine were not in groups though and I had no other mushrooms growing close that I could ID as being the host.
I suggest you get a camera and take a few pictures...sounds like a great photo opportunity,fields of Lobster mushrooms.They are pretty sturdy they may still be there.

tsagaglalal · Newbie Joined: Nov 04, 2004 Posts: 2

Thanks for all the great advice! Should've read this before going out in the woods today. All KINDS of weird and beautiful mushrooms growing, now all I have to do is take my book and figure out what the heck they are.

Camera is a great idea, except it's in my kid's clutches up at college currently. Plus, I like having specimens surrounding me. (At my elbow: terrestrial crayfish chimney about 10" high that was one of the very few fragile items the moving company managed to get from IN to WA without breaking---no doubt because the box it was in WASN'T labeled "fragile.") One of those weirdo old-school naturalists.

So we're poking around separately in the woods today above a wild rushing-rapids creek, and I finally notice, hey, it smells like fish, find a place I can peer out, and down below on the bank are hudreds of dead HUMUNGO salmon, piled up at every outward curve of the creek. Also, slightly unsetling, a big bunch of stripped skeletons, obviously bears' work. I keep forgetting I should be watching for bears (and cougars) in these lush, mossy woods. Just so thrilled we have no poisonous snakes (after a decade in copperhead country, always fun at morel time, gah), I guess.

Anyway, thanks again for chiming in. Just wait'll I get that camera back, you'll be sorry ("what's this?" "And this?" "And this?").

whistle · Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 4:18 pm Post subject: full of lobsters

tsagaglalal;
Read your note on Lobsters. Yes indeedyLobsters do grow in huge quantities sometimes. My Lady and I picked about seventy pounds one fall in just a couple of hours on the banks of the Fraser River close to a wide spot in the road called Spuzzum, B.C. I dried Lobsters for a week, and let me tell you, lobsters drying do perfume a house! As well as the color the deformity is a key to their identification. Good hunting. Whistle

whistle · Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 2:25 pm Post subject:

tsagaglalal

Re: Fuzzy Butts and Large Cats.

Fuzzy butts do not bone their salmon before eating. In the Pacific Northwest we have the fattest and laziest bears in the world---but you DO NOT want to surprise them. When you are in the bush carry a whistle and give that thing a good blow every half hour or so. Little Whistle and I each carry one because, after all, two people going in two different directions can hunt more area than two together. And part of the magic of the hunt is enjoying the solitude of the forest, which you cannot do if you have a tag along, or if you cannot hear a response to a call and you are afraid something nasty has happened to the love of your life.

I had a chance to safely test the whistle thing on the biggest , fattest, healthiest, shiniest, black bear that I have ever seen. This Fuzzy Butt came down the mountain onto the logging road that we were on about fifty feet ahead of us. He wanted to go downhill but the geography was wrong: too steep.. So brer bear started running (or flowing) down the road. I followed, I was doing about thirty klicks and this guy was pulling away on a slight upgrade. It was not my intention to crowd him in any way, and I did not. The typography downhill did not improve for about a half a K and Fuzzy Butt decided to run back up the hill. We stopped on the road and he stopped about forty feet up the hill in the bush. He watched us and we watched him for about five minutes. I figured that it was time to prove our theories about the whistle. I brought it out and gave it a good blast and that beautiful bear was gone uphill like he never existed.

So ,tsagaglalal, Salmon skelatons are almost as common as mushrooms in the Pacific Northwest, but ,as in all things, fear must be tempered with knowledge and respect for the wild life. The predators must not be SURPRISED. The big cats are so rare (except for Vancouver Island) and so shy, that really you only need a whistle.

But you have chosen a site name that is very northern coast: so what greater honor could their be than being eaten by a totem animal?! whistle

henboy · Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2004 2:16 pm Post subject:

Here on the west coast the lobsters sometimes just litter the forest floor. Not everywhere of course they're in pockets generally in mossy old growth. There is a place by my house we knick named lobster mash alley because they are just everywhere. It's very thick going but for six bucks a pound I'll mash. The trick is beating the worms. you have to get them right when they pop or feel the duff and get them before they surface. The rain wrecks them too so it's a trick to time my mashing so it's succesful. It took a couple of years but I have sort of a feel now for when it's time to pick them.henboy

Psynaut · Site Admin Joined: Jul 12, 2003 Posts: 54

Ya....the lobsters were crazy this year. My picking spots on the southern Vancouver Island were littered with them. I could of picked them by the truckload.
I found very few Russula mushrooms that weren't hit by the parasite that turns them into a lobster. I guess the conditions this years for the parasite fwere favorable.
Personally, I don't know how people can eat them....I don't like my mushrooms crunchy like apples.

As far as preserving them goes, you can always try to pickle them.

whistle · Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 5:34 pm Post subject:

Psynaut

That is the magic in the variety of identifiable mushrooms that we have. If you have a large chunk o'barbecued beef steak smothered with sauteed boletus, or agaricus, or cantharellus you know that you have created a culinary delight. You smother the same piece of meat with a mound of pine or lobster mushrooms and you have a concoction that will, I guarantee, gag a dog off a gut wagon.

Lobster mushrooms should be USED for the texture and taste that they have. They are GREAT used fresh or dried in rice pilaf, that is, USED sparingly. When fresh, cut them fine sometime, sautee and then add beaten eggs. Right fine eating. But moderation is the key. (They do pickle very well if you slice them thin).

We rent a cabin up the Nahatlatch River for our forays around Boston Bar, B.C. and the son of the fellow who owns the property told me about roasting thirty Pine mushroom buttons alongside a prime rib of beef for Thanksgiving one year. He said that it was the only way he had ever had them that he liked..Think of the extravagance of that, and the strength of the flavour. I use one button to flavour two quarts of chicken broth, sliced thin, brewed like tea, with sliced shallots on top---beautiful. Or one button to flavour three cups of raw rice for pilaf. Some mushrooms are a spice.

Perhaps that is why we cannot engender an appreciation of the qualities of the pine mushroom in the Western market, our culture is not accustomed to a minimalist use of mushrooms, or for that matter, anythig else. Whistle

Psynaut · Site Admin Joined: Jul 12, 2003 Posts: 54

Well, I'll admit I'm no chef, not even a good cook. I guess any edible would taste good when cooked right.
I also have not tried many experiments with cooking my mushrooms....I have half a dozen mushroom cookbooks, guess I should get away from this computer sometime and try a few of the recipes.
I'll keep your tips in mind...thanks.

Kadakuda · Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 2:16 pm Post subject:

when i tried eating them i didnt like em either. but i sliced, flavoured adn dried them and ate tehm liek chips and tehy were very good. little weird to eat but good.

i found some russulas (those big whiteys) growing in my moms front yard in teh bank. nice biggies too, never seen em out of a forest before nevermind in a ditch.

shroomgal · Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 5:42 am Post subject:

I have been told and have also seen it confirmed in the field that generally lobsters are found on game trails, usually elk and deer. Their movement is what causes the high abundance of lobsters as they spread the spores as they walk.

I've also heard that lobbies are good on pizza. Unfortunately I just can't bring myself to try this mushroom. Visually it does not appeal to me so I cannot bring myself to eat it.

shroomgal · Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 5:47 am Post subject:

cultured1 · Member Joined: Jul 07, 2004 Posts: 114

Funguy · Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 10:56 pm Post subject:

Just the thought of becoming a casualty mushroom hunting blows me away . Here we have turkey hunters .We have bear but they are so few it would be gr8 to see one .But I have no desire to interrupt there meal or become the 2nd course.Plus becoming the food when hunting the food has some kinda oxymoronic feel to it.What a rush.
_________________
I would rather have a bottle in front of me,
Than a frontal lobodomy