This fall has been a mushroom hunter’s dream so far, and I realized this morning that I have managed to find every single favorite and long sought-after mushroom (aside from Morels) over the last couple months. Every time I go out in the woods mushroom hunting, I hope that there will be a big, beautiful Cauliflower mushroom with my name on it, a bright yellow patch of Chicken of the Woods growing on a log I happen by, and that I will finally find some White Matsutakes to call my own. My partner and I both love mushroom hunting, so figured with all the excursions we make that I was bound to find something rare and amazing this year. Well, not only did we find a jackpot of enormous hedgehog mushrooms in the Coast Range this weekend, but I found my first Matsutakes under some pines by the beach, and a friend gifted us a nice Cauliflower mushroom later in the week. That, combined with the giant Lobster and Chicken of the Woods find in September is making me feel like all my mushroom dreams are coming true!
These Hedgehog mushrooms were growing in abundance down in the ravines we tromped through near the coast with a group of friends over Veteran’s Day Weekend. Hedgehogs grow larger in the Coast Range than the cascades, and the ones we found amazed my mountain man with their enormity. He was especially happy with the find since they are his favorite mushroom to eat.
These are another mushroom like Chanterelles that don’t have much in the way of look-alikes to be concerned with, and are easily identified by the shaggy, cream colored teeth on the underside of the cap.
As far as flavor goes, Matsutakes are my absolute favorite mushroom. They have this pungent, red-hot cinnamon smell and flavor that distinguishes them from all the other fungi I’ve known. I first discovered them on a mushroom hunt with a friend back home about 10 years ago, and was hooked after one bowl of soup. White gilled mushrooms are something to be cautious around, but the smell is so distinct that I feel comfortable with it as a form of identification. I have smelled every single white mushroom I’ve run across, especially ones in sandy soils under pine trees, with no luck until this weekend. I didn’t manage to get a picture of my three White Matsutakes from this weekend, and they already made their way into a flavorful soup, but while searching online I did find this incredible watercolor of them by Alexander Viazmensky, and discovered his website with amazing botanical watercolor prints of mushrooms.
And that leaves the final fungal treasure of the week. The Cauliflower. I have only found one or two over the last few years, and was especially pining away for one when one of our friends found an enormous specimen out in the Coast Range this weekend. Life has a funny way of giving us our heart’s desire sometimes, and my partner came home yesterday evening saying he had a surprise for me. Out from behind his back he pulled a bag filled with a hefty Cauliflower that a friend had given him at work. I’m looking forward to turning it into something delicious. It may involve beer batter.
With this streak of good mushroom luck I’ve been on, I decided I am going to finally find a Morel spot this spring. There are enough fresh clear cuts and burn piles around, I think if I really put my efforts towards it, I’ll be having Morels and eggs for breakfast.
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