If the thought of edible fungi gives you a thrill, this is, at least in upstate New York, a year to have you grinning from ear to ear.
I have a secret puffball spot, but hadn't bothered to go check it because I figured the horribly dry summer we had would mean a crappy fall, mushroom-wise. Not for the first time in my life I was utterly and demonstrably wrong.
I've been picking common meadow or field mushrooms (Agaricus campestris) on and off for the last couple weeks. We've had them sautéed in butter as a side dish. Browned, then added to chopped cooked bacon and fresh Hungarian yellow peppers from the garden in a cast iron skillet omelet. Browned in chicken fat and added to leftover chicken gravy, served over egg noodles. The picture provided is what I picked Tuesday morning on the way to work, a fast pick selecting only the best--and a timely pick as well, because two hours later the men on the mowers were starting on the grassy area where they were growing. That pick yielded four pounds of cooked mushroom for the freezer, eight half-pound packages. Stews and soups cooked on the wood stove this winter will benefit from their addition, and they will provoke memories. Three days after the mower guys more are popping up.
Saturday, coming out of a jobsite, I found a soccer-ball-sized puffball (Calvatia gigantea), and that night we gorged on a pile of puffball steaks, fried with just enough butter to help them brown. Sunday night one of my clients, hearing about this, said she thought she might have one beside her driveway.
She did, and this one was considerably bigger than a basketball. We had puffball steaks from it two nights running, gave pieces to two neighbors, and the last part left over to another friend. I have three more scoped out, waiting for harvest. Some people dry them, others cook and then freeze them, but they are really best fresh-cooked and hot off the skillet.
An old beech log I pass by produces, in some years, white tooth fungus (Hericium corralloides). This year there are already three or four small fruiting bodies. You can bet I'm watching them, and waiting to pounce. Have another spot where they grow--will be checking on them in the next couple days.
Haven't passed any of the places horse mushrooms grow--they're a bit out of my way--but sooner or later our paths will surely cross. Shaggy manes--also known as lawyer's wigs--are popping up, but they are only worth eating when really small.
Don't pick and eat wild mushrooms unless you are 100% certain you know what you're picking. Every year people end up sick, or even dead from faulty identification. I have the advantage of having grown up picking and eating certain wild mushrooms, I’ve picked them every year for over 50 years, and I know them as well as I know certain kinds of birds and trees. I also know that fungus that is similar in appearance but decidedly inedible sometimes grows in the same area, so I examine each individual mushroom when picking, and again when preparing for cooking. Before adding any new variety to my table I check it against all three of my mushroom reference books--and I would never--repeat never--eat something based only on internet-based ID. Or a vague recommendation.
But if you have a history of picking and eating wild mushrooms, this is turning out to be a very good year. The best in years.