Photo Collage - Suillus salmonicolor

It's no secret Robert loves to use his camera and he loves mushroom hunting. Put them together and you get some lovely pictures of his favorite genus, Boletus. These Suillus salmonicolor are mycorrhizal with 2-needle jack pine (Pinus banksiana) and are found most often in the late summer and fall. We were out looking for Leccinums last autumn when we came across several scattered groups of these in an area with lots of wild blueberries, hemlocks and jack pines. We did not try to eat these until we could identify them better, but may give them a taste the next time we come across a few, taking general Suillus eating precautions of peeling the cap and removing the pores.

From MushroomExpert.com:

Cap: 3-10 cm; convex becoming broadly convex or flat; slimy; smooth; orangish, dirty yellowish, brownish, olive brown, or cinnamon.

Pore Surface: At first covered with a thick, orangish to grayishpartial veil that is baggy and rubbery, with a white roll of tissue on the lower edge; yellow to orangish, becoming brownish with age; not bruising; 1-2 round or angular pores per mm; not boletinoid; tubes to about 1 cm deep.

Stem: 3-10 cm long; up to 1.5 cm thick; equal or with a slightly enlarged base; covered with glandular dots that are pale reddish brown at first and become darker with age; whitish to yellowish or orangish; with a gelatinous ring.

Flesh: Orangish to yellowish, often salmon orange in the stem base; not staining on exposure.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Can I Eat Those Onions in My Yard?

Green life among the brown debris

Now that spring has finally arrived, things are starting to green up. Looking at most lawns, you just see brown grass, but many lawns, roadsides, and open fields will be filled with clusters of tall, thin leaves of field garlic. The leaves are thin and hollow, looking just like chives. If you pick some and give them a smell, it has a strong onion odor. Some of the larger, tougher leaves have ridges that run along the length of the leaf that you can see and feel like corduroy  If you dig under the clump, you'll find some small, white bulbs, often with smaller cloves on the sides. Eventually, at the top of the strongest leaf stalks, a small cluster of bubils will form, along with small, purplish-pink flowers.

The field garlic we find most often is Allium vineale, originally from Europe. All parts of the field garlic are edible when young, the leaves will be most tender when smaller, and the bulbs taste best before the plant makes flowers later in spring. Even the small, pretty flowers can be added as an edible flower to salads. We snip the clusters of leaves with scissors and use them raw like chives in cottage cheese or breads, and add them to soups for onion flavor. The bulbs are too small to cook with like an onion, and some people find their stronger flavor undesirable  I suppose you could clean them and crush them like garlic bulbs, but we like to just sprinkle them with salt and olive oil, and toss them on the grill until they are tender and lightly charred.

Grilled onions, great on sandwiches

Many who care for their lawns find the field garlic to be a nuisance and will apply weed killers and try to dig up the clumps of bulbs. Field garlic spreads by itself easily by the underground bulbs and by the falling bubils after the plant flowers. 

If you are eating your yard onions, make sure no pesticides or herbicides have been applied to the lawn. Avoid gathering your yard onions from the edge of the road due to car fumes and salt contamination. If you have a dog, it is best to get your field garlic from somewhere else. Otherwise, enjoy one of spring's first green vegetables while you wait for the season to progress and the ramps come out!

Cleaned and ready to be used

Eating Invasive Species

Garlic mustard leaves, flowers, roots and seeds made into a few tasty foods

I have been reading and participating in a discussion regarding trading edible wild plants across state lines on a Yahoo Group. The most troubling aspect of this chat involves another Connecticut resident who wishes to trade for edibles, and that person wants to trade 3 of Connecticut's worst invasives: garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius), and autumn olives (Elaeagnus umbellata). While all of the plants are edible, they are all listed  as "illegal to move, sell, purchase, transplant, cultivate or distribute" on the October 2012 Connecticut Invasive Plant List, produced by the Connecticut Invasive Plants Council. Our take on many of these invasives (eat them!) is less serious than other groups, who wish to cut, pull, poison or eradicate many of the plants on the invasive list, but we are no less frustrated by the ignorance of some who wish to spread these plants to new areas. Our contribution may be as simple as volunteering at public educational events, or putting together a small brochure on eating the most common and tasty weeds, along with a few recipes.

Wineberries, invasive

Wineberry Bavarian dessert, delicious!

We recently became volunteers with the Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group, and attended a meeting with other concerned citizens, DEEP employees, CT DOT employees, master gardeners, and land conservation managers.  One of the most encouraging actions taken by the group will be a publication of a list of native species of plants to grow in Connecticut, some of which are edible. At the meeting we picked up a small publication put out by the Connecticut River Coastal Conservation District, a non-profit group. It only includes 10 invasive plants, not all edible, with plant information and identification, plus suggestions to manage the invasive plant, and the native plant alternatives. I also have a 75 page guide to Invasive Plants in Massachusetts published by he Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife that I refer to for resources. One of the most extensive publications we own on invasive plants is Invasive Plants: Guide to the Identification and the Impacts and Control of Common North American Species by Sylvan Ramsey Kaufman and Wallace Kaufman. Along with the list of Connecticut invasive plants, I hope we are using these resources to forage and educate responsibly., and can be part of a solution, as opposed to contributing to a great ecological problem.

Autumn olives, a prolific invader

Goat cheese and autumn olive dip and dressing, eat those weeds!

Real Art Ways Intimate Science Exhibition: Phil Ross and Mushroom Bricks

 

On March 16, we attended an Intimate Science Get Together at Real Art Ways in Hartford, featuring Phil Ross and our own myco-friend, Connie Borodenko. It was advertised as "A conversation on fungus as artistic medium and sustainable architectural material", and featured physical examples of the building bricks fashioned by Mr. Ross from the mycelium of reishi mushrooms, Ganoderma lucidum.

Connie was the opening speaker, talking about her family history of mushroom hunting and her own experiences with Connecticut Valley Mycological Society. She also helped answer questions from the audience about nutritional value and medicinal value of some of the fungi we find here in Connecticut. Connie also provided some samples of local conks, just about the only fungi we can find in the middle of March.

Arches made from the mushroom bricks

Philip Ross talked about his fabrication process with the mycelium of the medicinal reishi, and explained its connection to his previous background of working with critically ill AIDS patients in the 1980's. His interest in reishi as alternative medicine is what brought him to studying medical aspects of mushrooms, and eventually to home cultivation of mushrooms as food. He became interested in casting the mycelium from the growing fungi into architectural elements, controlling the organic growth and potential fruiting of the fungus with humidity, temperature, pressure, and light. He also discussed how the bricks and molded structures, if left "alive", can be coaxed to grow together with their own kind of organic glue, bridging gaps in structures and creating bonds between bricks.

Close up of a brick, showing evidence of fruiting, most of the mushrooms are removed for a uniform brick

Mr. Ross presented many slides of his works, including small structures and furniture. Several examples of his molded bricks were on display, including a small arch and and some of the more artistic and organic pieces. He participated in a question and answer session after his presentation, and his patent for fungal bricks as sustainable, non-toxic building material was mentioned, however he was not willing to discuss potential partners in his endeavors to making the fungal blocks a commercial success. He was willing to share the facts that the bricks are excellent sound dampeners, and fire resistant as well as light weight. There is an excellent interview with Phil Ross over at Glasstire, an art blog, that I highly recommend, called The Future is Fungal. The interview goes into more depth about his inspirations and his own educational process, citing Paul Stamets as a source of information and his thoughts on the future of fungal education.

Many thanks to Connie for the invite out to the exhibition, it was also great to see other CVMS members in the audience to learn about the art of mushroom bricks.

Mycelial form allowed to "fruit"organically

Early Spring Foraging

While the vernal equinox is not until March 20, more than 2 weeks away, it is starting to feel like spring around southeastern Connecticut. Most of the large piles of snow are melted and the ground is soft, the daytime highs are in the 40's and the sun feels wonderfully warm on our faces. We have ants in our pants to get outside into the woods and fields, ready to search for hints of life in tree buds and new growth among the dead leaves and grass on the ground. Searching for early spring greens is easier if you consider a few micro-climates, like proximity to a stream, low-lying areas of fields, and sunny hillsides.

We have been tapping a few maple trees and collecting the sap for 2 weeks already. Most of the sap is being saved to make some wine, while some we drink plain as an energizing spring tonic. The sap is slightly thicker than water and contains small amounts of natural sucrose, glucose and fructose, along with trace amounts of malic acid, zinc, maganese, potassium, and calcium. We do not have an energy efficient way to boil down our sap, we have to use the electric stove in the kitchen, so making syrup is not a priority for us. If we were lucky enough to have an outdoor area to burn wood, we might consider making maple syrup, in very small amounts.

Wild onions

The wild onions (Alium vineale) are up in many yards already. They look very much like chives, long hollow green tubes, but are lightly ridged along the length of the leaf. Some people may think the flavor is stronger than chives and some will not eat them at all, but we think they are good when very young and still tender. Chopped, they can be added to any dish like scallions or chives, baked into bread, mixed into cream cheese, and tossed into soup as a garnish.

Hairy bittercress

Along the margins of a sunny field we gathered hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) in its very early stages. Many are still too small to bother with, while others that are more exposed to the sun are showing their tiny, white blooms already. You'll only have a short time to get the bittercress before stems of the leaves get tough and too bitter, and the flowers make the elongated seedpod that explodes upon touching it. Bittercress is great raw in salads and cooked into stir-fries, and adds a peppery bite similar to arugula.

Chickweed

Chickweed (Stellaria media) can be around almost the whole winter in sheltered areas near your house,like near the foundation or under bushes. It stays tender throughout the season, but the brighter green growth of the early spring is preferable. You look for heart-shaped or oval leaves arranged along the stem in opposite pairs, a single line of hairs along the stem, an a tougher, white string in the core of the stem. The flavor is very similar to sweet corn, and it is best eaten raw in salads, garnishing a soup, or blended into a smoothie.

Other items we might look for include many of the root vegetables of perennials that we noticed at other times of the year. We could dig evening primrose, daylilies, dandelion, chicory, or burdock by revising old patches and looking for evidence of last years growth, like old, dried plant stalks. Spring is coming, along with the sweet young greens our bodies crave after the dark and cold winter. We are ready!

Mushrooms of Hawaii, More Mushrooms!

Don Hemmes, Robert, Karen, and Gillian with her coconut

Since we have been studying mushrooms and exploring amateur mycology for a few years, it follows a natural path that we would like to hunt mushrooms while on vacation. We usually head out to a warm and tropical location during the middle of a New England winter, so we did a little research into the fungi of our destination, the Big Island of Hawaii. A good deal of the fungi on Hawaii are alien, introduced with vegetation and soil from other places, therefore, many of the mushrooms are familiar to us. Only an estimated 17% of fungi are considered native Hawaiian species. Fungi can be found almost all year in the subtropical environments, but the more abundant season is from July through January. Fallen palm leaves and casuarina needles, along with dead wood, coconut husks, lawns, and compost piles of mulch are all good places to look for fruiting mushrooms. We purchased Mushrooms of Hawaii by Don Hemmes and Dennis Desjardin to help us identify  the mushrooms we hoped to find.

Geastrum litchiforme, one releasing spores, the other not opened yet

Upon our arrival to the Big Island in December, we were a bit worried to hear they were experiencing a significant drought. I contacted Don Hemmes, the author of the mushroom guide to ask him for some advice about where to possibly find some fungi. He graciously offered to take us to MacKenzie Park in the Puna district, along the southeastern coast, to do a quick foray. Although he does not teach biology full time at the University of Hawaii Hilo any longer, he still visits many sites and records the fungi present on a monthly basis. Don still participates in and contributes to the study of fungi on Hawaii on the Fungi of the Hawaiian Islands website. We braved winding one-lane roads, rain squalls, and lava tubes to take a walk and find some mushrooms, including the Geastrum litchiforme, the lychee earthstar, and a poisonous Amanita, Amanita marmorata.

Amanita marmarota

Gymnopus luxurians

Laccaria fraterna

Thelophora terrestris

Tremella fuciformis

Coprinus disseminatus

We also looked for fungi on our own on every hike we took into a forest. We visited the Kipuka Puaulu Bird Park near the Volcano National Park, and found some very large Scizophyllum communes, along with many slow growing conks. In the Waipio Valley, we found a log covered in Corprinus disseminatus and Earliella scabrosa shelves. Further up the coast in the Polulu Valley I came across rather large oysters, Pleurotus species growing from a fallen log on the trailside. At the bases of many of the casuarina trees we found the casuarina conk, Phellinus kawakamii, growing slowly and rotting the ironwood trees.

Earliella scabrosa

While we may have wished our vacation would never end, we did manage to meet a fellow mycologist and hike in many of the Big Island of Hawaii's forests looking for mushrooms. It would seem that myco-tourism is part of our future, since we are enjoying the fungi that we encounter on our travels.

Wild Edibles in Hawaii - Screwpine Keys and Passionfruit

 

After a year of saving our dimes and dollars, we made another trip to the paradise of Hawaii, this time to the Big Island. The island is quite large, so we spent our time doing a lot of driving through the distinct climates: between tropical forests, coastal beaches, active volcanoes, and barren high altitude dormant volcanic mountains. We encountered many of the wild edibles that we found on Maui and Kauai, such as coconuts, starfruit and noni, breadfruit, and guavas. Most of our daily fruit bounty was picked up at the many local farmer's markets, where the assortment of tropical fruit was dizzying, and the prices were insanely low. We sampled many new fruits, made lots of fresh smoothies, and ate very well on vacation. We even stopped at every roadside honor stand, buying macadamia nuts, tiny limes and giant grapefruits. The availability of fresh fruit on the island is wonderful, as we re-tried many favorites and managed to buy and forage a few new wild edibles.

While on the southwestern coast, we stopped at the Amy B H Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook. This garden is a wonderful resource to learn about the Hawaiian people and the plants they grew and used. There are 200 endemic, indigenous, and plants introduced by the Polynesians featured in 15 acres of gardens, most of them labeled and described in detail in the guidebook that you borrow from the front desk. Many of the plants in the garden had multiple uses as building material, food, and traditional medicine and had spiritual significance. It was at these gardens we were first introduced to the edibility of screwpine keys.

Screwpine fruit

Pulp eaten away,
 showing the fibers

Ripe screwpine "keys"

The screwpine (Pandanus tectorius) is called hala in Hawaiian, and is likely indigenous, arriving from Pacific islands over ocean currents.It was a very important plant to the Hawaians, the spiny leaves being used for weaving and thatching, and the "keys" of the fruit for paint brushes, as food, and for a medicinal mouthwash to treat thrush. The tree is palm-like, with the leaves arranged in a spiral around the stem, and having many prop-roots at the base of the trunk. They are often found at the coast along beaches, but also along the edges of steep cliffs. The female trees bear large fruits that look a bit like pineapples or pine cones, with seeds that break off in many segments. As the fruit ripens from green to yellow to red, the "keys" fall to the ground. Each key has a bit of starchy, edible pulp attached to some very tough fibers, and the flavors ranged from sweet to mildly sweet, to potato-like. The fibers left behind once you used your tooth to scrape off the pulp were used as paintbrushes by Hawaiians, and it is easy to see why. The screwpine key was a new wild edible for us, and one we would eat again.

Cliff dwelling screwpine tree

Assorted lilikoi

Passionfruit (Passiflora species), known as lilikoi, grow very well on the Hawaiian islands, and there are several species available for purchase in the farmer's markets. They ranged from light yellow and large, to dark purple and smaller. Previously we had found an invasive type, the banana poka (Passiflora mollissima), on Maui. The banana poka is also invasive on the Big Island, and the vines can be found growing at higher elevations among the cloud forests of Kona. While down in the Puna district at the coast, we came across a smaller, bright yellow variety of passionfruit growing among the coconut trees. It was very delicious, with bright orange pulp. At one of the cottages we stayed at, there were passionfruit vines in the trees and we gathered the fresh, ripe fruit every evening when we returned.  Passionfruits make beautiful and elaborate flowers, and grow on twining vines using curling tendrils. They are often found first in the wild by spotting the fallen fruit on the ground, and very often growing on roadsides by spotting the crushed fruit on the ground. Passionfruit are definitely one of our favorite wild foods to be found on Hawaii.

Lilikoi pulp