Our autumn mushrooms include hedgehogs, in the genus Hydnum. On the
underside of the caps these are small teeth, or spines instead of gills
or pores. They are cousins of chanterelles in taste, and cook up
wonderfully once browned with a bit of butter. We generally refer to the
smaller ones with a small central depression in the cap as the
bellybutton hedgehogs, Hydnum umbilicatum.The larger ones, up to 10"
caps with an offset stem, we call Hydnum redandum. Off course, rumor h
as
it that DNA isn't going to let us get away with it that easily and that
there are many, many species lurking around in the mix. The golden
hedgehogs that we find in the fall in mixed woods in southern New
England all tend to be quite tasty, however. There are some more pale
varieties, and some that tend to be a bit bitter, but the buttery-golden
ones are good for the plate.
For the ones we collected this past weekend, we decided to go really
wild and make a savory hand pie with an acorn pie crust, and added to
the filling diced butternut squash, new red potatoes, freshly dug ramps
bulbs, thyme, a thick vegetable gravy, and the foraged hedgehogs. The
filling was mostly cooked and chilled beforehand, and the rolled acorn
crust filled right before cooking. The pie crust was made with ground
acorn flour from white oak acorns that we leached, ground, and toasted
last year and had kept in the freezer. I dug the ramps bulbs yesterday
from a large patch, taking only what I needed and replanting the mature
seed heads into the holes I made by removing the fat bulbs. We are both
intuitive cooks, so I don't have a recipe, I just cooked with what I
thought would taste good!
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| Acorn flour |
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| Ramps bulbs |
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