Turkey Tracks: Black Trumpet Mushrooms

Turkey Tracks:  August 20, 2013

Black Trumpet Mushrooms

Mushrooming is something I really like to do.

And I have not been in the woods mushrooming much in the past two years.

Here’s a whole basket of Black Trumpet mushrooms, some Golden Chanterelle mushrooms, and a few puffball mushrooms–all of which I found at the end of last week.  The puffballs are white and are lost in the basket in this picture.  There is no puffball that is poisonous, but I would not eat any mushroom that has grown in an area that has been sprayed with any kind of chemical.  So, avoid sprayed lawns and golf courses.

 

I have a very nice video that I can’t get to upload–telling you how difficult these mushrooms are to see growing on the forest floor among the dried leaves of last year.  You don’t see the dark stems–what you see you see by looking straight down–and if you look at the tops of these mushrooms, you will see they appear as a light grey/brown.

Here’s what the pile looks like on the kitchen counter.  Now you can see the puffballs.

The Golden Chanterelles smell like apricots–and all of these mushrooms are delicious sautéed in a little butter or duck fat and added to a cream sauce, scrambled eggs with a bit of cheese, and  soups and stews.

I cleaned the trumpets–you have to snip the ends, open them a bit, and scrape out any debris or critter that has lodged in the funnel.  Mostly they are pretty clean.

I dried all but a few of the trumpets and ate the rest with a rich lamb stock I had going in the kitchen.

Yummo!!!