oh my gosh!! you have wild lions mane growing there?!?
take good note of that spot... this is one of the most precious shrooms to find... jusy WOW!
I'm a bit jealous now!
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oh my gosh!! you have wild lions mane growing there?!?
take good note of that spot... this is one of the most precious shrooms to find... jusy WOW!
I'm a bit jealous now!
Yeah, I was shocked when I looked it up after our hike for my post, I actually take Lion's Mane everyday!
I'm not confident about identification though, and aren't there look-alikes for everything? I've eaten lots of foraged plants but never mushrooms. I guess they scare me.
How do you know for sure??
I think lion's mane is actually quite a unique one, never heard of any look-alikes.
I wouldn't feel confident with the find either, though... at least from the image it doesn't look quite "hairy" yet. You can always just break a small piece off to check it's structure. And take note of the kind of wood it's growing on.
If it's actually lion's mane. It'll likely grow in the same spot for several years.
We've all been kind of conditioned to be very cautious with mushrooms, but really, there's all sorts of toxic plants and fruits that are way more dangerous than most poisonous mushrooms. There's plenty of plants that aren't safe to touch but barely any mushrooms like that and "tasting" (without swallowing) is actually ok with 99% of shrooms, too...
That's some really helpful info. Thanks! I'll be going to check on the (hopefully) lion's mane later this week. I know right where it is. 😀
I've never had an interest in mushrooms before we moved here recently; since I don't think of myself as a mushroom lover I've never taken the time. But wow, they're awesome to observe growing over time! And I've never eaten any other types than supermarket button generics (gross), so there's an entire unexplored culinary world out there waiting for me to research.
We lived in the NW for decades before we moved here, so I foraged lots of berries and flowers that I knew for certain, and made Doug Fir tea whenever we went camping. That's about the extent of my wildcrafting skills, so definite room for improvement.
I'll be honest, there's only a few really delicious mushrooms... most of them either don't taste like much on their own or they have a rather unpleasant texture... often both! They're still very healthy though, so there's that at least.
I have rarely ever eaten foraged mushrooms because it's just so much of a hassle to pick enough good ones and then make sure each one is free of pests or mold or what-not. Most mushrooms quickly become a breeding ground for little larvae so you might end up throwing most of what you've collected out in the end... at least that's my experience so far.