Autumn is the time of year for mushroom picking in our family. I think it's more of a continental thing, a number of traditional Polish dishes include wild mushrooms. The tastiest are Boletus edulis (you may have heard of the Italian 'Porcini'), but we usually scrape a few others together too.
We always used to pop down the A3 and go to the woods not far from Wisley. Over the past few years they have gradually been taking back the forestry pines and giving it over to heathland. Which is a shame as it means less mushrooms.
These ones (Amanita muscaria) are probably best left alone...
It was a lovely clear day and the Pinus sylvestris here were very photogenic!
These are coral fungus, Calocera cornea.
A plantation of lichens.
Another mushroom (Avantaclewia damdifino)
This is one of my favourite woodland photos. I took it myself and it's covered by copyright.
Oh well, no edible mushrooms this time, but a nice day out nevertheless.
******UPDATE November 21st******
Success! The bumper crop of mushrooms was probably bought about by the unseasonably mild autumn we've had. These will be delicious (once de-magotted).
9 comments:
Fabulous woodland photograph, Rob. I've had loads of mushrooms in the garden - large clumps of "fairy ring" type mushrooms and a smaller clump of dark brown ones. I couldn't possibly hazard a guess as to whether they are edible.
Thanks Victoria.
I remember talking to a mycologist when I was doing work experience at the Kew herbarium many years ago. He was particularly passionate about his subject, and rightly so. It is a huge field in itself.
I wonder if you would want to eat your garden funghi, even if you knew they were edible...?
Hi Rob, thanks for popping into my blog.Gorgeous photos - I love that woodland one ...no wonder you've got it copyrighted, someone is almost bound to try to nick it!
Vodka Jelly Recipe!!!
1st make the recurrant vodka :)
100g/4oz redcurrants
50g/2oz caster sugar (ordinary sugar works just as well, but takes longer to dissolve)
200-300ml cheap vodka
Put all the ingrediants into a big kilner jar, seal, shake and put in a cool dark place for 2 weeks - remembering to shake the jar once a day. Decant the vodka back into the clean bottles.Store in the freezer, serve ice cold.
Keep the recurrants for the jelly.
The recipe I used for the jelly was adapted from 'Slut-red Raspberries in Chardonnay Jelly'.
1 bottle good fruity chardonnay (- I used a sparkling rose)
330g vodka-soaked redcurrants
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
5 gelatine leaves (but vegi-jel also works if you're feeding vegetarians)
250g caster sugar
Put the wine in a pan with the vanilla pod and heat until nearly boiling.Remove from heat. Leave to steep for 15 mins.
Follow the instructions to prepare the gelatine.
Remove the vanilla pod, reheat the wine and add the sugar, stirring until it dissolves.
Add a third of the hot wine to the gelatine, stir to dissolve, then pour back into the rest of the wine and stir well, strain into a large jug.
Put the redcurrants into separate glasses, pour the strained wine over the top and put in the fridge to set. Allow several hours for this (- I made them the day before as I'd not used vegi-jel before)
Serve with double cream or home made ice cream - do you want the recipe for that as well?!
Enjoy!:)
That woodland photo is fantastic! And the mushrooms are very photogenic too, especially the first one. Isnt it weird how almost everything in red says "hands off"? Thank God that it doesn't apply to wine!
I purchased a book on mushrooms but would not venture to pick any unless I had taken a class. Would love to know the good ones. As always your photos are simply stunning.
Rob, I wanted you to know I have given you an Honest Scrap Award on my blog, and would like to have you participate, but understand if you cannot. James did it to me, so I had to pay it forward. ;)
Thanks for the recipe NG! That did make me laugh Sunita - red wine, or indeed redcurrant vodka jelly!
DI, I'm about to wing over to your blog to find out what you're talking about...
I love the woodland photo...it's magical! Nice to see mushrooms from your part of the world. I don't know how to identify the edible from the poisonous. So mushroom eating is usually at my parents'.
Great photo's Rob, I really enjoyed them :o)
Found your blog looking for pictures of funghi. Great pics!
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