Friday, April 26, 2013

Chocolate + mushrooms = ?


Got a truffle to spare?

How about making black truffle ice cream?

Mushrooms for dessert

The usual way to eat mushrooms is to make something savory with them. There is, theoretically speaking, nothing to prevent us having mushrooms for dessert. Mushroom flavor is a flavor, like any other. The only thing stopping us is our mind and mental blocks: we have learned that mushrooms are good savory. This is true.

However, we can also learn that mushrooms are tasty sweet, as a dessert. In my blog, I have written about chanterelle toffee, chanterelle marmalade, porcini cake, cookies and porcini marshmallow. Obviously, mushrooms for dessert is an exciting area that has great potential.

Have you heard of mushroom ice cream? The mushrooms used are candy cap mushrooms (Lactarius camphoratus) which are supposed to taste of both maple syrup and nuts. Sounds super delicious to me.

Yellow Foot Chanterelle Mushroom Ice Cream with Chocolate Covered Bacon by Chef Robert W. from Friends School of Baltimore.

Recipe for Candy Cap Mushroom Ice Cream

Another Candy Cap Ice Cream recipe. And yet another.



Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Porcini marshmallows


image
Whipped up a batch of marshmallows and wondered what I should flavor them with. It should not come as a surprise that I thought of mushrooms. Found a bag of dried porcini which I pounded in my mortar and pestle and added to the boiling syrup. Very mild but evocative of the season that soon will be upon us.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Scarlet elf cup

Sarcoscypha coccinea 
which also has the lovely name, Scarlet elf cup.
Grows on dead wood.

After the annual meeting, we were treated to a wonderful talk about Scarlet elf cups and other elf cups.
One only has to peel one's eyes and look out for them.
And spring is a great time to start looking.

Russula in the Nordic countries

By Per Marstad, 4th edition

Managed to get hold of this from the author himself at the annual meeting of the 
Norwegian  Mycological and Edible Plants Society.

Mushroom spring rolls

These were baked in the oven, not deep fried.
210 degrees C or 410 degrees F, about 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
You may oil them if you like. I did't.
Surprisingly crispy!

Basically, you can fill with anything - as long as the fill mixture is dry - you like.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Strange, wonderful fungi

Amanita muscaria

My comrade-in-mushrooms, P.K., sent me a link to 
7 am this morning.
Keep them coming!


Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Waiting for Justin Bieber...

....is similar to waiting for morels: you do not know if your patience will be rewarded.
Oslo, around noon, 16 April 2013
Lots of young girls milling in front of the Grand Hotel but no Bieber in sight.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Meetup.com has mushroom groups



Mushrooms Meetup Groups

Powered by Leaflet
Groups19Members4,870Interested1,872Cities18Countries2
Want to meet people who share an interest in mushrooms?
Check out the ten largest Mushroom Meetup Groups!


1
Welcome to the Psychedelic Society of San Francisco! Our group is devoted to the exploration of the expansion of consciousness – and we’re fascinated and thrilled as we learn about the profound role psychedelics have played in the evolution of human
1,207
Psychonauts
2
Welcome to the Psychedelic and Entheogenic Society of NYC! Our group is a safe place to discuss Entheogens and the expansion of consciousness. We discuss the work of such luminaries as Hofmann, McKenna, Pinchbeck, Abraham, Grey, Sheldrake, Leary, Gro
944
Entheogenic Explorers
3
Private
Howdy! This group is for those interested in hunting mushrooms and the science of mycology. We focus on exploring the fungi of central Texas, and in the safe identification of edible mushrooms. Covering everything from mushroom growing to cooking, th
388
Mushroomers
4
346
Myco fans
5
I have been picking tree mushrooms for the past 50 years. My parents would take us out for a family day searching the maple-treed back roads of New England for Oyster Mushrooms. Over the years I've expanded my search to Clustered Coral, Hen of the Wo
339
Fungi's & gils
6
Hi! I am starting this group in the hopes of finding some fellow foragers and urban gleaners to go on some outings with out here in Contra Costa and in the East Bay. We will forage for wild edibles fruits and vegetables, fungi, and wild herbs and gr
321
urban foragers
7
Curious about wild edible mushrooms? Wanna learn and or help teach how to identify these earthen flavorful delicacies? Then this groups for you. All expertise levels welcome. This group is for people who want to meet with in 2 hrs of Portland for Wi
260
Mushroom pickers
8
Private
This is a Post Falls/ CDA/ Spokane area group where members can share and learn from each other about the local area flora and fauna. We attend local wild food forays, share information on local clubs and classes, as well as get together just to soci
166
Members
9
We are a diverse group of people whose common interest is to learn about and collect all kinds of fungi and to enjoy eating edible mushrooms we gather in the forest. We will have forays (mushroom hunting expeditions) throughout the mushroom season (M
158
Members
10
Folks who want to learn and study wild edibles and medicinal. We will pick different venues in and around Baltimore. If you have a yard or lot that needs poking around post it here and we may dig into it. For nutritional values you can plug the plan
115
Foragers

Here are the other mushroom meetup groups:

  1. CharlotteNC114 members
  2. AustinTX96 members
  3. AshevilleNC87 members
  4. ChicagoIL85 members
  5. KirklandWA81 members
  6. EugeneOR77 members
  7. Grand RapidsMI65 members
  8. BerkeleyCA19 members
  9. Porirua, New Zealand3 members


    People waiting for a Meetup Group in MUSHROOMS are in the hundreds and the wait list is as long as an arm. I wonder why they do not just start one themselves?

Light my fire, tinder fungus



Mushroom music





Fungi 101

Did you know that humans have more in common with fungi than with plants?


Fungi 101 in song



A sign of spring...

...and of mushrooms around the corner.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Murder most foul

My comrade-in-mushrooms, P.K., sent me this. Why he was surfing the internet on such a fine mushroom-hunting day is a mystery. 

But I guarantee you’ll never look at mushrooms the same way again. On Hannibal, Will Graham and the FBI investigate a murderer who turns his victims into Shiitake incubators! Here is the disturbing crime scene.
Holy mushrooms!


New china for serving up....mushrooms?

My friend C.P. found, and bought, this set of dishes in an "antique" store.
She said that if I did not want them, she will keep them.
Does this mean that she, too, has been bitten by the fungal bug?