I went for a walk in a rich, dense forest and found two strange-looking mushrooms. So I though you might like to play a game I call -- Will I Eat This, Or Not?
Here's how the game goes. I will show some key features of these mushrooms that will allow you to mull over whether I will eat them or not. Then, I will go through the steps and thought process I use to identify the mushrooms and decide whether I will eat them or not.
-------
These are Lobster mushrooms, Hypomces lactiflourum. They are an oddball fungus that parasitizes other mushrooms. In this case, the Hypomyces has taken over a short-stemmed Russula, Russula brevipes. The Hypomyces is specific about which mushrooms they parasitize.
I enjoy eating lobster mushrooms. At the end of this video, I show some outtakes of cooking them and using them to make grilled stuffed squash flowers. They were delicious!
To identify these mushrooms, I am using a key. An identification key is a great tool for focusing on specific features of a mushroom and making "either-or" decisions that ultimately lead to figuring out what kind it is. To find out the general type of mushroom I've got, I use the inside cover from the book, "All That The Rain Promises and More", by David Aurora.
The book I use in this video: All That the Rain Promises and More, by David Aurora. Ten Speed Press.
The Mykoweb is a great resource for information about mushrooms and fungus! Check it out: www.mykoweb.com
My playlist on foraging for wild foods: • Foraging Wild Edibles:...
Music:
"Angel Share", "Garden Music", and "Carefree" - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
My channel: Haphazard Homestead: / @haphazardhomestead