Foraged Food Thread

Two new ones for me. Deer mushrooms are mostly flavorless, but fried crispy in bacon grease they were wonderful.
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I took about 5 lbs of resinous Polypore, which yielded down to about 2 cups of useable flesh after trimming off all the woody parts. Only the outer rim was soft enough to eat. It was good - did not taste like anything I’ve ever eaten.
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Anyone ever get sick eating these? 30 some years ago a friend and I found a large clusters. We each took half. My wife and I ate on my half and he and his daughter ate on the other half. His wife wouldn't eat mushrooms of any kind. Nobody had any ill effects except my friend, he got sicker than a dog. I'm talking projectile vomiting, chills, profuse sweating and severe stomach cramps. I wish I would just hurry up and die, kind of symptoms. He had eaten them before with no problems, but I haven't been able to get myself to eat them since that incident.
 
Anyone ever get sick eating these? 30 some years ago a friend and I found a large clusters. We each took half. My wife and I ate on my half and he and his daughter ate on the other half. His wife wouldn't eat mushrooms of any kind. Nobody had any ill effects except my friend, he got sicker than a dog. I'm talking projectile vomiting, chills, profuse sweating and severe stomach cramps. I wish I would just hurry up and die, kind of symptoms. He had eaten them before with no problems, but I haven't been able to get myself to eat them since that incident.
I've not gotten sick before, but online sources do mention GI issues are possible. Definitely need to be cooked, not eaten raw. And everything i've read says to only harvest off of dead trees, especially not living Eucalyptus, Yew, or conifers. Not sure if you remember what type of tree you harvested from.

 
I've not gotten sick before, but online sources do mention GI issues are possible. Definitely need to be cooked, not eaten raw. And everything i've read says to only harvest off of dead trees, especially not living Eucalyptus, Yew, or conifers. Not sure if you remember what type of tree you harvested from.

I know it was on oak, because we discussed whether or not that might have been the reason. Neither of us had ever eaten any from oak before. If my memory is really good, I remember it being on a dead stump, but it was a long time ago.
 
I know it was on oak, because we discussed whether or not that might have been the reason. Neither of us had ever eaten any from oak before. If my memory is really good, I remember it being on a dead stump, but it was a long time ago.
@INMT is right, it depends on the tree/person. The ones Ive eaten came off of a really old, dead 20' "stump" of a douglas fir tree. We read that harvesting off of coniferous trees could be more susceptible to GI issues. Of the 4 people who ate it, all were fine. We followed part of the US Army survival edibility test before eating. Mainly the skin reaction, then the chew and not swallow test.

Oak and hardwood species are definitely preferred though. Guessing the one who got sick was just intolerant regardless since everyone else was fine.
 
I haven’t got sick on COTW, but it has a strong flavor and too much at once kind of ruins me on them. I’ve done better eating just the softest portions, and no more than about 1/3 of a cup at a time.
 
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Loved the pale and golden oysters.

Velvet foot are one and done. Took forever to make sure they weren’t going to kill me, clean, and in the end, the taste was pretty unremarkable.
 
Shaggy mane mushrooms are out in full force here. Seen some tonight hit was just a bit late on them. Picked a bunch the other day and made some mushroom soup and some breaded and fried mushrooms
 
I don’t know how you all find COTW before they ants get inside them. I found a bunch of these while bear hunting in September.
 

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I don’t know how you all find COTW before they ants get inside them. I found a bunch of these while bear hunting in September.
Those dont look like COTW, and Ive never found ants in them in the woods Im in.
 
IMG_5218.jpegOur haul last week from a former royal hunting ground in France’s Loire Valley. Autumn chanterelles and pieds-mouton. The chanterelles were dried and came home with us. The “pieds” don’t store as well and were gifted away after we made a few meals with them.

Saw a few parties of “chasseurs” parked at different trailheads on the way in and heard a few shots. Assume they were boar hunting. Wanted to have a chat but didn’t see anyone milling about in our drive out.
 
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