Living in a wild land provides opportunity to not only grow our own food but also to forage it. This year we’ve had ample opportunity to observe and sometimes harvest fruiting mushrooms, including these edible beauties…

Jelly Ear fungus – edible and so ear like. It’s as if nature is telling us that the trees are listening! They are best in a stir-fry affair as the texture is somewhat gelatinous and they require a quick cook as they’re more about the texture than the flavour.

Peppery milkcaps – we found these in the thick beech forrest. They grow pretty large and hide amoung the moss laiden floor. They are unbelieveably peppery raw, so they must be boiled and then pan-fried. We did so and couldnt believe how firm the texture is and nutty the flavour. A real discovery.

Next up – wood bluwits. These are probably the prettiest of the lot this year. They look like they’ve come straight out of a children’s book, when actually they were found in our pine woods. They have this flawless, purple hue and a matt finish that renders them almost too good to eat. Almost. They have to be thoroughly cooked, because eaten raw they arent digestable. So they went into an omelette…

Moving on to shaggy inkcaps. Bizzare creatures that grow in open grazing fields. These are close to Judy’s croft and seem to enjoy a sea view! They have such a specific long cap and look like they are wearing wooly cardigans due to the distinctive ‘shaggy’ frills that envelope their bodies. We doused these in garlic butter, and grilled them. They also need to be cooked quite quickly as they leak out black ink, which can be harvested for writing!

Hedgehog mushroom! Our friend and ex member Peter found these in the woods. It’s an easy one to remember as under the cap it has hedge-hogesque spikes. What a cutie!

Alas we missed the chanterelles this year, but got a few puff balls and field mushrooms. Now that the frost has set in we’ll have to wait to see what next year brings. We have a new trial member arriving on Saturday who is going to set up a mush ‘room’ where we will experiment with growing our own lions mane, shitake and others. Mushrooms are such a good source of texture, when most of our meals are vegan. But they also provide minerals and nutrients like vitamin D. It’s a wonderful world to be curious about, but obviously you have to be super careful that you are 100% sure you know the identification before eating. And always pick in moderation, leaving 50% of your findings…