Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Novice Mycophagist #3 “The Oyster Tree”
Last year, while walking our southern property at Sand Creek Park, I found a dead, fallen Aspen tree that had a few oyster mushrooms growing on it. It was mid-August, I think, and the mushrooms were well beyond their prime. So, I made a mental note to check the tree, which I dubbed “Oyster Tree” (I have a habit of naming things on the land—there is Picnic Rock, Bart’s Creek, Dick the Tree, and so forth), the next year.
We spent four days at the cabin in late July and on the second day we hiked to Oyster Tree.
Sure enough, it was covered in oyster mushrooms! Many were still quite small, but a few were just mature. A couple had small black beetles that were starting to make their gills home, but I got rid of them in a hurry. We harvested a few of the “just right” mushrooms and took them home for dinner.
I cleaned them, removing all dirt and the few pesky beetles, and put them in the fridge for the afternoon. That evening we had an Asian-style pork dish for dinner and we figured the oyster mushrooms would go perfectly.
I sliced them into thick chunks, heated a little canola oil in a cast iron pan till it was hot. Then, I added the mushrooms and sautéed them with a little salt and pepper until they just started to turn brown. We really enjoyed them with the pork dish.
Of course, we then sat around and waited to get sick. Well, not really that bad. But, whenever we eat mushrooms that we’ve found in the woods and identified ourselves, we always have that fear. We ate them on Saturday night. We both felt okay that night and all day Sunday. But, Sunday night and Monday, Lynne didn’t feel very good. She had a “sour” stomach that grumbled a lot. I was fine. I guess we’ll never know if it was the mushrooms, but I guess it could have been. Twenty-four hours seems like a long time to get symptoms from mushrooms, but I don’t have a lot of experience with this, so it may be entirely possible. We are positive in their identification, but, I guess a lot of people get a little sick anytime from even “safe” mushrooms.
We’ll have to see what happens in future tastings. We may not have the “stomach” for this mycophagist hobby!
Posted under: Cabin News • Mushroom Articles • by Rick on 08/02/2005 at 05:44 PM
Discuss this article • Permalink • eMail this article
Next entry: Keeping a Dog Yard Green
Previous entry: Novice Mycophagist #2 “To Eat or Not to Eat”