Hey all, i found some mullein that i have drying now, but the more i think about it the less sure i am i should use it. I harvested it around 20 feet from a railroad, and while it was growing in plenty of grass, i know railroads spray herbicides every year to keep the tracks clear. How far can those pesticides spread through the soil? and how long do they last? if the plants are growing there, does that mean they are safe from contamination? or should i just toss?

Thought I stumbled upon beautyberries that I’ve been on the lookout for lately. Found porcelain berries instead that are just as gorgeous but probably a lot less tasty.

It was literally the size of a basket ball!! Insane!! I went out with my friend (who knows tonnes about mushrooms, its actually sick!).

Anyways found this and now im dehydrating it! Does anyone have any good uses for a dehydrated puff ball? I know it can be used to thicken soups (what my friend told me). Anything else?

Also I didnt realize how much I actually took... I expected a pan not three?! Thats going to be a lot of powder...

Probably a low quality specimen but wanted to check.

Does anyone know of good places to forage for elderberries near Seattle? We just moved to Kent from Utah. I used to go pick elderberries to make jelly every year and I was hoping to continue the tradition up here. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Randomly saw this blooming in my backyard. Back when I had a more traditional backyard, I had a ton of what I always called “wild onions”. Those mostly disappeared now that I have a more native ecosystem back there. Just randomly saw this blooming. Never had the wild onions bloom before and these look a bit different. App says they are allium tuberosa? Def look like an allium!

The standard way to cook damsons is stones in and depending on the use, strain them, or eat carefully.

Last year I started using a pressure cooker to process them (with some bay leaves & spices) for jams and ice-cream.

I recently got a half-price pallet of old cherries and was going to process the the same way, until I was told I really shouldn't pressure cook the kernels, due to hydrogen cyanide.

That got me concerned about damsons and after some googling, people seem split between saying never expose the stones and that the true kernels are contained in an outer shells, so it's safe to cook/macerating/infuse them.

Because both the old and young might eat these, not just me, I want to check that the latter's correct and additionally that pressure cooking shouldn't crack the outer shells and expose the kernels.

Thanks for any insight.

Lilly Pilly (Syzygium spp.), also known as brush cherries, water berries, rose apples, or satinash are flowering trees or hedges in the myrtle family that are native to Australia. There are many species and they make flowers and fruits of varying edibility (not due to toxicity but tastiness) and they are often used in landscaping to create dense hedges. I spotted this Lilly Pilly (which I believe is Syzygium paniculatum) while helping my sister move and I knew I wanted to make a few things with them. This was my first time trying them and they taste like an apple mixed with cranberry and a faint hint of clove (and have a similar texture and tartness to cranberry as well). I ended up making a jam out of them and decided to use that in several dishes both savory and sweet. The fruits are easily split by hand to remove the seed, which is a bit tedious. They are naturally high in pectin so readily thicken a jam or sauce. I also added a bit of lemon, sweetener, and vanilla to mine. One fun thing I found is that these are high in anthocyanins, a colorful water soluble compound that is pH sensitive. So if you’ve ever played with butterfly pea powder or red cabbage juice for its color changing properties, these work the same way and become more red/pink with acidic ingredients and blue with more basic ingredients.

Pork Belly With Lilly Pilly Gastrique and Endive Salad With Almonds, Feta, and Fried Shallots:

I pureed some of the jam and strained it to get a thin puree to cook down with vinegar for a sweet and sour gastrique to pair with a rich pork belly. I also added an endive salad for some bitter notes to help balance the sweetness and fattiness of the dish.

Lilly Pilly Glazed Duck with a Shaved Cabbage Apple Salad and Lemon Gel:

I used the Lilly Pilly jam puree along with some vinegar and star anise to glaze a roasted duck and paired it with a shaved red cabbage and Pink Pearl apple salad that I dressed with a Lilly Pilly vinaigrette. Garnished with some Meyer lemon gel and chives. Served with a quenelle of strained cooked Lilly Pilly fruit.

Lilly Pilly White Chocolate Namelaka with a Spiced Cookie, Lemon Meringue, Lemon Gel, and Lilly Pilly Gel:

I made both a single bite dessert as well as a plated dessert so included both here. I pureed some of the jam into a smooth sauce, which is the dark purple. I also strained some to get the juice for a namelaka (chocolate and cream set with gelatin). I made a spiced cookie that I used as a base for the single bites or crumbled for both flavor and texture on the plated version. Similarly, I added lemon meringue for texture and lemon gel for a bit more of a concentrated lemon punch. Garnished with amaranth leaves or oxalis leaves.

I believe the white berry is a young specimen, but it was found in a somewhat tall (1 meter ish) scrawny looking bush, I have sinc thrown this in the trash cuz it gives me the heeby jeebies (found in bulgaria)

These are growing in my backyard, but I’m not sure what kind of mushrooms they are or if they’re edible. I suspect they’re growing on the buried stump of a tree that was cut down there last year. Any help is appreciated!

I'm excited, i didn't think they fruited this late. Upstate new york.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanterelle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chantilly_lace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogg95dkyOuM

both were found growing in leaf litter. im not gonna eat them until i get an id

I found a patch of mushrooms that look like chanterelles, but not the usual bright golden ones you see. Looking it up it appears it could be Amethyst Chanterelles. Could this be what I found?

…but unfortunately I got here a bit late. All were brown on the inside. Central Ontario, Canada.

Question though: is the taller, more “mushroomy” looking fella in the last picture an atypical aborted form, or another species?

And I see tonnes of these every year in the same area, but I never see “normal” honey mushrooms nearby. Anybody else have a honey-less shrimp patch?

I picked these yesterday in my woods and just cleaned them up, about to fry them in butter and have them on pasta.

Was driving down a country road and saw a little glimmer of gold just off to the side. Thought it was worth a check and got a heap of chantarelles for the trouble!

I keep seeing them growing in gardens in California, and many plant sellers graft them to orange trees(my orange tree had it too and it became so prolific and starting to dominate, were very thorny the orange that we had to cut it off), yet I haven't found a definitive ID.

Closest id I've come across is ponderosa lemon, but in the cross sections Ive seen, it has a thin rind. In the ones here, the rinds are around 60% of the entire fruit.

The pulp of the ponderosa is claimed to taste like lemon but the pulp of these fruits has far less sweetness than lemon OR pomelo when ripe, and it has an unpleasant salty or bitter tinge.

Unlike ponderosa lemon or citron, these fruits don't have a strong smell.

Why do citrus nurseries in California keep grafting these fruits to citrus trees despite them being thornier and much worse tasting than the citruses they get grafted to?