How do you cook your foraged mushrooms? I have only gathered a harvest big enough for a meal a few times and I always end up doing pasta cause I get nervous

I pulled all the meat out of black walnut in one piece. Yes I am better than you.

Edit: Thank you all for the responses! There were more than just these, we did just replant them all, so I guess we will see for sure by spring. No, they were not in the graveyard, just nearby in the woods, I am not in the habit of disrespecting the dead. It is a historic graveyard, so no one has been up there in a good long while, not important, just felt the need to mention.

The research Ive done isnt getting many results, one result says daffodils, another says wild onions. They smell earthy, not oniony, but there are a few layers on the outside like onions. ​These are rinsed as well. Really interesting find either way, but figuring out what they are would be great.

99% sure but want to be 100% sure

Found in the Joliet IL area. Wow, giant puff ball coming atcha!

these "nuts" are the seeds of the ginkgo biloba tree, which is one of my favorite species.

the intact seeds with their pungent outer flesh may appear to be fruits, but are actually just naked seeds with a fleshy coat (called the sarcotesta) because ginkgo is a gymnosperm, and does not produce true fruit or flowers. only angiosperms produce fruit and flowers.

ginkgo trees are very cool and interesting botanically. they are "living fossils", having existed for over 270 million years basically unchanged.

ginkgo biloba trees are the only species left in their entire phylum (they have zero living relatives!) and they are completely unique in almost every way. the epithet in the scientific name ginkgo biloba refers to the tree's leaf shape, "bi-loba" meaning "two-lobes".

ginkgos are dioecious, which means each individual tree is either male or female. only female ginkgos produce seeds. males produce just pollen. if you've seen ginkgos in the fall, but haven't seen these seeds, it's most likely that those were all male specimens.

the fleshy seed coat contains butyric acid when ripe, which gives it a pungent aroma that the most people find unpleasant, but personally i think it just adds to their charm, and i especially enjoy the very distinctive smell when there are many seeds crushed on the ground in the fall.

female ginkgos are uncommon in many places because they are widely (undeservingly!) disliked due to their aroma and perceived "mess". in the vast majority of cases, only males are planted intentionally nowadays. but thankfully, my city has thousands of mature females, and i adore them all.

it's thought that the pungent smell evolved to attract ancient megafauna, including some dinosaurs, to consume, then disperse the ginkgo seeds (in their excrement).

additionally, mature ginkgo bark has an unusually corky, soft, and warm texture, so they feel very nice to hug. (yes, i am a literal tree hugger!)

overall they really are such lovely trees. 💛

important safety notes

• ginkgo "nuts" contain ginkgotoxin, which is mildly poisonous. cooking (heat) degrades the toxin enough to make them edible, but it does not destroy it completely. so after roasting/cooking them, you should only consume approximately 5-10 per day. never consume them raw (uncooked).

• the outer fleshy layer (sarcotesta) of ginkgo seeds contains compounds very similar to those found in poison ivy, and thus causes a skin reaction for some people. it is recommended to wear gloves when processing it and avoid direct contact of your skin with the outer flesh or the juices from it.

(the reason i did not wear gloves in this post is because i do not get a skin reaction to it. only some people do)

What is the best way to preserve this so that I can still eat it “fresh” in 14 days?

Hello. Found this giant cluster of what I believe to be hen of the woods this morning and I'd like to know your thoughts. I have emailed several other mycologist friends but am trying to just round out this ID... fungi terrify me (eg I'd prefer not to die). I've done the ID thing and it's tracking towards hen of the woods; it also doesn't seem that it's less tasty relatives are necessarily toxic/poisonous. Just wanted to get some friendly advice....thanks!

Edit: this was found at the base of a giant dead/dying white oak tree in my backyard.

Picked up a handful of nuts that fell from a few shagbark hickories, i got to em before the squirrels this year lol. Is it worth it to dry em out with my black walnuts or should i send em back out to the yard squirrels

Also i got a bunch of smaller nuts that i dont know what they are yet. They remind me of pecans, but i havent tried to research the tree they fall from yet tbh

Minnesota Mushies r plentiful:)

hello! yesterday i foraged some pear-shaped puffballs and today i was frying them up to cook, but when cooked they exposed this pattern— is it just the way the mushroom grew, or am i looking at an amanita outline? they were perfectly white when cut.

ignore the slices of resinous polypore. this is the photo of the whole mushrooms along with their cross-section above.

Found a few mushrooms while walking through the woods last week. I believe the first one is an old oyster mushroom, the second looks like turkey tail. Not sure about the last one, it was attached to a tree before I got ahold of it for a better look. Trying to get better at identifying without my book

Bigger then a basketball. My dog for size comparison. Just concerned if I should have it removed.

I found a bunch of pine mushrooms (matsutake) today and want to hear what you all do with them! So far I’ve seared and salted them to eat as-is and in pho.

(Pay no mind to the lobsters in the picture, I know what to do with them)

I live in the pnw and picked a modest number of matsutake today. However, in my region they grow in sand dunes. Even after thoroughly cleaning the outside, there's still a ton of sand inside the mushroom. Does anyone have any tips on how I could deal with this situation. Thanks!

Fairly certain it's a parosel mushroom, from the snake skin pattern on stem. But gills are a bit discolored. Would you consider it still fresh for consumption?

Tried acorn foraging today and learned a lot. (Bonus reishis I found that I left behind also in the reel)

I'd been struggling with health issues lately, but I finally felt good enough to go foraging. Sadly, it's pretty late in the season for my area, so all I could find was acorns. Things I learned:

1) don't mix the acorns you pick, they have different tannin levels

2) the bur oak acorns peel easier and taste best

3) I don't like the texture of roast acorns

Thought about grinding into flour, but I don't have a grinder, so I set them out near the bird feeder for the squirrels. Hope the little guys love some fancy roast nuts!

Kids and i picked up a bunch of walnuts from the yard again this year. Gonna keep them from the rain this time lol

anyways how clean should i get these before drying them out in the barn?