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wild edible plants thread

gogofast said:
Yes, they are matsutake mushrooms. I wasn't expecting much this year with so few rain, but was surprised to see a lot of species already above the ground.

Do you have any special way you eat your boletes? I usually saute them and mix with pasta. I've spotted some kings earlier this month.
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i eat my boletes with gusto :D

if i want to eat them fresh, i tend to chop them fairly small (1/4" thick, maybe 1/2" x 1" pieces) and dry fry with a tiny amount of salt, until the cells lyse and the liquid is released. i pour off that liquid, then decide how i want to finish off the mushrooms (depending on how i'm using them). the liquid goes into a small dish, to be added to a larger dish frozen for use in soups or to flavor sauces later.

i've used them in stir-frys, pasta, stuffing, soup (cream of butter bolete is a real treat), shaved finely raw in salads, with eggs, just sauteed with onions, just about any way you can use a mushroom. i'm going to make ravioli this weekend from some pork that came from when we spit-roasted a pig in july, and i'll use some dried butters for that (reconstituted in white wine).

i also dry them, for every use. if i have enough, i will roast the caps and do the above to roughly chopped stems. they make great soup. i also, for bits and bobs of dried boletes that are too small to do much with, will grind them into powder for adding to soups and sauces, where i don't want pieces of mushroom. makes them rich and tasty.

how do you cook your matsutake's? we don't get those down this far south. i hear they're delicious.
 
Wild Blackberries:


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Homemade wild blackberry ice cream: :thmbsp:

icecream.jpg
 
madwing said:
i eat my boletes with gusto :D

if i want to eat them fresh, i tend to chop them fairly small (1/4" thick, maybe 1/2" x 1" pieces) and dry fry with a tiny amount of salt, until the cells lyse and the liquid is released. i pour off that liquid, then decide how i want to finish off the mushrooms (depending on how i'm using them). the liquid goes into a small dish, to be added to a larger dish frozen for use in soups or to flavor sauces later.

i've used them in stir-frys, pasta, stuffing, soup (cream of butter bolete is a real treat), shaved finely raw in salads, with eggs, just sauteed with onions, just about any way you can use a mushroom. i'm going to make ravioli this weekend from some pork that came from when we spit-roasted a pig in july, and i'll use some dried butters for that (reconstituted in white wine).

i also dry them, for every use. if i have enough, i will roast the caps and do the above to roughly chopped stems. they make great soup. i also, for bits and bobs of dried boletes that are too small to do much with, will grind them into powder for adding to soups and sauces, where i don't want pieces of mushroom. makes them rich and tasty.

how do you cook your matsutake's? we don't get those down this far south. i hear they're delicious.
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That's a whole bagful of good info - some of them I've never thought of doing until now. I've never thought about drying and powdering the wild mushrooms (I've done with store bought dried shiitakes though). Thanks! :D

Best way to eat the pines, imho, is to slice them and roast them dry (or butter if you feel like it) and sprinkle them with sea salt. Other than that, they do great in most meat dish.



bentpencil said:
Wild Blackberries:


blackberries.jpg



Homemade wild blackberry ice cream: :thmbsp:

icecream.jpg
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:drool: Wow, that looks great. You must've crushed the berries and strained the seeds, right?
 
mmm, that looks great, the ice cream. i'll have to try that next summer when the berry crop comes in. we tend to spend a month eating them fresh, we really should make jam or whatnot from them. we've got a HUGE amount of berries on our property (bastards grow and grow and it's nearly impossible to get them to tame).

gogo, i'll have to keep the matsu info on file. just about any mushroom, roasted with a little salt, is a major treat.
 
gogofast said:
:drool: Wow, that looks great. You must've crushed the berries and strained the seeds, right?
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A little farm boy ingenuity. We made some once before, but the seeds were horrible. This time, I put the berries in a blender and turned it on low - just enough to semi-liquify them, but not enough to chop up the seeds. Since we couldn't find a strainer that had the right size holes, I remembered I had some fiberglass window screen material in the shop left over from doing a few screens. Stretched a piece over a large bowl, duct taped it to hold it in place, poured the concoction on the screen and worked it through with a spatula.

Worked perfect!!
 
bentpencil said:
A little farm boy ingenuity. We made some once before, but the seeds were horrible. This time, I put the berries in a blender and turned it on low - just enough to semi-liquify them, but not enough to chop up the seeds. Since we couldn't find a strainer that had the right size holes, I remembered I had some fiberglass window screen material in the shop left over from doing a few screens. Stretched a piece over a large bowl, duct taped it to hold it in place, poured the concoction on the screen and worked it through with a spatula.

Worked perfect!!
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Cool. If you don't mind, can you share the recipe for your ice cream? We don't make them often, but it'd be cool to share pints of homemade ice cream with the neighbors.
 
She's tried all kinds of recipes, and this one is the best. It's from a Betty Crocker cook book.http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/vanilla-ice-cream/89cbc7b8-cabd-4824-98e6-06ff30814fe2

She quadruples the recipe for our ice cream maker. For chocolate instead of vanilla, she uses 1/2 the vanilla and 1 1/2 cans Hershey's chocolate syrup.

Tip:

The recipe says to cook it until it just starts to bubble around the edges. It means it. If you boil the mixture, you get scrambled egg ice cream, and that ain't good!:thmbsp:
 
bentpencil said:
She's tried all kinds of recipes, and this one is the best. It's from a Betty Crocker cook book.http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/vanilla-ice-cream/89cbc7b8-cabd-4824-98e6-06ff30814fe2

She quadruples the recipe for our ice cream maker. For chocolate instead of vanilla, she uses 1/2 the vanilla and 1 1/2 cans Hershey's chocolate syrup.

Tip:

The recipe says to cook it until it just starts to bubble around the edges. It means it. If you boil the mixture, you get scrambled egg ice cream, and that ain't good!:thmbsp:
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Thank you! :thmbsp:
 
madwing said:
mmmm, looks exactly like the yellow version here. taaaasty, baby!
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Yep, they look exactly like the yellow version. Tastes quite different though. More fruity than buttery like the yellow Chanterelles.

Still looking for that 3rd one I lost.... meantime, I made some fried rice using the Matsutakes. I'm loving this 'shroom season already! :banana:
 
GuyK said:
I had a morel growing in my yard a couple months ago, but I don't like mushrooms.
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I had friends who hated mushrooms...until they tasted some roasted Matsutakes. I think people mostly hate the slimy texture of insipid commercially grown mushrooms, but the wild ones are a different story.

Next time you spot morels again, make sure they're edible ones (not false morels - search online for ID), and try deep frying them using breadcrumbs and eggs...salt and pepper. They taste amazing.
 
gogofast said:
I had friends who hated mushrooms...until they tasted some roasted Matsutakes. I think people mostly hate the slimy texture of insipid commercially grown mushrooms, but the wild ones are a different story.

Next time you spot morels again, make sure they're edible ones (not false morels - search online for ID), and try deep frying them using breadcrumbs and eggs...salt and pepper. They taste amazing.
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I've had Matutake and Chanterelles in the past. Thanks, I'll pass.
 
There is always the spinach of the road side, Lamb's quarters. In my childhood growing up just west of Philadephia, there were wineberries and dew berries. Great stuff. :thumbsup:
 
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I went back to the place where I got a few white chanterelles and hit the motherload this morning. There were four different grouping like this. Made some soup with 'em and tasted great.


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KingBubba said:
There is always the spinach of the road side, Lamb's quarters. In my childhood growing up just west of Philadephia, there were wineberries and dew berries. Great stuff.
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Oh, yeah. The lamb's quarters... I still eat them. There's a place I go for blueberries, and the rows are surrounded with lamb's quarters. I boil them and eat with some salt, pepper, oil, and chili pepper flakes.
 
Well, the mushroom season is going very well so far with a good mixture of rain, sun, and cold weather. Yesterday, I explored a new trail and came down with about 20 pounds of Chanterelle, Pine, and others like Cauliflower and Hedgehog.
Stocked up the freezer pretty good.

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