Fungi Foray - Bodmin - Cornish Wild Food

Fungi Foray - Bodmin

24/10/2019

My aim on the day was to teach my guests how to safely identify and analyze fungi. I also sort to dispel lots of myths around the edibility of mushrooms. We looked at the features of various different types of fungi to learn how to tell them apart.

The deceiver / Laccaria laccata - Brittlegill / Russula Farinipes - Red cracked bolete / Boletus chrysenteron - Bay bolete / Imleria badia - Lactarius omphaliformis

An area that would normally take 30 minutes to walk took us 3 hours! Everyone had fun scrabbling around, exploring the undergrowth, and appreciating the detail in the various habitats. The moment of delight when we found the first Chanterelle led to a pause when everyone slowed down to hunt for more.

Amethyst chanterelle / Cantharellus amethysteus

Winter chanterelle / Cantherellus tubaeformis

Another key moment was finding a Death Cap and False Death Cap in close succession to compare the various important features. Know your enemy!

Death cap / Amanita phalloides

TOP: False death cap / Amanita citrina - BOTTOM: Death cap / Amanita phalloides

The walk ended with ID workshop and a cook up. We had Winter Chanterelles fried in butter and thyme on crusty bread, followed by a mushroom soup. The soup was a simple potato and leek soup made only with a stock from dried cep and cauliflower mushroom, to which we added our Chanterelles, Winter Chanterelles and Oyster mushrooms, and finished with fresh thyme.

Here is a complete* list of what we found this week on our Fungi Foray yesterday in the Bodmin area.

Fly agaric / Amanita muscaria
Common earthball / Scleroderma citrinum
Red cracked bolete / Boletus chrysenteron
Bay bolete / Imleria badia
Death cap / Amanita phalloides
False death cap / Amanita citrina
Stink horn / Phallus impudicus
Winter chanterelle / Cantherellus tubaeformis
Chanterelle / Cantharellus cibarius
Amethyst chanterelle / Cantharellus amethysteus
Sulphur tuft / Hypholoma fasciculare
Turkey tail / Trametes versicolor
The deceiver / Laccaria laccata
Toads ear / Otidea bufonia
Common funnel / Clitocybe gibba
Brittlegill / Russula Farinipes
Zombie fungus / Cordyceps militaris
Webcap / Cortinarius
Spindleshank / Gymnopus fusipes
Candlesnuff fungus / Xylaria hypoxylon
Milkcap / Lactarius omphaliformis
Gymnopus acervatus (Collybia acervata)

*excluding any LBJs (Little Brown Jobs)