Boletus edulis

When it rains it pours. This is about half the haul of King Boletes from the last foray. The largest one is as big as my head. Often they are riddled with maggots, but all of these were exceptionally clean. I dried all the big ones, and made cream of king bolete soup with a small one.

Boletus edulis, 11/15/10

Found hidden in the grass under bishop pine on the Medocino coast.

What the rain brings

Three kinds of Chanterelle in one outing, and a mystery solved.

My personal favorite edible mushroom is the Golden Chanterelle. I was very happy to see these, it will probably be another good season for them. I still cannot get handle on the differences between some of the species. These could be C. cibarius, C. formosus, or the newly described C. californicus. I am going to call these C. cibarius, but there were a couple of small slender ones that I think are C. formosus. They smell like apricots and have a nice nutty flavor when sauted.

Cantharellus cibarius 10/31/10

The first White Chanterelles that I have found that are in good enough shape to eat. They have all the attributes of the Golden ones without the apricot odor or nuttiness. 

Cantharellus subalbidus 10/31/10

And the mystery solved is the Scaley Chanterelle. These were young fruitings before they flare out. The mystery UFO is the nascent form of the mushroom. I originally thought it was some sort of club mushroom, it is really easy to be wrong about young fruitings. Unfortunately it is not edible.

Gomphus floccosus 10/31/10