Oyster Mushroom Hunt

[dualsetters]

I opted into a new venue in the woods on Saturday. I know morels are supposed to be popping until the middle to end of May, yet most of the ones I have found this year appear to be early. Using some good advice I received from this site I read up on the Oyster Mushrooms that normally appear at the end of the month and made an educated guess to search some Aspen cuts a little earlier than I had planned.

Immediately I saw fungi on deadfall and was eager to check it out. Of course, there are all types of mushrooms growing on logs in the woods.

Then there was this one. It looked right and definitely smelled like anise; still, it was kind of dried up.

At least I started finding them. Now to try to focus on a specific place they liked to grow. Dead aspen trees were a start and they seemed to prefer growing on the bottom of suspended logs. It seemed that where the paper thin bark was peeling was good, yet I found them anywhere and every where on the aspen except where there was no bark unless it was on a saw cut.

I gathered about a pound and a half of them and decided that was enough. I believe there is about a month to keep returning. Many were dried up, don't know if it was from the sun, cold or they had just run their course. The beetles were easy to shake off, but I still soaked them in some salt water when cleaning them. They seem to absorb it pretty quickly, but they dried nicely. I am guessing if I can luck into some nice size caps they would be good for marinating and grilling. This was my first time eating wild oysters so I pan fried a couple with some onions and butter. Not a very profound flavor, but browning in the pan left a nice taste. They remind me of store bought button mushrooms. I had read that they taste like seafood, but if they do it is very subtle. Too bad, I thought with a little garlic and parmesan they might make a good linguini sauce. Maybe a little lemon and dill might bring it out.

[Dave W]

Here's a few things I really like to do with Oyster Mushrooms.

I also like them sauteed with onion and baked in a cheesy casserole.

[dualsetters]

Funny you mention cheese. I cooked a bunch with sweet and hot italian sausage, leeks, (red,green and yellow peppers), then made a sauce out of butter, cream and asiago cheese served over fettucini. The mushrooms were a little browned and the flavor came through the cheesy sauce real well.

Thanks for the recipes, they sound good.

[Old Oak]

When you go out you should try to remember tree locations or bring a gps. They'll fruit on the same log for a number of years.