Foraging Pittsburgh

I don’t usually characterize the foraging year as being “a good year for bear’s head tooth.” Chicken mushroom – let’s talk about them; chanterelles – they definitely deserve a mention; morels – let me see your pictures. Based on the last few weeks exploring the forest, however, I can confidently proclaim that it has been a great year for bear’s head tooth!

Bear’s head tooth (Hericium americanum) provides a stunning sight with its branched icicle-like body, resembling a miniature frozen waterfall. It appears late summer through autumn on fallen logs or the wounds of trees (mostly hardwoods), though its presence is considered infrequent to rare. All the more reason for me to proclaim that it has been a great year for this forested jewel, as I have found it on numerous occasions.

Other Hericiums (of which lion’s mane is one) resemble bear’s head tooth, and all are considered to be edible (cooked, of course) with no poisonous look-alikes. Cut it into small pieces, saute it in butter with garlic, season with your favorite spices, and serve with a squeeze of lemon.

I found this magnificent specimen while hiking in a park northwest of Pittsburgh.

Happy fall foraging!

In the world of foraging, few organisms conjure up more fear and mystery than mushrooms.  Tell someone you harvest wild berries, and he thinks to himself what a great hobby.  Tell another person you hunt wild mushrooms, and she fears for your life.

“Aren’t you scared?”

“What if it’s poisonous?”

“I could never pick wild mushrooms, they’re much too dangerous.”

The fungal kingdom, it seems, is a bit of an enigma.  In 1991, a paper was published suggesting that, although 1.5 million fungi were thought to have inhabited the earth, only about 70,000, or 4.7%, of fungal organisms were identified at that time (1).  Today, it is estimated that there are 5.1 million fungal species in existence, and the number of identified species is still quite small in comparison.

It’s true, out of 5.1 million fungal species, some of them are quite toxic …

Read the rest of this post here.

You’d think with all that room in the forest, they’d give each other space. I don’t mind though … makes it that much easier to collect.

This is the pear-shaped puffball (Lycoperdon pyriforme), an edible mushroom that has the texture of a marshmallow. Cut each one in half to see how it looks – the closer to pure white, the better it tastes (cooked, of course).

Another reason to cut each one open is to confirm that it is indeed a pear-shaped puffball. If it’s black inside, it could be a toxic Scleroderma mushroom. If it’s not pure white all the way through, and you see an outline of a developing mushroom, you probably have a poisonous Amanita. So, just to be safe … cut each one in half!

Look for the pear-shaped puffball scattered on logs and stumps throughout the fall (and the spent versions throughout the winter). And tell them Adam sent ya.

This particular cluster was found about 15 miles outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in late September.

I always feel so lucky when I stumble upon a Hericium in the wild (don’t you?). This mushroom is Hericium americanum, or Bear’s Head Tooth, and is in the same genus as the neurotrophic, cognition-enhancing Lion’s Mane fungus. The latter produces a spine-bearing unbranched fruiting body, while Bear’s Head Tooth is branched with spines reaching up to 4 cm in length.

This edible mushroom has no toxic look-alikes, and makes for great eating (as long as you don’t find it too majestic to harvest).

Look for Bear’s Head Tooth on dead hardwood logs and stumps, summer through fall. This beautiful specimen was found northwest of Pittsburgh on September 20th, 2014.