Mushroom collection in Maryland and south central PA

sweetlady2

I live in northern Baltimore County, Maryland. I collect and grow mushrooms. including turkey tails Trametes versicolor, chicken of the woods Laetiporus sulphureus, hen of the woods Grifola frondosa, oysters and a few others.

I don't collect honey mushrooms because I do not think that I am experienced enough to be sure of them.

If any of you live in my area, I might be able to take you on some mushroom walks in the fall. I am not a mycologist so I can't ID every mushroom, but I can find some of the ones used in the cancer studies--hen of the woods turkey tails and chicken of the woods. I probably would not be able to find Reishi mushrooms around here although I am going to try to grow some in my backyard.

FloridaLady

I curious how far south do the good kinds of mushrooms grow? We don't have the nice moist Forest like you have up north.

Flalady

Anonymous

I don't care for mushrooms Sweetlady, but I'm in the Balto suburbs.

Here's a nice photo I took of Laetiporus in Soldier's Delight park:

sweetlady2

Wow! Beautiful mushroom picture!

That one tastes just like chicken. If you like chicken, you would like chicken of the woods. You just have to get them when they are young before they get all hard and fibrous. You use them the way you would use a chicken breast. they do absorb more liquid during cooking than would a chicken breast. That type of mushrooms may help with glucose control too.

Carol Watkins

sweetlady2

Mushrooms in Florida

I do not know what mushrooms grow in Florida, but here are a couple of resources.

• Gulf States Mycological Society
• RR2 Box 194L
• Newton, TX 75966-9518
• Email: plewis@jas.net

• Mushroom Club of Georgia
• 1345 Piedmont Ave NE
• Atlanta, GA 30309
• Email: marigold4343@yahoo.com
• www.mushga.org/

Anonymous

Carol, thanks for the comment on the photo. There were 2 large specimens that day I went hiking. This one had a prettier shape. I guess, according to what you said, it wouldn't have been a good eating specimen, as it was quite large ... a good 12" across or more. I wouldn't harvest anything from a state park anyway.

There was another mushroom that looked kind of like a brain. I don't remember what that one was. I emailed photos of both to the UMD Cooperative Extension Service and they identified them for me.

Happy 'Shrooming !

Do your mushroom hunts ever take you to Wegmans? That's the easy way to find them  

Husband11

Very cool.  We used to do a lot of mushroom picking when I was a kid.  We picked edible beletis and chanterelles.  The spruce woods near out summer lake had an abundance of mushrooms that popped up after a rain.  You could fill a bucket in no time, wash, cut and freeze them for later use.  I'm going to have to go back out and try that again some day.  Great way to spend some time outdoors.  Its great that you can find some of the medicinal mushrooms.  Great when you can find someone to show you what's what.