Thanks in no small part to the alternating rainy and sunny weather that we've been experiencing over the past month or so, there are nice collections of lobster mushrooms to be found on the south coast. What a surprise! We've always thought of them as an early fall mushroom here in this area, but apparently that's not the case this year.
In fact, when we drove through Bandon yesterday, we stopped and talked to a young mushroom buyer who had stationed himself in the parking lot near Ray's Market. He stated that he represented a mushroom outfit located in North Bend and had been buying lobsters for the last couple of hours. During this time he'd acquired a substantial quantity of young, firm lobsters (enough to fill at least 6 large totes) to take back up north at the end of his shift. Not a bad day's outing!
Lobsters come in different shades of red and shapes!
Guess you know what we'll be doing tomorrow! What a great way to celebrate the 4th of July: foraging for lobsters!
Truthfully, we're not that fond of the texture and feel of the lobster mushroom on the tongue, although many foodies claim that it is an excellent edible. We're also troubled by the fact that once the parasite has colonized the mushroom, there is no obvious clue to help you identify the underlying mushroom. In other words, there is no way to verify that the mushroom is not a deadly poisonous specimen.
Still, we've never heard of a case of mushroom poisoning involving lobsters, and neither have any of the bona fide experts we've talked with about this issue. This is underscored by the fact that there is a brisk commercial trade in lobsters (as evidenced by the mushroom buyer in the parking lot near Ray's Market in Bandon) and that many restaurants feature dishes which include lobster mushrooms.
Still, we're bothered by our inability to identify the base mushroom with certainty, and eating any mushroom that we can't do this with goes against all we've believed about mushroom identification and toxicity.
Yes, we've eaten lobsters, and I'm sure we will again. We've even included recipes using lobster mushrooms in our Incredible Edible section on the website. See: October 2012's Recipe of the Month - Pork Dumplings with Lobster Mushrooms as well as September 2011's Recipe of the Month - Pork Scaloppini with Lobster Mushrooms in a Marsala Cream Sauce.
Yet, we are nagged with the question: "With so many delicious options available, why fool around with what could be a potentially unpleasant encounter of the mushroom kind?"
Oh, before I forget, here's a photograph of the sum of our 4th of July collection: lovely, little puffballs running down the center of an old logging road, surrounded by lush grasses, foxgloves waving in the ocean-born breezes, and fallen leafy matter. Butterflies (California Sisters) passed gracefully and silently over the puffballs while a Hairy Woodpecker made his presence known in a nearby insect-infested snag. Ah, a day in the refuge has so many special moments even if we don't encounter lobster mushrooms.
Alas, all we encountered on the 4th of July was this
lovely patch of puffballs ... no lobsters!