Yes, indeed, it's a very Happy New Year in our refuge! Yellowfoot and Hedgehog Mushrooms were abundant in our usual patch when we were out exploring earlier today. What a nice way to celebrate the beginning of a new year of mushrooming.
To be completely honest, we started our foray with more than a little trepidation. Since returning to Port Orford from our holidays spent sailing the Norwegian fjords, there had hardly been any let up in the wintry weather pattern of thunder and lightning, pounding rains, hurricane force winds and goodness knows what else these past several weeks!
Yet, this morning a tranquil landscape greeted us when we arose: uninterrupted blue sky and gentle breezes whispering through the Tanoaks and Douglas Firs, while a resident flock of Dark-Eyed Juncos descended upon our well-stocked feeders (Thanks to Steven!) and a couple of Varied Thrushes lent their own kind of enthusiasm to the gathering. What a perfect day to explore the woods, we thought!
And, we were right. The mushroom gods gifted us with an abundance of Hedgehogs and a sprinkling of Yellowfoot Mushrooms.
Our first foray of the year rewarded us
with Hedgehogs and Yellowfoot Mushrooms.
I sometimes think that we're particularly fond of the Hedgehog Mushrooms simply because they're so cheerful nestled in the duff on the forest floor... and so darned pretty! After months of winter storms, they can be counted on to be a crisp spot of color in an otherwise forlorn looking forest floor.
The cap varies from a rich cream to tan and gold. Underneath the cap are a multitude of soft icicle-like spines which add to the visual interest of this fungus. When collecting, the mushroom presents clean with little debris, and is quick to gather as the stem is brittle and easily broken.
Our experience has proven that we can hold Hedgehog Mushrooms in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks, although we prefer to dehydrate or freeze them for longer storage.
We're always delighted to encounter the delicate Yellowfoot Mushroom in the refuge, if for no other reason than it is a relatively newcomer for us. During the first 15 years that we've lived here, we never came across more than a handful, and certainly never enough to collect for the pot. These last years have been different, and we currently look forward to greeting them in our usual Hedgehog spot.
For us, the Yellowfoot is a somewhat drab fungus with a rather intriguing name. Officially, it's been renamed Craterellus tubaeformis but the locals here in Curry County variously refer to it as Winter Mushroom, Funnel Chanterelle and/or Yellowfoot. For us personally, we don't care what someone calls it - it's such a pleasure to come upon in the woods.
From our perspective, the Yellowfoot's flavor is very subtle, and it cooks up rather unattractively. Nonetheless, this yellowish-brown to brown, trumpet-shaped mushroom with a hollow stipe is much appreciated in the months when it's challenging to locate edible mushrooms. Why? The Yellowfoot dehydrates quite successfully. In this form it can be easily turned into a powder to enhance coatings, or re-hydrated to be stirred into soups and sauces where it lends an intriguing background flavor.
But, enough writing about Hedgehogs and Yellowfoot Mushrooms. I've got my work cut out for me in the kitchen tonight, with cleaning and preparing mushrooms for our first mushroom feast of the year! Bon Appetit!