fungal fairy land

This early autumn has seen a tremendous eruption of fungi in the Cedar Walk.

The fungi we see at this time of year are the fruiting bodies of the fungus that has been thriving beneath the soil all year.

This spectacular display is probably due to the wood chippings spread across the area when we cleared the sycamores in the autumn.

The light that is now flooding in may also have contributed as will the wet soil.

The immediate reaction, following the wonder at their abundance and diversity is to ask if they are edible. I am no fungi expert and so will have to be content just looking.

Whatever the reason for this fantastia, the wide range of fruiting bodies quite literally stop you in your tracks.

wood blewits

Damp, decay and leaves:
ideal for the growth of the fruiting bodies of fungi.

Our site was formerly home to a mushroom farm and so the expectation should be that we would be collecting field mushrooms by the bucket load at this time of year. Not a bit of it.
We do have  a range of fungi on site, but my fungal experience is limited to athletes foot and the aisles of the supermarket and I've yet to find any on site prepacked and labelled. So most go unidentified.

So, delighted to spot wood blewits (Clitocybe nuda) growing in the area we are clearing. Field mushroooms and wood blewits  are the two fungi commonly eaten in the UK but wood blewits are rarely seen for sale these days.

I find their taste strong and their texture is rather slimey if eaten on their own and I haven't had any for years. My grandfather claimed to be a wood blewit aficionado and I recall him telling me that you would only find them in fields where stallions had served mares! That may have contributed to my lack of interest in eating them.

time for a fungi foray

The sandy soils of Sherwood Forest are covered in autumn leaves. And studding the woodland floor is a range of fungi - including this common puffball.

Other European cultures celebrate their fruiting fungi and have an expertise in collecting and using them. We use commercially produced field mushrooms and disdain the free food at our feet.

This may be to do with our longer industrial and urban history than at of many of our European partners. Or it may reflect, once again, the sad fact that we do not have a 'food culture' to speak of in Britain. Or the two may be linked.

Whatever the reason, I know of no one who does as our dear Chocha used to do. She was our neighbour when we moved into our first marital home and we became adopted into her large, Polish family. 'Chocha' is Polish for aunty.

Chocha would travel up to the area where we now live in the early morning and take along her wicker basket. She would browse around the forests and footpaths collecting fungi to eat at home.

There were many different species of fungi fruiting when we walked last week. They all looked tempting - but whilst I know that 90% of mushrooms are harmless, I would need strong assurance that the ones I was picking and eating were safe before I used them.

Sadly, we lost Chocha some years ago and miss her still. How I wish she were around now, to teach me how to forage for fungi.