Tag Archives: Pig’s Ears

With the early rains, mushrooms are appearing in great numbers. Look what Subir Sanyal collected in just a two-hour hike on his property.

Eleven varieties of edible mushroms by Subir Sanyal

There are 11 different species of edible mushrooms in Subir's photo. Can you identify them?

Rozann and Eric Grunig went mushrooming at Salt Point State Park. Rozann reports the park has had a LOT of foragers come through but they did find nearly two pounds of Pig's Ear.

Pig's Ears by Rozann Grunig

We have three storms headed our way over the next five or six days. It will be interesting to see what these storms bring in the way of wild mushrooms - some edible, many not, but all beautiful in their own right.

Thanks to Subir and Rozann for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

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Pig's Ears, or Gomphus clavatus, grow on our property under Douglas-firs, Tanoaks and Redwoods. They are usually on a steep hillside, causing us to just note their presence. They are edible but not choice and some people have trouble digesting them. As with any new food, you should only try a little bit the first time. Some people, poor things, are allergic to chocolate!

 And here is a Fly Amanita, Amanita muscaria. It is just emerging from a bank along side our road. This toadstool is usually a brighter red. Perhaps our cold, mostly dry weather has made the color a little pale. It is a hallucinogenic mushroom and was thought to be poisonous. However, people in various parts of the world eat this mushroom. According to mushroom expert, David Arora, if you boil it twice the hallucinogens will be removed and it will be safe to eat. It is a fascinating mushroom just to observe, as it changes shape dramatically as it ages.

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A small storm moved in overnight, leaving us with beautiful rainbows Thursday morning. These rainbows appeared just north of Fish Rocks, near Anchor Bay. I took these photos from our deck.

You can just see the moon at the top of this photo. I thought this was a rather unique-looking rainbow.

 I had to take two pictures to get this big arching rainbow.

What a lovely sight to wake up to!

Tomorrow I will show you photos of two mushrooms that just bloomed on our property - Fly Amanita and Pig's Ears, Gomphus clavatus.