Please continue to post these forage video's. I live in new zealand and I love youtube. i have yet to see any nz forager RU-vidrs, so this is an absolute treat.
When there has been nothing else around, and I find some beauties (Fly Agaric: Amanita muscaria), I have picked a few and eaten them, but only after due preparation, to remove the 'sickness' compound and the 'whacky' compound. That involves thin slicing, boiling twice for 10 minutes each time, discarding the yellow water each time. Then cooking what's left (sort of colourless and flavourless tissue) with good things with colour and flavour - like onion/turmeric/garlic. Certainly a viable famine food - imho. Many folks find more uses for them than this. As I understand it, they are neither 'deadly' nor 'poisonous' - as often portrayed - just likely to cause sickness and/or 'colourful dreams' if not prepared as above :) . Happy foraging.
Another nice video. As a winemaker myself, I was hoping maybe a splash of your tonic wine might have found it’s way into the pan with the mushrooms. I have to say that cooking with my wine is a favorite of mine (and I rhyme!) 😁
Thanks Alice. I do add wine when making curries and roasts, but not when frying. I save all racking-dregs and decanting-dregs in the fridge - to settle quickly - and accumulate litres of super-blend 'Cooking Wine' :). Sometimes the 'Cooking Wine' tastes better than the original brews!
Great video as usual Diarmuid. Ileodictyon cibarium (basket fungus) is edible in its 'egg stage'. Maoris used to eat them. However reports i have heard, have been thar the gleba tastes earthy and gritty, and the peridium tastes rubbery and like eating fat. Be aware that other Phallaceae spp such as Aseroe rubra and Clathrus archeri look very similar when in their egg stage. I wouldnt recommend trying them when they 'hatch' though, as their gleba matures and smells like carrion, to attract flies to land and disperse their spores
Thanks Tyler. Yes, I should have said that "I don't eat them" rather than that they were "inedible". I find it best to start with the premise that any new fungus is toxic until my researches and due diligence convince me otherwise. That white 'tumbleweed' structure rolls away in the wind, and contains and spreads the spores: amazing fungi :).
great vid. I found some pleurotus purpureo olivaceus have cautiously tried a small amount yesterday with no ill effects im using your cautious tasting method, ill be trying some more today. thanks and keep the vids coming
Thanks Jason. Good on you for doing the research, being cautious and doing the 'due diligence' thing. Even benign fungi can cause allergic reactions in some people.
Glad you enjoyed the video Tess. Reefton is about a 3-hour drive from my local foraging districts. Hopefully you find some good, keen, knowledgeable locals to forage with.
Unfortunately, my unique 'Tonic Wines' can not be legally sold in NZ (by me as an individual citizen) but I have made a video showing the general brewing process, and some of the key ingredients that I use. A number of friends and locals just plum love them, especially people who do not like the added chemicals and commercial constraints and common side-effects of commercial wines.
