Favorite CA Edible Mushrooms: The information contained on this page is not definitive, do not eat any mushrooms you pick in the wild unless you know what you are doing!

"There are old mushroom hunters and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters"

Name: Black_Chanterelle, trumpets (good quality)
Craterellus cornucopioides

Season: (Winter, early spring in Northern CA)

"Black trumpets are shaped like a funnel and come in a brown, gray, or black color. The edges of the cap are rolled outwards and wavy.

One of the most noticeable things about black trumpets is that they have no gills or other visible spore-bearing structures (such as pores or teeth). The underside of their caps will always be smooth to slightly wrinkled.

Black trumpets are thought to be both saprotrophic (feeding on dead organic matter) and mycorrhizal (creating symbiotic relationships with the roots of plants). Their precise ecological role is not yet fully understood.

The most common species of is Craterellus cornucopioides. Other species do exist, such as Craterellus foetidus.

Other common names of Craterellus cornucopioides are "trumpet of death" and "horn of plenty". As they're closely related to chanterelles they're also known as the "black chanterelle".

More info:
http://www.mushroom-appreciation.com/black-trumpet.html

Name: Butter_Bolete_Boletus_regius_choice

Name: Candy_Cap-good

Name: Cauliflower_good

 

 

Name: Chanterelle_good

 

Name: Deer Mushroom, good quality

You can find these mushrooms in the fall, winter and early spring in Northern CA. With all the Chanterelles and Oyster Mushrooms available in mushroom season where I live I have not desired to cook-up some deer mushrooms yet.

Name: Hedgehog_good
Name: Hedgehog_good

Mushroom Mix
Blewits,Clitocybe nuda(edible), Saffron Milk Cap (Edible)

Found in the Little Basin (Boulder Creek) 12/08/12

Blewits are considered excellent mushrooms, despite their coloration. Blewits can be eaten as a cream sauce or sautéed in butter, but it is important not to eat them raw, which could lead to indigestion. They can also be cooked like tripe or as omelette filling, and wood blewits also make good stewing mushrooms

Name: Russula brevipes (Found in Boulder Creek 12/02/12)

This a species of mushroom commonly known as the short-stemmed russula. It is edible, although its quality is improved once parasitised by the ascomycete fungus Hypomyces lactifluorum, transforming it into an edible known as a lobster mushroom.

Note: These mushrooms are hard to spot because they bearly expose themselves above the duff. They seem to prefer young Douglas fir trees to fruit around.

Name: Inky_Cap_good
Name: King Bolete_Boletus_edulis

Name: Slippery_Jack_Suillus_pungens

I found a nice patch of these in wood chip mulch where I work in Capitola, CA. The meat is white, which I fried up with butter and onion.

Edibility: Fair to good

My Capitola Slippery Jacks were found on 12/12/12

These mushrooms love rain!!, they pop up in late fall in the bay area of CA after the ground is well soaked.

Tip: Dry these mushrooms in the over on a flatt cooking sheet.
Set oven temp at 150 degrees and heat mushrooms for 1 hour on each side. Store in a well sealed container up to a year.

Name: liberty cap (do not eat!)

Psilocybe semilanceata, commonly known as the liberty cap, is a psychedelic (or "magic") mushroom that contains the psychoactive compounds psilocybin and baeocystin.

Of the world's psychoactive mushrooms, it is the most common in nature, and one of the most potent.

Find them in well manured grassy fields in Oregon and Washington State. Some grow in extreme northeastern CA.

More info on this mushroom

Name: Lions_Mane_good

I find Lions Mane growing on dead or dying Douglas Fir trees in the late fall. These mushrooms are hard to spot because they can grow far up on the tree trucks. Most mushroom hunters are always looking down.

Lions Mane are tasty and nutritious, just wash, coat with flour, dip in egg, fry and enjoy....
Name: Matsutake_good

Very uncommon in the Santa Cruz Mountains, take a trip to northern CA in the Mount Shasta region or drive up to Oregon and Washington to find them in Early fall if you are serious about finding Matsutakes.

Name:Morchella_deliciosa_morel..Very good

A spring mushroom found in previously burned areas in the Mountainous regions of CA. Follow the snow line starting in May, look for them about a 1000 feet lower than the snow line from May to July.

Very uncommon in the coastal regions of CA
Name: Morchella_deliciosa_morel2
Name: Morchella_elata_false_morel
Name: Oyster_good
Name:Shaggy_Mane_good
Name: Queen_Bolete_Boletus_aereus_choice
Name: The_Prince_good
Name: White_Chanterelle_good
Name: Witches_Butter_good

Very common after rains..eat these right off the branches you find them on!! not that tasty, but good.
Name: Black Elfin Saddle (Helvella Lacunosa)

Edible, but avoid..If you try it (BOIL THEM FIRST!)..slight toxins in skin, but boiling for a minute or two takes care of that...

I don't like them, but they are interesting to see. Your better off finding other edibles..I would avoid this mushrom

Oyster Mushrooms (Edible)

Found in local woods outside of Boulder Creek 03/17/12

Recipe: Dip mushrooms in egg and flower batter, ad garlic powder, salt, onion powder and pepper to batter. Soak chunks of oyster mushrooms in batter and fry in 2 tbs. of oil together with shallots.

More Recipes for Oyster Mushrooms!!

 

Name: Witches_Butter_good

I found this log of Witches Butter in the woods close to town. The fungus is good to eat right off the branch! Taste like jellow.

 

 
Name: Black Trumpets and Oyster Mushrooms

Found near kings creek, Santa Cruz Mountains 03/25/2012These are both great edible mushrooms.

Recipe: Click For Picture

Black Trumpet Dauphinoise makes one 9" x 9" dish6 oz. black trumpets, chopped
2 c. light cream
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
6 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/8" slices
2 c. mild cheese like Monterey Jack1. Heat the oven to 300° F.
2. Clean the black trumpets by removing the bottoms and looking inside for bugs or leaves. Chop them coarsely.
3. In a saucepan, add the black trumpets, light cream, salt and pepper. Bring up to a light boil, and remove from the heat.
4. Grease a 9" x 9" baking dish. Place 2 layers of the sliced potatoes on the bottom, sprinkle a 1/2 c. cheese on top, and spoon on some of the cream, enough to cover the potato layer.
5. Repeat this layering 4 times, ending with the cream covering the last top layer of cheese. Bake for 1 hour, then start checking for doneness by stabbing the center with a knife. You are looking for tender potatoes and a reduced cream sauce. Bake up to 30 minutes longer until done