Oyster Mushrooms

I love mushrooms! Normally my wild mushroom foraging only goes as far as field mushrooms. But this past Autumn when out on a walk, I came across one, or rather many that caught my eye.

Oyster mushrooms grow on old dead wood. They grow in profuse clusters and can be quite large. This particular colony were growing on an old tree stump.

After collecting over five kilos and leaving as much behind on the tree stump, I triumphantly returned home to the kitchen.

When foraging for wild mushrooms, only collect and eat ones that you are absolutely certain are edible. Many are deadly.

You can see from this photo how large some of these mushrooms grow. They are simply huge!

Of course the point of collecting mushrooms is to cook and eat them. Here I am cooking them with a simple cream and (self collected) herb sauce.

I also added some leaks.

And then served them with rice.

Oyster mushrooms have pleasant almost almond smell to them and a slightly sweet taste to them.

With so many mushrooms, guess what was on the menu for the next week?