Fall Foraging part 1

Our foraging has increased in intensity as the cooler fall weather sets in.  The trees are dropping their nuts and fruit.  Fall mushrooms are appearing en masse.  Last weekend we collected the following:

Hen of the Woods Mushroom (HOTW):  One of our favorite Autumn finds.  These large bracket fungi appear around oak tree trunks and stumps.  This past weekend we collected three different hens weighing in at a combined 6lb. There is a park filled with oak trees near our neighborhood and we were able to find these beauties in abundance.  HOTW can be prepared like almost any mushroom and we use them in a lot of different recipes.  They can be sautéed and frozen or dried for long term storage.  Many of our recipes use HOTW.  See last year's HOTW post.

Marie is holding the largest with a smaller HOTW beside Mackenson

Acorns:  Acorns are a food that are commonly ignored by the majority of folks, foragers included.  We were able to collect about two gallons of acorns thanks to Marie and The Nut Wizard®.  Acorn processing is a bit of a trick, so stay tuned for an entry about this process.

Pear shaped puffball mushrooms:  These are a new foraging item for us.  They are a choice mushroom found on decaying logs.  We found a large cluster of these delicacies, but unfortunately were about a week late on the find.  The majority of these were past their prime and we wound up with only a few that were still edible.  These few were sautéed for our Sunday brunch.

Puffballs:  One with the holes on top are old and have already released their spore (not palatable).

Walnuts:  Black walnuts litter the ground everywhere in the fall.  Most people find these to be a menace in their yards and on their sidewalks.  With the proper tools and motivation they are delicious.  We have specialized tools for collecting as well as cracking.  We collected 15 gallons of these beauties with the help of the The Nut Wizard®.  More to follow on the processing (cracking) and storage.

Pears:  Though technically not a foraged (wild) food, we reconnected with last year’s supplier (thanks Teri).  Teri has two huge pear trees that are dropping their fruit.  We were able to collect about 10 gallons of pears in about 15 minutes.  However, these pears are not of quite the same quality that you find at the supermarket.  They are bruised, blotchy and bug ridden (but FREE).  Cleaning is a little more work, as all of the bruises and buggy areas have to be removed along with the core and stones.  Needless to say there is a lot of compost generated and our red wigglers in our worm bin were quite happy.  We still managed to have enough pears for freezing in slices (for smoothies, oatmeal, etc.) and making 6 ½ quarts of pear sauce.  We also froze enough pureed pears to make 3 more quarts of pear sauce.  Stay tuned for the pear sauce recipe, as it is extraordinary.

We filled our sink twice.

WARNING: As with all wild food do not consume it unless you are 100% sure of what you are eating.