Late Summer Mushroom Hunt

It should come as no surprise that our late summer mushroom hunt in the Uinta's produced far more edible mushrooms.  We actually found so many that we left large numbers behind (we weren't sure we would like them, so only took some of each).  

 
We found many chanterelle mushrooms (yes, this is the same name as the girl in Buffy who named herself after a mushroom).  These are somewhat hard to find as they grow up under the duff of the forest, making them hard to spot. 

 We harvested 1 lb 4 oz of these mushrooms.  These mushrooms are very orange with a distinct shape.  They peal apart much like string cheese. 

To cook them (well a few, we are trying them before deciding how to eat them) we pealed them apart and dry sautéed them until they were letting out some (but not much) liquid. 

They taste similar to button mushrooms but smother and lighter. 

We also found a few Hawks Wing mushrooms (3.88 oz).

These have very distinctive "teeth" inside the caps.

 These mushrooms can be used to create a blue die.  They are the only plant native to North America which can die cloth blue.  These mushrooms can be bitter if not cooked enough, generally people recommend cooking it for at least 20 min.  I found these overcooked but the overall impression is good, if a bit salty.

We also found 2 types of Boletes.  Both Bolete's appear round and grow in openish spaces of the forest floor.

 Our  first one is the Aspen Bolete (3.35 oz).

 When cooked this mushroom is not as firm and has a very strong flavor.  It is our least favorite of them.  Although the color contrast for the inside of its cap is beautiful. 

 We also gathered these Bolete Eddis also known as Porcini

These are widely considered on of the best mushrooms to eat.  We found it firmer and very good.

We also found a large number of Suillus mushrooms (we only took home some, they were very common). 

We thought this one tasted largely like a normal mushroom.

All of these can be dried for later use.