WINTER MUSHROOMS

During the winter warm spells when the ice and snow melt, a few mushroom species can appear in our region. To find them, it’s a matter of being at the right place at the right time.

Both edible mushroom species on this page are described in detail in my book, “Field Guide to Wild Mushroom of Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic”.

Always make a spore print when you plan to sample a newly identified mushroom to help prevent making a mistake. Both of these mushroom species must display white or off-white spore prints.

Oyster Mushroom - Pleurotus ostreatus

Look for Oyster Mushrooms on stumps and logs of aspen and elm, especially. You also can find them on a range of hardwoods including maple, oak and linden.

They are not hard to identify, and in the winter when few mushroom species appear, there are very few lookalikes. You may find some persisting tough and woody polypore mushrooms that are inedible, but not dangerous. They will have small pores on their undersides, not gills as Oyster Mushrooms have.

If you are uncertain about identifying this mushroom, go to a supermarket that features various kinds of mushrooms and examine their display of Oyster Mushrooms.

This mushroom is eaten around the world and many people consider it to be very good.

Velvet Stem Mushroom - Flammulina velutipes

This mushroom loves dead elm. So look for it in low damp areas, especially along streams where elm prefers to grow. You can find it on other hardwoods, but elm is its favorite food.

You can find Velvet Stem mushrooms in your supermarket and Asian markets but they won’t look like the photo. In cultivation, this mushroom produces long, stringy white mushrooms with tiny caps. They taste the same as the wild growing mushrooms and are called Enoki.

It’s very important to make spore prints when you are learning to identify this mushroom, especially if you plan to eat it. The Deadly Galerina (Galerina autumnalis) can be a lookalike to many beginners but it makes rusty brown spore print. The Velvet Stem makes white a spore print. Deadly Galerina is a fall mushroom, typically. If you eat this Galerina you will likely die because it is one the most poisonous mushrooms that grow in our region or elsewhere.