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What month did you walk the Norte to see these and how positive are you they are safe to eat? I love scavanging!

Camino Chrissy said:

What month did you walk the Norte to see these and how positive are you they are safe to eat? I love scavanging!

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That was in october 2017, they are called Coprinus comatus (Shaggy mane)



you can only eat them very young and very fresh. Incidentally, the Nazi secret services would use their ink as a proof of authenticity in coded messages; if you look at the writing with a magnifying glass, you can see the tell-tale spores!

amancio said:

That was in october 2017, they are called Coprinus comatus (Shaggy mane)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coprinus_comatus

you can only eat them very young and very fresh. Incidentally, the Nazi secret services would use their ink as a proof of authenticity in coded messages; if you look at the writing with a magnifying glass, you can see the tell-tale spores!

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That wiki article is very interesting!
Thanks for your "quick" reply!
I have recently found three puffball mushrooms. I diced one, sauteed part of it in butter, and the other half I used in cream of mushroom soup. They store well in the refrigerator. They soak up a lot of oil which is a negative, along with their soft spongy texture.

haha! my reply was that quick because this is the first time I saw the message!. We have puff balls here in Southern Spain, to me, they are tasteless, never pick them. Over here, we call them "peos de lobo", that is, "wolf farts". Mushroom names can be peculiar a times, indeed.

Yes, puffballs do leave something to be desired.
I am still hoping to find morel mushrooms one day. They are difficult to find and those who hunt them never share the locations with anyone else because they are the most delicious, sought after ones.

As others have noted, these mushrooms have the scientific binomial name of Coprinus comatus. They are usually called shaggy mane, shaggy ink cap, or in England, lawyer's wig.

There are a great many common names for them in Spanish: barbuda, seta de tinta, seta de pisto, seta de carretera, matacandil, apagador, hongo de corral, apagavelas, apagacandelas, chipirón de monte, pijocón, pijolón, sombrerillo/sombrero, tintada, tinturuela, chipirón de prado, chivatos, cochoca, or candelara, among others.

Galicians and Portuguese might also call them piocan, coprino barbudo, coprino cabeludo, fradinho, or gota-de-tinta.

In Basque, they may be called gorritzaile, lederki, or urbeltz galparduna.

In Catalan, they are named bolet de tinta, copri pelut, or pixacá barbut.

These are a good edible and easily recognized, but they do not keep well. If you find them along the Camino during the day, you need to cook them that very evening, or the next morning they will have deliquesced into a puddle of black goo. This liquid is actually safe to eat and can be used for making dishes like black risotto or black pasta, much like squid ink. However, it is unappetizing for most people. Because they are so ephemeral, you will never find this species in a mercado. A rural restaurant owned by a knowledgeable chef might occasionally have them as a special dish on the menu, if a large fruiting is found nearby.

I don't like breading and frying for fine mushrooms like porcini, morels, and chanterelles, but it is definitely the best way to prepare this species. Dunk them in a beer batter, and then dredge them in corn meal, cracker crumbs, or panko crumbs. Fry in plenty of very hot oil and you will definitely not be disappointed. Sautéing this species is less successful. They have a taste reminiscent of asparagus.

This is a distinctive mushroom, and it is usually a slam-dunk to pick it and eat it safely. No deadly-poisonous mushrooms look like this species. However there are a few somewhat similar species that can cause significant gastrointestinal distress, and must be learned and avoided if you collect these:

• Coprinopsis picacea, the Magpie Ink-cap
• Chlorophyllum molybdites, the Green-Gilled Parasol or "Vomiter"
• Coprinopsis atramentaria, the Tippler's Bane (poisonous if combined with alcohol)
• Podaxis pistillaris, the Stalked Puffball (not poisonous, but woody and generally considered inedible)