I have spent the last few years focusing on this mushroom. My key takeaways are: 1. It can fruit as early as Sept in drought conditions and fruit as late as January. The ones that fruit in drought conditions will be under the forest duff and crispy but they reconstitute well and are perfectly good to eat. 2. Harvest early and harvest often. The more you harvest, the bigger they get. My seasons now end with the final fruits being the size of car tires. Before I used to let them sit as long as possible hoping they'd get bigger and they'd be average in size, like hamburgers or a grocery store chicken. But now I can get monster fruits at the end of the year when everything else has already stopped growing for some time. 3. Always look for hedgehogs when going for late season fruits.
Whoa! That's awesome! Thanks a bunch for sharing your insights here. I love that - those are excellent takeaways. What an incredible mushroom this one is ... still waiting on my car-tire sized fruit body, but maybe this will be the year. Curious to know, how many fruitings were you typically getting from a single stalk?
@@MushroomTrail I usually harvest every 1 to 2 weeks and get 6 to 7 harvests a season. There are some true cedars in Oregon and they almost always have them. The ones growing on cedar appear to come back every year unlike the ones on fir. But what's cool about fir is, if that specific tree doesn't fruit them in a given year, a nearby tree will probably fruit them. Always give a healthy sized radius around where you found them the year prior if you can't find them again. I don't have enough observations or data on the trees we commonly call cedars though.
@@MushroomTrail and this is just a personal opinion and not backed up by data but I pull the taproot out every single time. I think it encourages the organism to fruit more or fruit bigger. I may need a longer period of time to definitively say this is true, but it is what I believe at this present time, and I acknowledge some may disagree and I respect opinions that differ than mine.
Super interesting - thanks for providing this excellent information. Greatly appreciated! I've heard Paul Stamets reference theories about these providing an incredible network throughout the old growth forests, and looking at the ways that its anti-fungal compounds fight off other parasitic saprobes like Armillaria. I'd be curious to get your take, based on your observations in the field, on whether you believe that Sparassis is working with host trees or taking on a more classic "parasitic" role. Such a fascinating mushroom! Definitely one that is worth digging deeper and deeper into to gain a better understanding.
And just saw note about taproot - also very interesting! I can definitely appreciate that. These are excellent thoughts that are worth looking into - you could very well be right about that!
Thanks! I could see this being the year that you're able to check that item off the list! Keep your eyes peeled in the old growth ... I'm hoping to find another before the season ends! 🤞
Just found my first one of the season the other day in Gifford Pinchot old growth. Always delicious! Excited to see your comments on medicinal properties and need for further study. Lovely video as always, thank you 💚
That's awesome! Such an incredible treasure of the old growth forests! Enjoy that one ... and hopefully there are more to come before the season is over! Thanks for tuning in, and Happy Trails! 🍄
Awesome! Thank you! And glad to hear that some Cauliflower Mushrooms are finding their way into your basket - what a mushroom, right?!? What's your favorite way to prepare that one?
I love the cauliflower mushroom. I found one in Aug., I usually find at least one every year. I pull the leaflets apart and dehydrate to use in soup, stews and casseroles.
Nice! That's a great way to put them to use. I love that these dehydrate so well. That's important considering the size these things can get to. How late into the season do you see Cauliflowers out east?
@@MushroomTrail I've only ever found them in Aug. and I was worried this year cause we've had so little rain. Matter of fact it's been so dry in addition to the one cauliflower I haven't found a single chanterelle, only one oyster and one miataki, zero old man of the woods, quite a bit of turkey tail, no edible boletes, a few meadow mushrooms and maybe three puffballs. I forage on my own 10 acre property so I guess it's not too bad, but it's usually so much better. Maybe next year will be better.
Oh man! Sorry to hear about that! Hopefully the rains set in and bring you a few more mushrooms before the winter season kicks in. Crazy how much it can fluctuate year to year!
Nothing wrong with chanterelles! What an incredible year it has been! I suspect that a Sparassis will jump out at you when you least expect it. Thanks for tuning in!
I found it in tree Farms a couple of times. It was a surprise each time. I keep going back to the same spots but never find it in the same spot again maybe that’s a myth?
Nice! Always a joy to stumble across this one ... and I have yet to find one in the exact same spot as in previous years, but I've heard different things about why that may be. Some people say that it depends on the host tree. Others say that it comes back several years apart. The jury is still out on that one!
Interesting! Yes, I'm always hopeful that it will come back the next year... so I am usually particular about checking back frequently, but so far to no avail. I've heard others say that it will come back in exact spot, but sometimes not until a few years later.
@MushroomTrail This has been my mushroom bingo year haha iv found almost every wild edible mushroom that iv wanted to find thus year. White chantrelle Golden chantrelle The incrediblely rare rainbow chantrelle Yellowfoot chantrelle Lobster mushroom Shaggy parasol So many corals Rishi Oyster mushrooms Prince mushrooms Both the costal and alpine Porchinis Honey mushrooms Admirable bolete Hedgehogs Shaggy mane Chicken or the woods. This had been an awsome mushroom year indeed. I only need a few more that I wanna cross off my list for this year and a coliflower mushroom is one 👌
Nice! That is a fantastic list - what year it has been, right?!? Hopefully it continues ... and I suspect that the Cauliflower will soon be finding its way onto your bingo card! 🤞 Best of luck out there - may the bounty continue!!
Yay! A Mushroom Trail video! 🙌🏽🍄🟫Just ordered David Aurora’s book yesterday. Found a bunch of different russulas (no idea which ones!) and boletes(?) on Wednesday. I still have sooo much to learn even about the basics! Still didn’t find any golden chanterelles, but we had rain Wednesday and more to come next week. Hopefully soon I’ll find my first goldens!
Nice! Mushrooms Demystified is an absolute classic resource - you'll love it! And I'm really glad to hear that you're getting that much-needed rain. I have no doubt that some Pacific Golden Chanterelles are in your future! Happy Trails! 🍄
I have spent the last few years focusing on this mushroom. My key takeaways are:
1. It can fruit as early as Sept in drought conditions and fruit as late as January. The ones that fruit in drought conditions will be under the forest duff and crispy but they reconstitute well and are perfectly good to eat.
2. Harvest early and harvest often. The more you harvest, the bigger they get. My seasons now end with the final fruits being the size of car tires. Before I used to let them sit as long as possible hoping they'd get bigger and they'd be average in size, like hamburgers or a grocery store chicken. But now I can get monster fruits at the end of the year when everything else has already stopped growing for some time.
3. Always look for hedgehogs when going for late season fruits.
Whoa! That's awesome! Thanks a bunch for sharing your insights here. I love that - those are excellent takeaways. What an incredible mushroom this one is ... still waiting on my car-tire sized fruit body, but maybe this will be the year. Curious to know, how many fruitings were you typically getting from a single stalk?
@@MushroomTrail I usually harvest every 1 to 2 weeks and get 6 to 7 harvests a season. There are some true cedars in Oregon and they almost always have them. The ones growing on cedar appear to come back every year unlike the ones on fir. But what's cool about fir is, if that specific tree doesn't fruit them in a given year, a nearby tree will probably fruit them. Always give a healthy sized radius around where you found them the year prior if you can't find them again. I don't have enough observations or data on the trees we commonly call cedars though.
@@MushroomTrail and this is just a personal opinion and not backed up by data but I pull the taproot out every single time. I think it encourages the organism to fruit more or fruit bigger. I may need a longer period of time to definitively say this is true, but it is what I believe at this present time, and I acknowledge some may disagree and I respect opinions that differ than mine.
Super interesting - thanks for providing this excellent information. Greatly appreciated! I've heard Paul Stamets reference theories about these providing an incredible network throughout the old growth forests, and looking at the ways that its anti-fungal compounds fight off other parasitic saprobes like Armillaria. I'd be curious to get your take, based on your observations in the field, on whether you believe that Sparassis is working with host trees or taking on a more classic "parasitic" role. Such a fascinating mushroom! Definitely one that is worth digging deeper and deeper into to gain a better understanding.
And just saw note about taproot - also very interesting! I can definitely appreciate that. These are excellent thoughts that are worth looking into - you could very well be right about that!
Such a cool experiment! Hoping to see another harvest for you this season!
Thanks! I hope so too! It's always a thrilling experience to come across a Cauliflower Mushroom in the woods ... never fails to wow me!
Excellent
Thanks - appreciate you tuning in!
My bucket list mushroom. Been foraging for only a few years now and haven't seen one yet. Hopefully I'll get lucky one day🤞
Wonderful video as always.
Thanks! I could see this being the year that you're able to check that item off the list! Keep your eyes peeled in the old growth ... I'm hoping to find another before the season ends! 🤞
Keep up the good work...
Thanks, will do! Always appreciate you tuning in!
Just found my first one of the season the other day in Gifford Pinchot old growth. Always delicious! Excited to see your comments on medicinal properties and need for further study. Lovely video as always, thank you 💚
That's awesome! Such an incredible treasure of the old growth forests! Enjoy that one ... and hopefully there are more to come before the season is over!
Thanks for tuning in, and Happy Trails! 🍄
Beautiful! I'm still hoping to find one
Good luck out there! Seems like the perfect season so far ... I bet there's a good chance it'll cross your path soon!
Hey man! Love the videos!! I love getting to see someone else finding some of the same stuff I’m finding right now.
Awesome! Thank you! And glad to hear that some Cauliflower Mushrooms are finding their way into your basket - what a mushroom, right?!? What's your favorite way to prepare that one?
I found it in tree Farms a couple of times. It was a surprise each time.
I love the cauliflower mushroom. I found one in Aug., I usually find at least one every year. I pull the leaflets apart and dehydrate to use in soup, stews and casseroles.
Nice! That's a great way to put them to use. I love that these dehydrate so well. That's important considering the size these things can get to. How late into the season do you see Cauliflowers out east?
@@MushroomTrail I've only ever found them in Aug. and I was worried this year cause we've had so little rain. Matter of fact it's been so dry in addition to the one cauliflower I haven't found a single chanterelle, only one oyster and one miataki, zero old man of the woods, quite a bit of turkey tail, no edible boletes, a few meadow mushrooms and maybe three puffballs. I forage on my own 10 acre property so I guess it's not too bad, but it's usually so much better. Maybe next year will be better.
Oh man! Sorry to hear about that! Hopefully the rains set in and bring you a few more mushrooms before the winter season kicks in. Crazy how much it can fluctuate year to year!
Woah, nice sparassis dude! Would love to find this soon. For now, settling for chanties 😅
Nothing wrong with chanterelles! What an incredible year it has been! I suspect that a Sparassis will jump out at you when you least expect it. Thanks for tuning in!
@@MushroomTrail TY 🤞
I only have one of the many ive harvested that comes back in the same spot...4 years straight now...
Interesting! Just curious - what type of tree was the one that came back in the same spot associated with?
I found it in tree Farms a couple of times. It was a surprise each time. I keep going back to the same spots but never find it in the same spot again maybe that’s a myth?
Nice! Always a joy to stumble across this one ... and I have yet to find one in the exact same spot as in previous years, but I've heard different things about why that may be. Some people say that it depends on the host tree. Others say that it comes back several years apart. The jury is still out on that one!
@ I have spots for lions mane comes back year after year, but never cauliflowers.
Very cool - a reliable lion's mane spot is something many mushroom foragers seek out!
I have the same experience as you in that it never find it in the same spot
Interesting! Yes, I'm always hopeful that it will come back the next year... so I am usually particular about checking back frequently, but so far to no avail. I've heard others say that it will come back in exact spot, but sometimes not until a few years later.
@MushroomTrail
This has been my mushroom bingo year haha iv found almost every wild edible mushroom that iv wanted to find thus year.
White chantrelle
Golden chantrelle
The incrediblely rare rainbow chantrelle
Yellowfoot chantrelle
Lobster mushroom
Shaggy parasol
So many corals
Rishi
Oyster mushrooms
Prince mushrooms
Both the costal and alpine
Porchinis
Honey mushrooms
Admirable bolete
Hedgehogs
Shaggy mane
Chicken or the woods.
This had been an awsome mushroom year indeed. I only need a few more that I wanna cross off my list for this year and a coliflower mushroom is one 👌
Nice! That is a fantastic list - what year it has been, right?!? Hopefully it continues ... and I suspect that the Cauliflower will soon be finding its way onto your bingo card! 🤞 Best of luck out there - may the bounty continue!!
Yay! A Mushroom Trail video! 🙌🏽🍄🟫Just ordered David Aurora’s book yesterday. Found a bunch of different russulas (no idea which ones!) and boletes(?) on Wednesday. I still have sooo much to learn even about the basics! Still didn’t find any golden chanterelles, but we had rain Wednesday and more to come next week. Hopefully soon I’ll find my first goldens!
Nice! Mushrooms Demystified is an absolute classic resource - you'll love it! And I'm really glad to hear that you're getting that much-needed rain. I have no doubt that some Pacific Golden Chanterelles are in your future! Happy Trails! 🍄
@@MushroomTrail I’ll be on the watch for cauliflower mushrooms now for sure! Cool looking fungus!
Definitely! Keep an eye peeled - it's a great one!
@@paulagarrett3758 It's awesome when you find a nice big Cauliflower(5lbs+). Happy hunting!
Indeed! Those guys can get massive!