North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[rmelrose@bluemoo.net]

So, Donna, a russula eater eh. We have 'em but I pretty much ignore them --
I have eaten several lactarius, the blue one for fun mostly and so-called
`deliciosa' which isn't really, to my taste. My primary exposure to
russulas is as the big white/brown monsters that come up first in late June
or early July. Whenever I have keyed them out they are non-edible. Pity
since they are around in big quantities (and I am not Italian enough to
just try them; somehow my Italian mushrooming friends seem to have kidney
or liver problems). We do get lots of other, smaller russulas. I suppose
someone may complain that these are not fruit and this discussion is
off-topic on NAFEX, but they are fruiting bodies! We have many different
fine, not just edible, `boletus' in the wide sense. Best is boletus edulis
but `leccinum aurantiacum' (excuse my spelling but I am too lazy to look it
up) is a close second right now and there are several more later in the
year. We also currently have plenty of chanterelles, don't you get those in
TN (and the bugs seem to leave them alone)? Still, this does not make up
for the lack of cherries and shortage of blueberries.

The weight of opinion seems to be coming down on the squirrels as mushroom
transporters. By the way, they behave as though I am a war criminal, with
some reason (story suppressed for the moment), so I shall not hold it
against them.

Now DMSO is a rather high-tech approach to winter freeze. How persistent is
it I wonder. Could this just be another spray regimen, in December, to get
things through the Winter? Mind you, I think this might be a little
controversial; perhaps it would help my arthritis as well.

Richard


On 30 Jul, Kieran and Donna wrote:
> Richard, 
>     Mushrooms in trees I have not seen.  I'd be more inclined to suspect 
> squirrels than birds. I have to beat the box turtles to the green russulas 
> or eat the half they leave me.  But we have only bad boletes here, two 
> kinds, both bitter.  Even when we lived in east TN and had an edible 
> bolete, it was just that, edible.  Others in the "edible" category are less 
> work to prepare. 
>     As for winter damage, when we had the bad freezes in TN in the late 
> 80's, someone told me that she had watered her shrubs the previous summer 
> with ---- and that hers had survived when all her neighbors bushes were 
> killed.  Also, you might want to look into DMSO.  I have read that if peach 
> blossoms are sprayed with a solution before a freeze, or if they are frozen 
> overnight and then are sprayed before they thaw in the morning, that they 
> will be unharmed.  I even read about a person who was found out in the snow 
> with frozen limbs who was soaked in DMSO and warmed slowly with no damage.  
> It's used to freeze tissue samples, so the cell walls don\t burst, as 
> usually happens when something freezes.  Donna 
> 
> 
> `Porcini' are mushrooms, boletus edulis and, to me, just about one of the
> finest wild things there are to eat. (If your Italian is as bad as mine,
> this means `little pig', cep in French). Finding them placed in the trees
> is a bit disconcerting! Mind you the birds are not discriminating, they
> put poisonous amanitas in the trees too.
>