Mushrooms

Over the past month, Arena has gifted us the following lovely mushrooms which we have sampled and admired. One evening, so overwhelmed by life and our to-do lists, we left our lovely pan of blewit mushrooms cooling on the stove. Only to discover that our cat, Thora, had found and eaten them all. She gave them a 5.

A mushroom sampler:

Gem studded Puffballs (Lycoperdon perlatum) and Pear Puffballs (Lycoperdon pyriforme)--these mushrooms were too soft for our taste; we'd like to try them prepared by someone who knows how to cook them. 2

Honey mushrooms (Armillaria mellea) --the mushroom guides say that some people love these while others find they make them feel ill. We didn't feel ill, but we didn't eat many because I didn't clean them very well and they were rather sandy. Their flavor was rather...mushroomy. Right now they rate a 2, but again, perhaps a mushroom cook would do them better justice.

Maitake--hen-of-the-woods (Grifola frondosa)--cool looking, coral like, sprawling mushroom, tasty--3

Matsutake--(Tricholoma magnivelare)--we sliced them thin, and cooked them til crispy--yummy-3

Blewit--(Clitocybe nuda)--lovely Arena gave us more after the cat sacrifice--a pretty violet blushed mushroom--tasty with a great aroma when cooked--3

Porcini--(Boletus edulis)--after tasting these, it became evident why they are widely prized in culinary cuisine--deep, rich, pleasing flavor--5

We apologize to mushroom connoisseurs if our ratings do not seem high enough. We are just not mushroom lovers. After eating several, they all start to taste the same to us. We tried here to elicit some of the differences we noticed. Please forgive our plebian palates.