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Foraging and Cooking Mushrooms, Wild and Obscure Food

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Purple Laccaria Mushrooms

Purple Laccaria Mushroooms or Laccara Ochropurpurea

Purple laccarias are a mushroom I see on occasion. I have a couple different patches where I might see them during the late summer or early fall, but the patches can’t really be depended on to produce, and that’s ok. Don’t get me wrong, Laccaria’s are edible, beautiful, and completely fine to gather for the table, but the yield of what you get that’s edible is relatively poor. 99% of the time you’re going to want to throw away their stem and just cook the caps, since the stem is stringy and tough.

Habitat

I find these growing in the fall when chickens and hens are fruiting, since they seem to like areas with white oak like chanterelles, and plenty of other mushrooms. Sometimes dozens, sometimes one or two, but they are easy to instantly identify with their whitish-cream cap and dark purple to light purple gills and of course, their very fibrous stem.

Purple Laccaria Mushroooms or Laccara Ochropurpurea

Very young laccaria. Even when young though, the stems get tough and fibrous quick.

Cooking

Unfortunately, these will lose their purple color no matter what when you cook them. You could treat these just like any mushrooms from the store, with the exception of eating their stem, as it is rather hard and tough.  They have a pleasant mushroomy flavor, but aren’t anything crazy. Fine to add to a soup or stew, or casserole or a mix of other fall mushrooms. They are fun to find though, as is anything so colorful during the witching hour between fall colors and the onset of snow here in the Midwest.

Preservation

They are great candidates for slicing thinly and drying. They can also be pickled, cooked or sauteed and frozen.

Purple Laccaria Mushroooms or Laccara Ochropurpurea

The purple gills are an easy giveaway, you won’t forget them once you’ve found a few.

Recipes

Here’s some great ways to use these, like I mentioned, I enjoy them occasionally in a blend of mushrooms. The wild mushrooms with garlic and parsley, and with breadcrumbs and chili would be a great place to start.

  • Wild Mushrooms With Garlic And Parsley
  • Wild Mushrooms With Breadcrumbs, Garlic, And Chili
  • Wild Mushroom Conserve
  • Wild Mushroom Duxelles
  • Bison-Black Barley and Mushroom Soup
Previous Post: « Indigo Milk Cap Mushrooms
Next Post: Candy Cap Mushrooms »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dave

    January 17, 2016 at 11:01 pm

    I’d like to use these on a pizza. Would. Have to prepare them in any specific way. Or can I just coat with oils salt and pepper and top a pizza with them before baking? Please advise

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      February 1, 2016 at 10:50 am

      Throw them on pizza, you’ll be fine. I would dress with a little oil, salt and pepper.

      Reply
  2. Perry

    August 31, 2017 at 9:20 pm

    Found several pounds of these this week, all in one woodlot. It was indeed fun to find them.

    Reply
    • Perry Post

      January 2, 2019 at 8:32 am

      I am curious if you had success finding Purple Laccaria this past year (2018).

      2017 offered many pounds of them.
      2018 offered none in the same plot as 2017.

      There were a few aborted tiny caps, but no full fruits that I could find.

      Was this true for you also this past year? Did your multiple patches act differently from each other, with some producing and some not, or was it ‘all or none’?

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        October 7, 2019 at 10:05 am

        I found plenty, but don’t pay too much attention to them. They’re ok.

        Reply
  3. Emma B Robinson

    September 3, 2017 at 1:07 pm

    I found a couple pounds worth on a trail a few days ago. Didn’t know they were edible 🙁

    Reply
  4. Reese

    October 13, 2020 at 3:40 pm

    Found some can I just whip em up in some butter

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      October 14, 2020 at 9:04 am

      Yep.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Blewit Mushrooms Preserved in Walnut Oil says:
    October 12, 2019 at 11:15 am

    […] here, but you could use any small, firm button that would make a great preserve. Chanterelles, Laccaria ochropurpurea caps, and honey mushroom buttons would all make good […]

    Reply

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Sam Thayer dropped 25 lbs of his highbush cranberr Sam Thayer dropped 25 lbs of his highbush cranberry cultivars (3 types!) on me before the last snowfall and I honestly don’t even know where to start after processing them. I’d already made jams and hot sauce already and I have enough for a year. 😅

Great time to practice the cold-juice which ensures the juice isn’t bitter. 

Anyone else have any ideas? 

You can still find some on the shrubs if the birds didn’t get them up by the north shore. 

#highbushcranberry #winterforaging #birdberries #sweetnectar #foragerproblems #juiceme #embarassmentofriches #wildfoodlove
100% wild candy bars. I don’t usually make raw v 100% wild candy bars. I don’t usually make raw vegan snacks, but when I read about Euell Gibbon’s wild hackberry candy bars I had to try them. The  originals were just crushed hackberries and hickory nuts, but, I’ve read that Euell grew to dislike the crunch of hackberry seeds later in life. 

Here’s the thing though, if you sift the hackberry flour, you get a fun texture, with no worries about cracking a tooth. 

These are equal parts ground hackberries, dried wild blueberries, and hickory nuts, with a splash of maple syrup to bind.

The end product is a shelf stable, nutrient-packed bite filled with protein, carbohydrates, fats and natural sugars infinitely adaptable to your local landscape.

The texture is chewy and nougat-like, and now I’m curious to see how they’d perform baked in recipes that use frangipane or almond paste. 

#euellgibbons #energybars #hackberry #crushin #paleobreakfast #tradionalfood #wildfoodlove #rawfoods
Hackberry milk spoonbread with black walnuts and c Hackberry milk spoonbread with black walnuts and chokecherry gastrique is one of the dishes @credononfiction and I filmed for @headspace. 

I cook hackberry milk with cornmeal and maple syrup, whip some egg whites and fold them in, then bake. Eats a bit like crust-less pumpkin pie, if pumpkin pie came from a tree. 

#hackberry #souffle #wildfoodlove #chokecherry #blackwalnuts #brunching
Hackberry milk is a sort of rustic nut milk made f Hackberry milk is a sort of rustic nut milk made from ground hackberries and water. I grind the berries to a meal, then simmer with 3x their volume of water, strain through a chinois (without pressing) season with maple and a pinch of cinnamon. Tastes like pumpkin pie in a glass, also a decent cooking medium. 

#hackberries #nutmilk #foraging #wildfoodlove #celtisoccidentalis
Are hackberries a fruit? A nut? They're a bit of b Are hackberries a fruit? A nut? They're a bit of both. They also contain protein, fat, and carbs, and the oldest evidence of humans enjoying them goes back 500,000 years. Right now is the best time to harvest them in the Midwest as the leaves have fallen. The full break down and introduction to them is in my bio. 
#hackberry #celtisoccidentalis #winterforaging #wildfoodlove #traditionalfoods #manbird
If you’re in the Twin Cities the nocino I collab If you’re in the Twin Cities the nocino I collaborated on with @ida_graves_distillery for 2020 is on the shelves @surdyksliquor along with our spruce tip liquor. I’d give it a couple weeks before they sell out. 

Brock did a good job on this one: mellow flavor that almost reminds me of a tootsie roll, with spices and mellow tannins. 

#nocino #liquor #distillery #craftspirits #blackwalnuts #mnwinter
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