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Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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How to Make Shaggy Mane Mushroom Ink

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Shaggy mane mushroom ink recipe

Shaggy mane “ink”.

“Leave mushrooms on the counter until they turn into a black, inky mess, then puree this goop and eat it” sounds like instructions in a recipe for someone on a quest to make themselves sick. For the unfamiliar, Shaggies are part of a group of mushrooms called inky caps because the mushrooms quickly turn to a goopy black mess, (a process called deliquescing) which, in the past, was used to make a kind of ink.

Newsflash: you can eat the mushroom ink, and it’s actually good. Good enough that I served it to two Mycological societies last year in Brainerd. So, before you toss any less than perfect ink caps out with the pencils shavings, you might consider a few possibilities. 

Coprinus Comatus Only

As an aside here, know that I’m only using shaggy mane mushrooms (coprinus comatus) for this process, as using other Coprinoids could result in alcohol sickness as happens with Coprinopsis atramentaria, the tippler’s bane. 

I have to thank David Arora and Chad Hyatt here for mentioning the process in one of my favorite Facebook groups, without them, I would’ve never tried it. If you’re not familiar, Chad’s also the author of The Mushroom Hunters Kitchen, which he self-published a few years back.

Shaggy mane mushrooms or coprinus comatus

A nice cluster growing around a large pile of dug earth in my friends log yard.

If you’ve picked shaggy manes, you’re probably familiar with their short shelf life–a day or two out of the ground and they can start to get inky, goey and soft on you. It’s counter intuitive to eat things “past prime” especially with wild mushrooms, but with shaggy manes I found it helpful to take look at what deliquescing is, and more importantly, what it does. 

How to make shaggy mane mushroom ink recipe

Day 6. The final black goop stage. Looks delicious, right?

Deliquescing vs old, moldy, or past-prime mushrooms 

From the journal of Wild Mushroom Hunting: 

“Deliquescence is a process whereby the pileus liquifies itself to allow the spores to escape. The pileus starts liquifying itself at the margin, leaving the margin tattered and flaring (above the liquifying zone, the pileus is usually straight vertically). Often there is a reddish zone at the transition between the white immature gill tissue and the liquifying tissue which is black with the mature spores.”

 

So, the deliquescing basically helps the mushrooms spread their spores, and in the process, returns the mushrooms from whence they came.

As I understand it, this should be an enzymatic reaction, basically the mushrooms way of speeding up the process of spreading their spores, as opposed to decomposition by nearby fungi, molds you wouldn’t want to eat, etc.

Huitlacoche is another good example of deliquescing, and slightly similar in flavor, which I’ll get to. Consuming deliquescing mushrooms, or at least the two species I mention here, is different than say, eating a moldy mushroom you found on the ground, or in your fridge the later being a good way to flirt with indigestion. 

Shaggy mane mushroom ink compound butter recipe

The Grey. Shaggy ink butter is a good way to preserve your mushroom goo.

How to make shaggy mane mushroom ink recipe

As the mushrooms deliquesce, they’ll get liquidy, and inky.

Some like them black 

As I dug deeper over the past year, going over my tasting notes and comparing them with other hunters, more than one experienced shaggy mane eater told me they prefer to let their shaggys get a bit inky before cooking them, as they preferred the flavor. 

Personally, I prefer my shaggy manes either or. I either want them firm, fresh and pristine, or completely gone “to max capacity” if that makes sense. Part of what I love about shaggies is their texture, and getting them inky means they’re going to be a bit softer. Personal preference. 

The Process 

The basic process, stirring the mushrooms around and keeping them in the fridge over a six day period. Leaving the mushrooms to deliquesce at room temperature will speed up the process, where refrigeration will slow it. 

How to make shaggy mane mushroom ink recipe
Day 1
How to make shaggy mane mushroom ink recipe
Day 2
How to make shaggy mane mushroom ink recipe
Day 3
How to make shaggy mane mushroom ink recipe
Day 4
How to make shaggy mane mushroom ink recipe
Day 5
How to make shaggy mane mushroom ink recipe
Day 6. The final black goop stage. Looks delicious, right?

How does it taste?

The big question. Shaggy mane ink tastes mushroomy, like you might expect, but the flavor wasn’t as deep or nuanced as I’d hoped, it’s good, don’t get me wrong, but I was expecting more of a deep umami blast.

It’s mild and pleasant, similar to a puree made from common mushrooms like agarics, but with a noticeable difference I tasted right away. If I get lucky enough to grab another large flush of them, It might be fun to inoculate the goo with koji fungus for 24-48 hours to build some additional flavor, cooking and pureeing afterword.

Shaggy mane mushroom ink risotto recipe

Black shaggy rizzo with fried garlic and parsley was excellent.

It is worth it?

For me, it depends on the harvest. For example, If I came across a large quantity of shaggy manes, of varying ages (I just got a message a few weeks ago from someone with 20+lbs in Iowa!) like with other mushrooms, I’d separate out the most pristine ones for eating fresh. The mushrooms that don’t make the cut could get made into ink and frozen to preserve them.

If I came across a patch of shaggy manes and they were all beautiful and young, none of them would be made into ink, If I find some at a stage too wet for me to eat fresh, they might all be ink. I would let the mushrooms and your preferences be your guide. 

Ravioli with shaggy mane ink and sochan recipe

Putting the ink on the bottom of the bowl before adding dressed pasta (here herb and cheese ravioli with sochan greens) ensures an appealing look.

Shaggy mane mushroom ink recipe

Tasty black mushroom goop.

The Huitlacoche similarity

Shaggy mane ink has a very slight after taste to it, not unpleasant exactly, but present. If you’ve ever eaten huitlacoche, especially some that have gotten a bit soft or black, you’ll be familiar with the taste. Some people call it metallic, tin-y or aluminum like, and, to be fair, that’s not a bad comparison. I would say saffron can taste tin-y too.

At least with my ink the taste was barely noticeable, especially after pureeing with shallots, a splash of wine, and whisking in a healthy glob of butter. The big takeaway here I found interesting was the parallel flavor of two deliquescing mushrooms.

Huitlacoche and shaggy mane mushrooms are in two completely separate genus, and fruit differently, but it was interesting to notice the similarity in taste that I can only assume is a result of the deliquescing process.

Recipes and ideas for shaggy ink 

The finished puree can be added lots of things, but, it’s also black, and, in the wrong place can make an unappealing dish. Think of blank canvases of color here, or ways to use the puree where it’s placed under the food, rather than tossed in, or spooned over the top.

Whisking with butter and spooning into a bowl before you add some freshly cooked pasta tossed with cooked greens, bacon and mushrooms would be nice, as is black shaggy risotto and compound butter. Creamy mushroom ink soup is a natural one, too, and would be great with chopped shaggies fried and spooned on top. So many things! 

Pasta with shaggy ink sauce 

Warm up the shaggy mane ink, swirling in some butter, then season to taste. Arrange dressed pasta on top. Pictured is herb and cheese ravioli with sochan greens tossed in a bit of olive oil. 

Shaggy mane mushroom ink sauce with pasta recipe
Goop.
Shaggy mane mushroom ink sauce with pasta recipe
Pasta.
Shaggy mane mushroom ink sauce with pasta recipe
Cheese.
Shaggy mane mushroom ink sauce with pasta recipe
Eat.
 
Shaggy mane mushroom ink in a bowl
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Shaggy Mane Ink

Culinary ink made from shaggy mane mushrooms. Makes about 2 cups.
Prep Time10 mins
Deliquescing Time (approximate)4 d
Servings: 8

Ingredients

  • 8 oz fresh shaggy manes
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ cup chopped shallot 1 medium shallot
  • 1 small clove garlic grated or minced
  • 2 Tablespoons flavorless cooking oil plus more for sweating the shallots
  • Splash of white wine

Instructions

  • Clean the shaggy manes, rinsing or washing if needed, especially if they were growing in a sandy area. Allow the mushrooms to dry between two layers of paper towels for a few minutes to weep water. Chop the shaggy manes, then put into a non-reactive container with a tight fitting lid.
  • If it’s cold outside, leave the mushrooms in their container on the counter, if it’s warm, put them in the fridge*. Allow the mushrooms to deliquesce and macerate in their own juices, stirring with a clean spoon at least once a day, until the mixture is juicy, inky, and black.
  • The process will take a few days, longer if they’re refrigerated. When the mixture is black, goey, and scary looking to your liking, sweat the garlic and shallot in a small sauce pot for a few minutes until translucent.
  • Add the splash of wine, then the shaggy mane goop, heat through and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat down to low and cook, covered, for 10 minutes.
  • If the shaggy mane goop looks dry, add a little water.
  • Using a handblender, puree the mixture, drizzling in the oil, adding a spoonful of water if needed to help the blades move.
  • Transfer the shaggy mane puree to a container and refrigerate for up to a week, freeze, or make into compound butter and freeze for long term storage.

Notes

*Minding the ambient temperature here isn’t a huge deal since the mushrooms are being digested by enzymes, but if it’s warm (summer, etc) the container could draw some fruit flies, which are annoying. There is no danger of GI issues here as the boiling is used as a killstep to sterilize the puree.
shaggy mane mushroom risotto recipe in a pan
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Black Shaggy Mane Risotto

Risotto made with shaggy mane mushroom ink. This is a basic recipe, consider adding some additional sauteed mushrooms or leftover cooked chicken to bulk it out, or serve as a side dish. Yield: 4 modest portions.
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Course: Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Shaggy Mane
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 1 cup risotto rice such as carnaroli
  • ¼ cup shallot finely diced
  • 1 cup black shaggy mane puree
  • 4 cups hot chicken stock highest quality available
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
  • ½ cup grated high quality parmesan cheese like Grana Padano, at room temperature
  • Toasted garlic slices to garnish (optional)
  • 1/2 bunch fresh chopped Italian parsley about ½ cup
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil or other cooking oil
  • Garlic chips optional, for serving*

Instructions

  • Sweat the onion in 2 tablespoons of the oil, then add the rice, stir to coat with oil, cook for a few minutes, then add and the hot stock, ½ cup at a time, stirring constantly.
  • When you’re about halfway through adding the stock, add the shaggy mane puree. Continue stirring and adding stock until the rice is just done (you can also pre-cook the risotto as in my method here).
  • Finally, stir in the butter, cheese, and parsley, then taste, adjust the seasoning as needed, and serve, topping each bowl with a few garlic chips if using and an additional sprinkle of parsley

Notes

*To make garlic chips, slice some garlic paper thin the short way and sweat in a film of cooking oil on low-medium heat until golden, then drain on a paper towel and reserve until needed. It will hold at room temperature for a day or two.

More 

Forager’s Guide to Shaggy Mane Mushrooms

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. LUZ LOPEZDEE

    October 17, 2020 at 8:04 am

    i am 76 years old residing in BC i forage shaggy mane by our roadside and patio backyard. i have to have much courage to try your recipes but who knows maybe a couple of seasons more. enjoy

    luz

    Reply
  2. Mcrae anderson

    October 17, 2020 at 12:15 pm

    Could it be used like Squid ink to make black pasta?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      October 18, 2020 at 10:53 am

      Yes, just don’t expect it to taste like anything. Much better to serve the puree with pasta as a sauce.

      Reply
  3. Carla Beaudet

    October 18, 2020 at 8:29 am

    Shaggy manes came up along our driveway two weeks ago, and my husband was the one who noticed them. There were quite a few, but most were already into the inky stage. I harvested the few that were still all white, par boiled them, cut them into 1/4″ rings, and added them to some leftover miso/mallow leaf soup I’d made myself for lunch over the weekend. But as I tried to settle back in to work subjects (working-from-home), the thought occurred to me – why not use the inky mushrooms the way one would use squid ink – to color/flavor pasta, for instance? I wondered whether you’d explored that subject, and it sounds like you had, but had not yet posted here about it. I wondered whether Chad Hyatt, the fellow who gave the cooking lecture at Telluride this year, and whose book I purchased, had had that thought? Indeed, he had, and I found guidance for my efforts right there in his book, which I have not yet read cover to cover. I enthusiastically went out and harvested all the mushrooms in their inky glory into a pot, and let them continue to deliquesce overnight. In the morning, it looked a lot like your day 6, and I added a small pinch of salt and simmered over low heat until they were a soupy mess, reduced, puréed, and froze the inky purée for future culinary efforts.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      October 18, 2020 at 10:51 am

      Of course you’d tried it already! Using it to color pasta is a nice idea, but it won’t taste like much unless you serve it with more puree as a sauce.

      Reply
  4. Garry Watson

    November 26, 2020 at 11:57 am

    I don’t wait for the mushrooms to naturally deliquess. Rendering them through gentle simmering will also reduce them into a lovely ink/gravy/sauce base (If you want it to be smooth, run it through a blender or strain, as the stems take an inordinate amount of time to break down through cooking). With this base, I love to make a black garlic mushroom sauce, with butter, stock (if required), herbs and seasonings to taste.
    Recently, I made such a garlic butter mushroom sauce from mica ink caps (also known as glistening ink caps), Cajun spice blend, Itqlian seasoning (herbs blend) and a stock cube, which was enjoyed as a pasta sauce, for penne, topped with crispy bacon pieces accompanied with a fine glass of red wine.
    Enjoy playing with your food
    Bushpirate

    Reply
  5. Carlin

    January 23, 2022 at 8:24 am

    Maybe if you cook the ink slowly even with a bit of sugar you could encourage a maylard style reaction and get a more umami flavour out of it. It would also be interesting if the same enzymes would deliquesce other unrelated mushrooms (since most mushrooms are made of chitin) after applying it on them to make a kind of sauce or broth.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      January 23, 2022 at 1:33 pm

      I wouldn’t put sugar in it. If you want a slow caramelization I’d add about 15-20% of the total weight in oil and cook it on low in a crock pot for 24 hours, might need some extra liquid too.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Cooking and hunting shaggy manes, coprinus comatus or lawyer’s wig mushrooms says:
    November 4, 2020 at 12:46 pm

    […] Yes, with precautions–they need to be thoroughly cooked as a killstep/safeguard, which is a bit of a moot point as thorough cooking is something I recommend with about 99.9 % of wild mushrooms. As I understand it, the process of shaggy manes turning into black ink is a sort of autophagy, an enzymatic process that helps the spores spread, which is different than decomposition by bacteria that could make you sick. David Arora and my colleague Chad Hyatt have both mentioned and shared different ways the shaggy ink can be used, and, I can tell you from my experience too, that it’s a fascinating way to use these mushrooms if you happen on a large patch of them. See my whole post on how to make shaggy mane ink here.  […]

    Reply
  2. Mushroom Ink | Eyagee's Blog says:
    October 7, 2021 at 8:04 pm

    […] to Forager Chef, the ‘ink’ is entirely edible and can be used as a sauce. I also found a How to make Ink […]

    Reply

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Alan Bergo
Morels: the only wild mushroom I count by the each Morels: the only wild mushroom I count by the each instead of the pound. 

Good day today, although my Twin Cities spots seem a full two weeks behind from the late spring. 2 hours south they were almost all mature. 

76 for me and 152 for the group. Check your spots, and good luck! 

#morels #murkels #mollymoochers #drylandfish #spongemushroom #theprecious
The first time I’ve seen fungal guttation-a natu The first time I’ve seen fungal guttation-a natural secretion of water I typically see with plants. 

I understand it as an indicator that the mushrooms are growing rapidly, and a byproduct of their metabolism speeding up. If you have some clarifications, chime in. 

Most people know it from Hydnellum 
peckii-another polypore. I’ve never seen it on pheasant backs before.

Morels are coming soon too. Mine were 1 inch tall yesterday in the Twin Cities. 

#guttation #mushroomhunting #cerioporussquamosus #pheasantback #naturesbeauty
Rain and heat turned the flood plain forest into a Rain and heat turned the flood plain forest into a grocery store. 

#groceryshopping #sochan #rudbeckialaciniata #foraging
Italian wild food traditions are some of my favori Italian wild food traditions are some of my favorite. 

Case in point: preboggion, a mixture of wild plants, that, depending on the reference, should be made with 5-23 individual plants. 

Here’s a few mixtures I’ve made this spring, along with a reference from the Oxford companion to Italian food. 

The mixture should include some bitter greens (typically assorted asters) but the most important plant is probably borage. 

Making your own version is a good excercise. Here they’re wilted with garlic and oil, but there’s a bunch of traditional recipes the mixture is used in. 

Can you believe this got cut from my book?!

#preboggion #preboggiun #foraging #traditionalfoods
Oh the things I get in the mail. This is my kind Oh the things I get in the mail. 

This is my kind of tip though: a handmade buckskin bag with a note and a handful of bleached snapping turtle claws. 😁😂 

Sent in by Leslie, a reader. 

Smells like woodsmoke and the cat quickly claimed it as her new bed. 

#buckskin #mailsurprise #turtleclaws #thisimylife #cathouse
Bluebell season. Destined for a Ligurian ravioli Bluebell season. 

Destined for a Ligurian ravioli as a replacement for the traditional borage greens. 

#mertensiavirginica #virginiabluebells #spring #foraging
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