Jack-o-Lantern mushrooms

Click on image to enlarge it.

I finally found out the name of these mushrooms that I named Fungi Ravioli. They're called Jack-o-Lantern mushrooms and, far from being edible, they are poisonous. Although an adventuresome consumer of food, I do not eat anything unless I know what it is - particularly the fungi family.

These mushrooms are bioluminescent - they actually glow in the dark. Well, their gills do. This picture of the gills was taken by one of my sisters, Justbelightful. Click on her name and you can see some of her really beautiful photographs.

From Tom Volk, a far better explanation of the Jack -o-Lantern mushroom:

Since it's October (meaning Hallowe'en [=Halloween] celebrations at least in this part of the world), I chose the Jack-O-Lantern mushroom, Omphalotus olearius as this month's fungus. Omphalotus olearius, formerly known as either Omphalotus illudens or Clitocybe illudens, often produces its fruiting bodies in abundance this time of year in large clusters on old rotting stumps of hardwood trees. It should be fairly obvious from the picture where this fungus gets its common name-- it's bright orange like the pumpkins used to make Jack-O-Lanterns. However, it is not so obvious from the picture the other reason for the common name. This fungus actually glows in the dark! Not the whole fungus, but just the gills on the underside of the mushroom. If you find these mushrooms, take them into a very dark room and stare at the gills of the fungus until your eyes become acclimated to the dark-- you should see an eerie greenish glow emanating from the mushrooms. It's a fun class project to do-- or fun to do by yourself or with friends or family. The glow is caused by the presence of luciferases, waste products or secondary metabolites from the physiological activities of the mycelium of the. Putting the wastes into the above-ground fruiting structure is the fungus's way of getting rid of its waste products.

Ant the name Jack-o-Lantern? Here's where that comes from:

The Jack-o-lantern custom comes from Irish folklore. As the tale is told, a man named Jack, notorious as a drunkard and trickster, tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved an image of a cross in the tree's trunk, trapping the devil up the tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that, if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him down the tree. According to folk tale, after Jack died, he was denied entrance to Heaven because of his evil ways, but was also denied access to Hell because he tricked the devil. Instead, the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the frigid darkness. The ember was placed inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer.

The Irish used turnips as their "Jack's lanterns" originally. But when the immigrants came to America, they found pumpkins were far more plentiful than turnips. So the Jack-O-Lantern in America was a hollowed-out pumpkin, lit with an ember.

Linda Ruth Dugger Tomes

Fallen Apple

Image from my altered book which was made by Croneletta.

It really feels like Autumn today - it was so cool outside when Kylie and I walked this morning that I actually had to don a real jacket rather than my fleece one. It got me thinking that it's a good day to use the oven and bake something. For dinner or for dessert was the big question. I'm doing both - the menu tonight will be a turkey meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes plus a nice big green salad. For dessert, I'm baking apples. Elise has a nice and easy recipe which I'll try, omitting the pecans (not a fan).

Of course, the thought of apples brought to mind Croneletta's image above. That and the fact I'm reading Dan Brown's newest book, The Lost Symbol. Dan Brown of The Da Vinci Code, the sacred feminine within humanity's spiritual beliefs, particularly the Catholic Church - and that reminded me of Eve and her apple - and how she was framed!

The Gnostic Media folks have quite a different take on the apple in the garden, one that might be considered even more heretical than The Da Vinci Code. No, not might - I'm sure it already is! It's not an apple that Eve ate and offered to Adam - they don't grow in that area of the world. What Eve presented to Adam was the Amanita Muscaria hallucinogenic mushroom. I have the DVD and have watched it a few times - it is quite fascinating. The website has a free viewing of it. If you are inclined to view the film, there's a part about the history of Santa Claus that I found hilarious, in a good way - something I remembered after reading The Horse Boy. No wonder Santa is so beloved!

I'd love to hear your thoughts about it, if you do watch it.

Mushroom pie

This is the very same mushroom I posted yesterday - I wonder if the Mushroom Faery returned to harvest it for a special mushroom pie? It appears she used her magic knife to take a perfect slice - and I missed seeing her cut it!

I've been interested in mushrooms for years - first, for their culinary uses. They are delicious - I especially love the Shiitake mushrooms. Then, I found out about their medicinal value when I worked at Whole Foods. The New Chapter rep, Brian, came into the store and noticed that I was sneezing and clearly suffering from seasonal allergies. He offered me a bottle of New Chapter's "Breathe." I asked him what it was and he told me that it was a formula of mushrooms that helped allergies. I rolled my eyes, but took the bottle because I was already a fan of New Chapter vitamins, having taken them for a few years.

I took 2 of the capsules and went about my business. About an hour later, I realized that my sneezing had stopped, that my breathing was much clearer and that I had more energy. I was impressed. The formula included both Cordyceps and Reishi mushrooms, both noted for providing stamina to mountaineers, Olympians and Himalayan guides. I've taken them since whenever allergies strike. (I was kind of upset today when I went into the New Chapter site and noticed that the mycomedicinals were no longer listed! I'm waiting to hear from them about why - I sure hope that they haven't discontinued making them.)

Paul Stamets is the man who provides the mushrooms to New Chapter. He is an amazing mycologist and fascinating to listen to when he speaks. I'm embedding a You Tube of him explaining how mushrooms could help save our beautiful Earth. It runs about 18 minutes and is so interesting. I hope you enjoy it.

More mushrooms

A funny thing happened on the way to the recycling bin. Well, not funny - just interesting. I have a crate which I will turn into a planter next Spring that sits right next to the recycling bin. In it, I've stored some planters, again for next Spring.

Look what I found growing in the crate! Another mushroom - I think this is some sort of Amanita, but I'm not sure. You can click on the images to enlarge them.

This is a closeup of the top of the mushroom.

And here is what I hope to see one early morning sitting on top of the mushroom!
Image of Mushroom Faery is from here.

Chicken of the Woods

Unlike that Chicken of the Sea commercial, there really is a chicken of the woods! It's a mushroom and when I was out walking the other day, I found a log with a whole bunch of them on it. This is a picture of one of them. Apparently, they are edible and are reported to taste like chicken, hence one of their names.

Wiki has an entry about this fungi here.

Wild man Steve Brill has this to say about the mushroom. He even has a video of him with the mushrooms posted on his website. One of these days, I'll get up the nerve to harvest and pick one - there are numerous recipes online them. Right now, I feel a bit nervous about using them, though!

The chicken mushroom grows on trees, logs, or stumps, deciduous or coniferous, across North America. Most common in autumn, it also appears in spring and summer.

The chicken mushroom tastes very much like chicken, especially with customary chicken seasonings. Properly prepared, it’s wonderful.

To adapt it to traditional chicken recipes, include a source of protein (i.e., grains or beans) to make the dish filling, plus some olive oil or vegetable oil, because unlike chicken, this mushroom contains no fat.

Unless the mushroom is so young and tender it almost drips with juice, it’s better to cook it in moist heat (i.e. in soups, stews, or in grains) than to cook it in oil.

September morn

It is such an incredible September morning - it was cool when I got up, cool enough to close the windows. So typical of mid-Autumn, yet it's only the first of September. There's also a quietness in the air along with the coolness and deepening shadows - I only hear the crickets singing now, no birds.

I think this mushroom is a type of Amanita. I don't think it's edible; I don't think it's the hallucinogenic type of Amanita, either. With this cool weather, I expect to see them around more. Perhaps, too, I'll see the faeries that hang out with them!

And as the seasons come and go,
here's something you might like to know.
There are fairies everywhere:
under bushes, in the air,
playing games just like you play,
singing through their busy day.
So listen, touch, and look around
in the air and on the ground.
And if you watch all nature's things,
you might just see a fairy's wing.

~Author Unknown~

I call them Fungi Ravioli!

In this moist season,

mist on the lake and thunder
afternoons in the distance

they ooze up through the earth
during the night,
like bubbles, like tiny
bright red balloons
filling with water;
a sound below sound, the thumbs of rubber
gloves turned softly inside out.

In the mornings, there is the leaf mold
starred with nipples,
with cool white fishgills,
leathery purple brains,
fist-sized suns dulled to the color of embers,
poisonous moons, pale yellow.

Where do they come from?

For each thunderstorm that travels
overhead there’s another storm
that moves parallel in the ground.
Struck lightning is where they meet.

Underfoot there’s a cloud of rootlets,
shed hairs or a bundle of loose threads
blown slowly through the midsoil.
These are their flowers, these fingers
reaching through darkness to the sky,
these eyeblinks
that burst and powder the air with spores.

They feed in shade, on halfleaves
as they return to water,
on slowly melting logs,
deadwood. They glow
in the dark sometimes. They taste
of rotten meat or cloves
or cooking steak or bruised
lips or new snow.

It isn’t only
for food I hunt them
but for the hunt and because
they smell of death and the waxy
skins of the newborn,
flesh into earth into flesh.

Here is the handful
of shadow I have brought back to you:
this decay, this hope,
this mouthful of dirt,
this poetry.


Mushrooms
~Margaret Atwood~