Here are some of my weekend finds for this #mushroommonday
Here we have a trinity of devil's urn aka Urnula craterium.
These remind me of the peziza mushrooms as they have similar granular sandy spores inside their cups.
I found some typical mica caps. These are very common and are usually one of the first spring mushrooms I see.
I tried these mica caps once and they don't have much of a taste to them and they tend to melt if you pan fry them. They are only good in soups.
Looks like the dryad's saddles are out in full force.
I even found one prime for harvesting. When they are small like this they are tender enough to eat. If you wait until they are big they get too spongy and tough to eat.
There was even a tiny little one growing underneath. I left it be this time as I want to find a dryad saddle growing on a willow tree. For some reason any edible mushroom that grows on willow trees tend to have a hint of sweetness to them compared to mushrooms that grow on other trees.
I also spotted a clump of chaga high up in a birch tree. I would need one of those saws with a telescoping handle to be able to reach it. You can spot these from quite a distance away and if they have bits of orange peaking out from the black crumbles then you know it is chaga. I usually grind this into a powder then boil it with tea to get the medicinal benefits. As for taste, chaga basically tastes like sawdust so you have to mask that taste with something like a strong tea or even hot chocolate.