For mostedible mushrooms , the only shaft that you ’ll require will be a pocketknife to cut the stalk . For the round , white tuft of a lion ’s mane , however , you ’ll want to bring a run or a pole pruner .
Because while money does n’t arise on tree diagram , these bon vivant mushrooms do . And sometimes you ’ll have to crane your neck to see them .
For one 33 - hammering Leo ’s mane mushroom ( the record is 100 pound ) , I had to express my 8 - foot step ladder through the Ellen Price Wood . I only keep 4 pounds of that mushroom and betray the residual to five downtown chefs .
I made $ 351 in less than two hours .
Mane Reasons
Lion ’s mane mushrooms ( Hericium erinaceous ) ca n’t get across bark , so they grow from damage areas on oak tree trees : confused limbs , hollows , lightning scars , crosscut stumps .
seldom , I ’ve reap them at pectus - height or even ankle - height . And they sometimes grow on city trees .
Read more : Why start forage ? It provides a link to ancient ancestors , for starter .
Frank Hyman
Lion’s Man Tales
One year , before verbalize on forage at a downtown organic husbandry group discussion , I strolled outside to psyche myself up . In the outdoor dining sphere of a eating house , I found a 3 - pound Leo ’s mane just out of range on an oak tree . Ignoring the bring up eyebrows of wait stave and diner , I borrowed a chair to brook on so I could wrench that mushroom from its hollow .
I go through it around at my presentation just a few minute later .
Another yr , I harvested a 6 - pounder . I really wished I ’d had that tall run with me then , as I had to make do with a adopt 4 - foot stepladder stacked on two borrow plastic carryall box full of Christmas decoration . And even on top of that leaning tower , I could only pop that lion ’s head of hair off the tree by spearing it with a pitchfork .
Frank Hyman
That ’s foraging . Frank Hyman
Worth the Hassle
But once the succulent , white flesh had been hand - shredded and fry up as a blue crab nitty-gritty substitute in a crab cake formula served to my wife and friends , all the airborne aerobatics were well worth it .
In the North , if it ’s cool enough , lion ’s mane can be found in summer and declivity . But in the South , it ’s most often constitute in winter — a salutary reason to take up my preferent name for it : Santa ’s beard .
It ’s one of the best - tasting mushrooms . And one of the most medicinal .
These distinct mushroom-shaped cloud do n’t have any poisonous lookalikes . They are bright white-hot and completely covered with fond , white spines as long as almonds and as heavy as pelt . Hence , they get a lot of usual names : bear ’s head , goat ’s beard , cervid tail and pom pommy .
Older ones may have a tawny tinge that does n’t touch the flavor . The interior should be bright blanched , though . Any discoloration think it ’s too old .
How to Use
If the weather has been ironic , your lion ’s mane may also be very ironic and bad . In that type , allow it soak in some water for 5 to 20 minutes , checking it with a squeeze until it has rehydrated to a palatable texture before cook as name later .
If it ’s been rainy , it may be so concentrated that water will run down your arms when you harvest it . In that case , before fake it , twist the mushroom cloud like a sponge over a bowling ball to release the spare moisture until it ’s tender but not soggy .
An amazing amount of urine will come out , yet the mushroom will return to its original shape — like a sponge .
keep start the liquid for cooking Elmer Leopold Rice or starting a soup . Shave off the spur with a sharp knife , and wangle them in butter or bacon fatty tissue for a few minute of arc and serve as a miniature pasta appetizer . Then , hand - shred the bulk of the mushroom cloud to prepare for cooking .
you may add it to soup , sauce and stew . Or you could use it as a substitute for crab . ( It looks very similar when hand - tear up . )
you may even temper and sauté it until brown as a stand - alone stand-in for a meat dish .
After the leaning - tugboat - of - Christmas - ribbon experience , I decide to express my fold run in the layer of my pickup during lion ’s mane time of year . I ’ve used it twice . But I ’m remember that maybe a dewy-eyed pole pruner would be lighter and perhaps safer .
This clause originally appeared in the November / December 2020 issue ofHobby Farmsmagazine .
