Mushrooms of Killingworth

Up until a couple of years ago I had never really noticed the many different varieties of mushrooms that one could discover on a walk through the woods or even just down the street. I became interested in identifying mushrooms when I gradually learned more about foraging for food in the wild. Many times wild food, which has been unaltered by man, has more nutrition and healing properties than our factory farm raised food. So far I have only tried eating several wild mushrooms. ....ones that have no poisonous lookalikes. All of the fungi in the photos below were found in Killingworth...and most of them are probably inedible. Never eat a wild mushroom unless you are absolutely sure it is edible. It's always best to consult with someone who has experience in this area before experimenting.

From time to time I will add more photos as I come across different types of mushrooms. Some will be photos of the same mushrooms but in different stages of their growth. I don't know the names of all of them....maybe you could try identifying them!

The orange mushroom below is Chicken of the Woods and is edible

The huge white mushrooms below are Giant Puffballs. This is the first one I have ever seen and was found in our yard. They are edible. The puffball must be collected in this immature stage when the outside and inside is still white. There should be no gills when cut open...just an even white marshmallow type texture. This particular mushroom was the size of a basketball!

 The view below shows the very small root of the mushroom

 The photo below shows how I cut up the mushroom to begin with. Then it was cut up in small pieces to sautee in butter and water with a bit of salt and pepper! It was an experiment but really did taste good. I froze most of the cooked puff ball