Top 20 Edible Mushrooms Popular in Cornelia

1. Red chanterelle

Red chanterelles can be found growing within hardwood forests across eastern North America. These small but striking mushrooms range from orange to red to pink in color. Edible and boasting complex flavors, many chanterelles are highly sought after. The red chanterelle, though less famous than some of its close relatives, is no exception. This species can be used in all sorts of recipes, with a vaguely sweet or piney taste.

2. Lion's Mane Mushroom

Lion's Mane Mushroom(Hericium erinaceus) is easily identifiable by its characteristic appearance, reminiscent of the majestic mane of a lion. It often sprouts along hardwoods, which may be living or dead. Scientists thus debate whether this species is truly parasitic or merely saprophytic in nature.

3. Chicken of the woods

Chicken of the woods is very noticeable in hardwood forests, appearing in clusters on standing tree trunks in bright orange and yellow hues that sometimes last through the entire winter. It is a parasite that causes an unfortunate brown heart rot, and is considered a particularly troublesome pest of Yew trees. If the fruitbodies can be seen, the tree is likely already beyond saving.

4. Indigo milk cap

This gorgeous species is unlike any other. The indigo milk cap, a member of the often-drab russula family, is deep blue in color. Like other milk caps, it bleeds a latex-like substance when cut or damaged, but instead of the usual white this species bleeds deep blue.

5. Pear-shaped puffball

The mushrooms of this species grow in such tight clusters that they may cover fallen trees and stumps almost entirely in a brownish, puffy coat. Pear-shaped puffballs appear all around the northern hemisphere on decaying hardwoods from fall through winter.

6. Ornate-stalked bolete

This beautiful, vivid species commonly associates with oaks and hickories. Like other members of the bolete family, the ornate-stalked bolete has a thick stalk and a bulbous cap - in this particular species, both are usually a bright yellow.

7. Old man of the woods

Native to Europe and North America, old man of the woods(Strobilomyces strobilaceus) is notable for its unusual coloring and texture, which visually resembles dark, overlapping scales against a white base. Interestingly, this mushroom has been depicted on a Swiss postal stamp worth fifty centimes.

8. Smooth chanterelle

The smooth chanterelle is an orange mushroom that is said to give off an apricot-like aroma. It looks very similar to the poisonous jack-o'-lantern mushroom. This mushroom grows in association with tree roots - especially those of oaks - and forms a symbiotic relationship with the tree.

9. Oyster mushroom

Oyster mushrooms grow wild but are also cultivated for sale in supermarkets. They can even be cultivated at home. They will grow on coffee grounds and spent grain, and are occasionally even fashioned into an environmentally-friendly substitute for styrofoam. There are several toxic look-alike species, so it is best to buy these mushrooms at the store.

10. Eastern cauliflower mushroom

The appropriately named eastern cauliflower mushroom (Sparassis spathulata) looks strikingly like a cauliflower head but with more pronounced ridges that make up the cap. This rosette-shaped, quite large mushroom is white to tan in color and is found around older oak trees.

11. Honey fungus

The honey fungus is a parasitic fungus that grows on the roots of many woody and perennial plants, damaging and possibly killing its host. It spreads underground and is considered to be the most damaging fungal disease in gardens across the UK. The appearance of the mushrooms above-ground heralds a much more extensive infection below.

12. Beefsteak fungus

Beefsteak fungus(Fistulina hepatica) is an unusual fungus that visually resembles a slab of raw meat; cutting into it will cause a discharge of thick red liquid resembling blood, adding to this resemblance.

13. Snow fungus

Snow fungus (Tremella fuciformis) is so-named not because it is associated with winter, but, rather, because its fruitbodies look like little piles of snow fungus on the ground. This fungus actually inhabits very warm - tropical and subtropical - locations around the globe. Snow fungus does not have much taste, but it is cultivated for culinary use across East Asia, where it is often added to thicken soups and desserts.

14. Violet webcap

This absolutely striking mushroom looks like something out of a fairy tale. The entire fruitbody of the violet webcap - cap, stalk, and gills - ranges in color from a light lavender to a very deep purple. The species' caps are bulbous and pockmarked, often appearing velvety. Though a feast for the eyes, this species is usually considered inedible.

15. Scaly lentinus

Scaly lentinus(Neolentinus lepideus) may be found alone or in groups along dead or decaying pieces of timber. Due to its ability to colonize even chemically treated wood, including railroad tracks, it has been given the nickname "train wrecker." Due to inconsistent reports of safety, consumption is discouraged.

16. Hen-of-the-woods

Often found at the base of oak trees, this clustered fungus grows in distinctive rosettes. It attacks the roots of living hardwood trees. Hen-of-the-woods is considered edible when harvested young, and is cultivated in Japan on top of compressed sawdust.

17. Fan-shaped jelly-fungus

Just as its Latin and the common English names suggest, the fan-shaped jelly-fungus (Dacryopinax spathularia) is a fan-shaped or spatula-shaped jelly-like mushroom. It commonly grows in wood cracks and it sometimes even appears in the cracks of the processed wood and lumber. Despite the word "jelly" in its name, the fan-shaped jelly-fungus is not considered edible.

18. Common laccaria

Common laccaria may sound like a malevolent name for a mushroom, but fret not! This species is so-called because its appearance is highly variable, with individual caps taking on a whole host of colors, from whitish to pinkish to dark brown.

19. Lung oyster

Developing all around the northern hemisphere, lung oyster mushrooms grow in overlapping shelf-like clusters on deciduous branches, trunks, and fallen logs in the wild. They are easy to cultivate on other substrates, like spent coffee grounds and sawdust, for commercial production. They are generally considered safe to eat, although some people may develop allergies.

20. Purple-spored puffball

It's hard to mistake this mushroom for another. The aptly-named purple-spored puffball has a large, round, or pear-shaped fruiting body and is purple or chocolate-brown in color (with spores to match). Purple-spored puffballs are found in prairies and meadows across North America and Australia.

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