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Food and Drink »

It depends where you live and the climatic and soil conditions as to what you
will see more of. In Cornwall, you will find lots of Giant Puffballs whereas you will see very few in North Hampshire.
This is largely due to the upper South Downs in North Hampshire are quite sandy whereas the fields in Cornwall are generally grazed by cattle and have rich soil. A feature the Giant Puffball likes.
Most people will consider any big, “Portobello looking” mushroom as a Field Mushroom – this is a mistake as there are several large wild mushrooms that are poisonous that look very similar to the Filed Mushroom, below are some
poisonous look alikes:
* Yellow Staining Mushroom. This one can be identified as it has an unpleasant “ink” like smell and when you cut the flesh it turns pale yellow.
* Red Staining Inocybe. This can be distinguished as you would imagine, it stains red when cut. It smells of rotting fruit and is VERY poisonous.
* Leucoagaricus leucothites. Will give a tummy upset – hard to tell between Field Mushrooms except gills remain white or pale pink. Quite rare in UK.
* Destroyiong Angel. DEADLY Grows from a volva bag – major identification
feature. Quite white all over with white gills. More common in Scotland.

How to Identify Field Mushrooms
Young ones have crowded bright pink gills enclosed in a white veil. When they are older the
gills are free and chocolate brown.
The stem has a transient ring and when you cut the stem, it turns slightly pink.
It lives almost exclusively on grass kept short by grazing or mowing. It is very common and often grows in big fairy rings. You will find the Field Mushroom from early summer to late autumn – especially after periods of wet. When you cut the stem, it will stain slightly pinkish and the mushroom will smell wonderfully mushroomy.
The Inc Cap is another wild mushroom worth looking for, they are much less easy to keep or store and have to be eaten cooked, when young. They are quite common around
villages, meadows and areas that do not have lots of other undergrowth. They are quite delicate so do not like to be around other vigorous plants. There are very few look-a-like, below are the ones to avoid:

* Magpie Fungus. Look very similar whenFungus. Look very similar when young except that it has no ring on its stem. It will make some people have tummy upset.

*Common Ink Cap. It is more bell shaped with only a tiny indication of a ring on the stem. You must not eat this within 48hours of having alcohol. Best avoided.

How to Identify the Shaggy Ink Cap

The key identification of the Shaggy Ink Capis that it appears to have no stem when young (looks a bit like Uncle Fester off The Adams Family). The cap is covered with shaggy scales and the older ones will drip black ink.
The stem is smooth, with a moveable veil (ring) and hollow. Gills are pink when young, turning black when older. You can often buy wild mushrooms from specialists suppliers although Ink Caps are much more rare duies to the fact they do not keep unless cooked.
They are found usually in small troops from Spring to Autumn – after rain. They make great soup but if you plan to cook them in a frying pan,
try battering them or rolling in egg and breadcrumbs. The pan must be really hot or they will just dissolve. They also make a wonderful ketchup.

See below for a wonderful wild mushroom Risotto

This risotto is not a standard one, where you have to spend what feels like hours standing over the pan and adding a spoonful of water and then hoping that it will be absorbed. No to some extent this is a real ‘cheats’ risotto, but it is made all the more satisfying by being a recipe that you can use up some of your dried wild mushrooms, or simply use fresh mushrooms, then you bake it
in the oven. It is also wonderfully creamy and yet is low fat, because it doesn’t have any cream or cheese. This also makes it an almost perfect dish
for anyone you know who is food combining or following the Hay diet. (Although the evaporated milk in it isn’t ideal from this aspect, but it’s still reasonable!)

To serve two you will need:
½ oz or 10g of dried porcini mushrooms (if using fresh, then use around 4ozs)8oz or 225g of fresh wild mushrooms (not porcini) finely chopped, according to
preference
6 fl ozs (175ml) of carnaroli rice
2 small onions, peeled and very finely chopped
7 fl oz or 200ml of a nice dry white wine
7 fl oz or 200ml of evaporated semi skimmed milk.
Evaporated milk is sold in cans.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Method:

1 If you are using dried mushrooms, then rinse them using a sieve and run cold water over them. The put them in an ovenproof bowl and
pour around 1 pint or 375ml of boiling water over them. Place the bowl on a work surface and leave for 30 minutes to let the mushrooms
regain their moisture.
2 Put the onions and the white wine into a saucepan and bring to the boil. You should then let it simmer for about 25 minutes or so.
At this point the white wine should have reduced and the onions should be very soft.
3 Remove the pan from the heat and quickly add in the fresh mushrooms. (If youre only using fresh mushrooms, you should add them all now).
Stir the mixture well. Set the pan aside.
4 At this point you should heat your oven to gas mark 2, 300ºF or 150º C.
5 Take some kitchen towel paper and line a sieve with it twice, to form a double layer. Then place the sieve over a bowl and strain the
‘dried’ mushrooms. Squeeze them down in the sieve to make sure you get as much liquid out as you can. Chop the mushrooms finely after
they have been drained. Keep the liquid you strained off.
6 Put the rice into a baking dish, with the dried and fresh mushroom and onions., Season well and give it a good stir. Next, whisk the rice and
the liquid you got from the dried mushrooms after they were soaked. (If using only fresh mushrooms, then add in about ½ pint of water
to the milk). Pour the milk mixture over the rice and give it all a good stir.
7 The dish should now go into the oven for 20 minutes and does not need to be covered. After 20 minutes stir. If the mixture looks a little dry, then add in some more water. After another 10 minutes, stir again. Then after a final 15 minutes, it should be ready. If you like it very thick, then give it another 10 minutes or so: basically the longer you leave it in the oven, the thicker it will get.
8 Enjoy with a crisp, dry white wine!

If you would like to know more about wild mushroom identification, visit:
www.wildmushroomsonline.co.uk