After a busy weekend teaching a public forage on Saturday and a private Foraging Party Sunday, both with 3-4 tapas tasters, I thought I’d share with you all some other fruiting and fungal delights of the autumn season.

Hops droop (like brewer’s droop haha) from the hedge down the way. Once golden and dry, the strobiles (flowers) make you smell like you have been down the town for a sneaky half if you rub them.

Make a hop pillow or drink hop tea to aid sleep and calm an anxious mind. Or use them in homemade beer! Be cautious about using hops if you are susceptible to depression.

Fairy Ring Champignons (Marasmius oreades) are a delicious edible mushroom, best served in a stew or soup as they are quite dry. They smell like chicken gravy and have a shittake-like, firm texture. They grow in large rings in grass.

Just don’t confuse them with the Ivory Clitocybe or Sweating Mushroom (Clitocybe dealbata), which can cause a visit to A&E. Not fun. It’s all in the gills and the texture.

Ivory Clitocybe has a unevenly shaped, paler cap without a pronounced umbo (‘nipple’!), crowded gills with no short gills in between, and a friable (easily broken) stem.

Another trip to the woods after a rain caused the lad and I to spot these beauties below.

On the left, the inedible but very pretty False Panther Cap (Amanita spissa). Note the large striated skirt/ring and the bulbous stem with ochre scaling.

On the right, Giant Polyphore (Merilpilus giganteus) fruiting at the base of a deciduous tree. This big bully-boy of a bracket fungi can grow from 30-70 across. It is edible when young, but too tough when older.

To book my last Autumn foraging course at Blue Lagoon, MK, next Saturday, follow this link:

For Fungi courses, follow these links:

And for adults only…

I will also teach the same course in the afternoon on this date if there is interest. I’m having issues with loading my courses onto Eventbrite, so if you are interested in either an adult Fungi Foray at Kings Wood, Heath and Reach on Sat 25th Oct, or at Ashridge in the afternoon 2-5pm on the 26th Oct, please email me on:

hedgewitchkat@gmail.com

xx Hedgewitch Kat