365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Pseudohydnum Gelatinosum
Day 91: Whenever I write about fungi in my weekly column on the Park's Facebook account, I can pretty much bet that one of the first ten comments will be a question about edibility. As many times as I have explained that there is a vast difference between "edible" and "desirable as food," and talked about how certain mushroom species can confused with others which are potentially harmful, that same question always crops up: "Can I eat them?" Okay, here's one you can try.
Pseudohydnum gelatinosum is sometimes referred to as a "toothed fungus." This is not accurate. Although it has toothlike structures on the lower surface, it is in fact a jelly fungus. It is sometimes called "Cat's-tongue," a logical common name. Any cat owner can vouch for the visual similarity, but its resemblance to that organ stops there. The spines are soft and the fungus has the texture of a slightly soggy gumdrop. These features plus its pleasing translucence make it easy to identify and, if you're feeling adventurous, you can find recipes for candied Cat's-tongue on line. Raw, its taste is said to be somewhat less interesting than that of a wad of cold unflavoured gelatin. Somehow, I don't quite believe that candying would be much of an improvement.
Labels:
Cat's-tongue,
edible fungi,
Pseudohydnum gelatinosum
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment