Hericium erinaceus [Lion's Mane Mushroom, Bearded Tooth Mushroom, Hedgehog Mushroom]

[dial8]

Lion's Mane...pretty damn pretty.

[aumbrellaforainydays]

i just want to bite down into it!

[Lazlo]

Originally Posted by aumbrellaforainydays

i just want to bite down into it!

Don't do that! They taste like shit unless cooked IMO. Kind of bitter also. But when seered up in a skillet, damn good!

That's a big one 8. Did you eat it yet?

[dial8]

No I left it. It looks to be riddled with worm holes on the top of it. I will probably go back and try to clone it if I can find the time.

If I decide to eat it how do I cook it and what seasonings are best?

[Lazlo]

I just used olive oil and sliced garlic cloves. Salt and peppered and that's it. I really liked it. But eating it raw was a mistake. This bitter after taste snuck up on me about 5 minutes after sampling it. Not good!

That thing's about to crap out. Soon enough the teeth will start to turn brown as well. I've read it's better to eat them prior to browning, which makes complete sense I guess. lol.

[Bobcat]

Oh man.... my favorite..... But I haven't found a single one, bugged up or not, this year! Oh the sorrow!

Well, guess I'll just have to grow some! Nice find and cool pics!

[Hippie3]

also see
http://forums.mycotopia.net/showthread.php?t=5554 (Hericium erinaceus [Lion's Mane])

[mycobsession]

Originally Posted by Lazlo

Don't do that! They taste like shit unless cooked IMO. Kind of bitter also. But when seered up in a skillet, damn good!

That's a big one 8. Did you eat it yet?

They are only bitter when they get older. When they are only about as big as a fist they are quite tasty raw (like lobster) and can be shredding into a salad.

They are also easy to grow in a mycobag with alder sawdust.

[cowpoop]

Thanks for sharing the Lions Mane pictures dial8.

[SharkieJones]

That's an interesting mushroom but I have to admit It doesn't look appetizing to me. But I like the pic though.

[Lazlo]

Shredded into a salad sounds good! I'll have to try that. Thanks.

Actually Sharkie, they're pretty tastey!

[siam_jim]

that looks so sweet D8, will it come back in the same spot next season?

siam

[waylitjim]

Wow, great pics D8, I love Lions Mane.
The taste/texture reminds me of lobster.
Cooked up with some butter, mmmmmm.
These were cultivated.

[Lazlo]

I hear they're super simple to cultivate indoors? The one I found was growing from a Pecan tree I think (or Walnut) and the weather was somewhat warm and not so humid. The sight I saw had a lady that simply grows them in sawdust bags with a hole in the bottom for fruiting. Just like an Oyster bag more or less, just sitting in the open air in her kitchen.

[BuckarooBanzai]

Very cool pics. I dig the fence wire going through it.

Excellent closeups.

[dial8]

Thanks, guys! It is a real cool looking fungus.

It is cool that what started out as such a simple thread turned into something pretty damn interesting. I love this site!

[Hippie3]

They are only bitter when they get older

kinda like my ex's eh...

[the_chosen_one]

Originally Posted by Lazlo

I hear they're super simple to cultivate indoors? The one I found was growing from a Pecan tree I think (or Walnut) and the weather was somewhat warm and not so humid. The sight I saw had a lady that simply grows them in sawdust bags with a hole in the bottom for fruiting. Just like an Oyster bag more or less, just sitting in the open air in her kitchen.

Sporeworks has a very aggresive strain. It fruits like mad on everything. Indoors and outdoors. I'm in the process of re-vitalizing an lc of it now.

I'm allergic to crustations so Lion's Mane has become my lobster substitue...so tasty! Trick is to cook them slow.

I can hardly wait to go picking some wild ones myself! Here's some pics from last years hunting in the Olympic Mountains. /me looks at the calender and realizes he better get his ass in gear.

[srgtm1a]

Great finds. Never found any myself, but I have tried them. They are very good edibles. Very interesting fungi too!

Originally Posted by waylitjim

Wow, great pics D8, I love Lions Mane.
The taste/texture reminds me of lobster.
Cooked up with some butter, mmmmmm.
These were cultivated.

damn waylitjim that loooks like a giant dandeLION! ironically both lions

[Bobcat]

Originally Posted by the_chosen_one

Here's some pics from last years hunting in the Olympic Mountains. /me looks at the calender and realizes he better get his ass in gear.

I think you have the Lion's cousin called Hericium abietus there, TCO! Stellar finds!

Key to 4 Species of Hericium in North America


1. Fruiting body consisting of one unbranched structure. 2

1. Mature fruiting body branched. 3


2. Fruiting body definitely mature. Hericium erinaceus

2. Fruiting body possibly immature; without yellowish or brownish discolorations resulting from age . . . Virtually any North American species of Hericium can look like Hericium erinaceus when immature. The branched species (below) frequently begin as a single clump of spines before developing branches--and while Hericium erinaceus has long spines, its immature spines may be fairly short, causing confusion with the short-spined species (also below). ??


3. Growing in the Pacific Northwest, on the dead wood of fir, spruce, hemlock, or Douglas-Fir; mature spines about 1 cm long; young fruiting body often with pinkish shades. Hericium abietis


3. Not completely as above. 4


4. Mature spines mostly 1 cm long or shorter; growing from the dead wood of hardwoods; widely distributed. Hericium coralloides (formerly H. ramosum)

4. Mature spines mostly longer than 1 cm; growing from the dead wood of hardwoods (occasionally conifers) or from the wounds of living trees; found east of the Great Plains. Hericium americanum (formerly H. coralloides)


Notes

Recent molecular biology studies have placed Hericium within the Russulales (it was previously variously disposed in the "Aphyllophorales"), in the family Hericiaceae (see Mushroom Taxonomy for the complete hierarchy). Obviously, there is no morphological distinction one can make that would place Hericium erinaceus and Russula subfoetens in the same order while another gilled mushroom--say, Pluteus cervinus--belongs in a different order. To confuse things further, the order Russulales also contains the polypore Bondarzewia berkeleyi and other morphologically diverse mushrooms. One might argue that the spores of Hericium species are often minutely roughened, a little like the spiny, ornamented spores in Russula or Lactarius . . . maybe. But by this logic, Laccaria species would also belong in the Russulales; DNA studies, however, have placed Laccaria in the Agaricales.

I have not seen a DNA study of the species within Hericium; as far as I know it remains to be seen whether molecular biology will confirm or reject the division into the four North American species above. An extensive cultural study (petri dish "culture," not culture culture) of Hericium mating behavior upheld the four species; see Ginns, below.


References

Arora, D. (1986). Mushrooms demystified: A comprehensive guide to the fleshy fungi. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. 959 pp.

Ginns, J. (1985). Hericium in North America: cultural characteristics and mating behavior. Canadian Journal of Botany 63: 1551-1563.

Harrison, K. A. (1973). The genus Hericium in North America. Michigan Botanist 12: 177-194.

Smith, A. H., Smith, H. V. & Weber, N. S. (1981). How to know the non-gilled mushrooms. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown. 324 pp.



Works Cited:

Kuo, M. (2004, November). The genus Hericium. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/hericium.html

Photo: http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/H...m_abietis.html

i like to brown them in salted butter....they taste like crab or toasted cocnut. i often serve them as a kind of mock crab alfredo. make alfredo sauce, pour over pasta and top with chunks of browned hericium. i also like to poach them in asian styled soups. i found a 12lber one year....the comb tooths were out hot this year. btw hedgehog mushrooms are hydnum repandum...they are a cap and stem fungi also known as sweet tooths...they have a smaller cousin called hydnum umbilicatum. some umbilicatum collections are bitter not sweet however....for unknown reasons.

[Bobcat]

BTW, Spacecowboy has a great grow here:

http://forums.mycotopia.net/showthread.php?t=5744 (Lions Mane, Reishi, and Shiitake Cultivation)

I'm working on an LC now.... fingers crossed.... fingers crossed....

[lost_onabbey_rd]

found this guy when we went hiking the other weekend..
too bad i was under the impression you had to cook these guys, or i would have had him for lunch.
to bad too because that's the only one i've ever seen. i might just have to get a culture and try home cultivation.
lost

[the_chosen_one]

Originally Posted by Bobcat

I think you have the Lion's cousin called Hericium abietus there, TCO! Stellar finds!

Exactly Bob Grows on fir and hemlock. Very good eye!!! I've been meaning to make this correction for a while but keep forgetting.

[dial8]

Wow, cowboy did a great job with that thread! I can't wait to get moved so I can start some of the projects I have been longing to do!

[bambuda]

What a gorgeous bunch of photos! Guess i will have to go investigate the rainforest here in NZ, as i think we have the species coralloides. --Spores of erinaceum being a bit tough to acquire here in NZ...