Foraging in the Adelaide Hills

Foraging is a great way to explore the land around you. You can find all sorts of edible plants and fungus if you look in the right place. With foraging though, there comes a risk that you could pick something potentially poisonous, so always make sure you are 100% confident in what you are picking. I got interested in foraging last year when I kept seeing photos of giant porcinis that people had found. I wasn't confident enough last year to try myself but in the past week I have been out three times and collected some amazing mushrooms. I only picked what I was absolutely sure about and also went out with a friend one day who was very well versed on what to look for and what was safe to pick.

Chookarlooa Walking Tail, Kuitpo South Australia

The Chookarloo walking trail is full of wonderful treasures. A dryer, eucalyptus forest, with a few scattered pines, there was lots of mossy stumps and wonderful bright orange fungi to find. Below are some of the fungi found in this area of Kuitpo.

 Chookarloo Walking Tail, Kuitpo

Pycnoporus

Used Medicinally in Aboriginal Culture

Pycnoporus is a saprophytic (an organism, especially a fungus or bacterium, that derives its nourishment from dead or decaying matter), white-rot decomposer fungus in the family Polyporaceae.

Looking on the webpage of the Australian National Botanic Gardens I was able to find information relating to either the Pycnoporus Coccineus or Pycnoporus Sanguineus, they have been used medicinally in a variety of ways, such as treating ulcers and sore mouths of babies in Aboriginal culture. Click on the link here to learn more about the various ways fungi were used Fungi and it's uses While I would call this edible, as it seems to cause no adverse effects, I personally wouldn't pick it to eat.

Gymnopilus Junonius
Not Edible

Gymnopilus Junonius also know as Laughing Gym, Laughing Jim, Laughing Cap or the Spectacular Rustgill. It is a large orange mushroom commonly found growing near dead trees and particularly on stumps. These are not an edible variety. Some variants contain toxins. Take photos but leave them be otherwise.


Pine Plantation, Kuitpo South Australia

It is beautiful and slightly creepy when walking through the pines in Kuitpo. When the wind blows just the tops the of trees sway and whilst you can still hear the cars, the further you go the more you can tune them out. I found an abundance of Saffron Milk Caps during various trips out there and there are so many other varieties such as the Fly Agaric and Slippery Jacks, sadly I didn't get satisfactory photos of the Slippery Jacks (which are edible)


Lactarius Deliciosus

Also know as Red Pine Mushrooms or Saffron Milk Caps
Edible

These beautiful orange mushrooms grown under pine trees. they bleed a saffron coloured milk when handled or cut. You want to look for the smaller, fresh ones as the larger older ones are mostly green stained (the colour they turn when they are bruised) The cap is a beautiful orange colour, with a blushed undertone that's slightly pink in some cases and the gills are orange. The caps also have darker orange rings and spots on them like someone had a paintbrush and splattered the tops of them. You need to be delicate when picking them as they do bruise easily, though they are perfectly fine to eat if you do bruise them a little. When I was walking around the forest you wouldn't see any for meters and then all of a sudden a patch will just appear. It is important to take a brush or some paper towel with you so you can wipe away the dirt and keep your mushrooms clean whilst foraging, also a knife to cut them rather then pulling them out, this way you will prevent dirt from entering the gills. Next time I go I think a basket would be the best way to carry them around as I found mine bruised a little more then I would have expected in the canvas bag, even being a gentle as I could with them. There are many great ways to enjoy them, pickling them, cooking them up with some garlic and butter, with pasta, on toast, anything you can think of really.

Porcini

Boletus Edulis
Edible

Porcini has to be one of the most prized finds when out foraging. Everyone seems to have their secret spots for these. I went foraging with a friend to find them and I also wont reveal any of the places we went to except that it was in the Adelaide Hills. Ideally you want to find younger specimens who have a nice solid body, white to light yellow underside - Porcini don't have gills and instead have tightly packed vertical tubes that form a solid and slightly spongy mass underneath. The darker the underside the older the mushroom. You can see in the first photo how dark the yellow is and the black staining, it also appears the porcini has been nibbled on. The bottom photo of the twin porcini has a nice light underside, these were used for cooking while the older ones we found (we left the one from the first photo alone) I dried in my dehydrator for stocks and soups. Porcini have a mycorrhiza relationship with the trees they grown beneath, so when you are harvesting them just very gently wiggle them back and forth until they release from their mycelium, you don't have to worry about the dirt getting into their gills since they have none. This means its a good idea to note down where you found them as they will grow there again next year, especially with the rarity of porcini in the southern hemisphere.

Amanita Muscaria

Also know as Fly Agaric

Not Edible.

Toxic

 Beautiful but deadly, when not prepared right, these can be made edible with the right processes but considering the abundance of safe and edible mushrooms around it really isn't worth the effort. Due to the toxic nature and the process it takes to render them less harmless I would still class these as inedible and toxic. I love spotting these when I'm walking around as they make me think of fairies and magic. Sadly when I went back to the spots where I took these photos they were removed or kicked down. The Fly Agaric forms a mycorrhiza relationship with a large range of trees such as birches, pines and spruces, this means that the underground vegetation of the mushroom called a mycelium forms a symbiotic relationship with the roots of the trees. There is a fantastic page all about mycorrhiza here from the Australian National Botanic Gardens Australian Fungi The colours are just amazing ranging from red, to orange, to a purplish red. They can grow to almost 20cm in diameter and the tops can become concave, looking like magical goblets. When you are out and about keep you eye out for these beautiful fungi, but remember to take photos and leave these alone. The first four photos were taken in Bridgewater and the last one was taken in Kuitpo.

Remember to double, triple check the mushrooms you are picking and to leave them alone if you have even a sliver of a doubt that they might not be edible. Eating a toxic mushroom is no joke and can do serious damage, or even kill you. Buy an identification guide, take photos and share them in local groups who have experienced members able to help, and take the time to educate yourself.

Aside form those dire warnings, go out and enjoy all the wonders nature has to offer us. Take some amazing photos and pick some yummy wild mushrooms