Coral Mushrooms are up!!!!

For those of you mushroom lovers out there, one of my favorites is making its appearance a bit early this year. The coral mushroom is one that even I can find, and finding enough for a nice side dish is seldom a problem during good years. Here at Sunburst we find them on our hillsides and up on top of the hill in the wooded areas growing in rocks and on soil directly in the leaf litter. Most of the time the mushrooms are at least as big as a pool ball, and often as big or bigger than your fist. The ones around here range in color from the pale ones in the pictures to a bright yellow with an orangish hue. Look around closely once you find one, there are usually more nearby and finding clusters of two or three is common. The first time you eat them go lightly as some people may experience a little gastrointestinal distress if too many are eaten (I know how you like me to mention your name in my blog Valerie). To cook them Amy usually deep fries them cut into bite sized pieces rolled in flour, or they can be mixed with eggs for breakfast or cooked in spaghetti sauce or cream of mushroom soup. Unlike morels which can be tricky to see, finding corals is as simple as taking a walk through the woods and looking around. If they are growing in your area at that time they will be hard to miss. Good luck with your mushroom finding, and as always be sure you know what kind of mushroom you have before you eat them. We have several books and were just discussing whether a mushroom Amy found today is a chantrelle or not. We weren't sure so in the trash it went.