I did a similar thing, with far less excuse, with a rose hip and another red berry on one occasion – I never worked out what I’d bitten into on that occasion. To store: Place in a paper bag in the salad drawer of the refrigerator and use by the best before date.To prepare: Rinse thoroughly under cold running water and dry before use. Do not peel. Leave the mushrooms whole or slice as necessary. If baking and stuffing remove the stalk before stuffing.

Add all but the last spoonful (which may be gritty) of the mushroom liquid to the onion mixture and reduce until it’s almost gone. Combine the onion with the mushrooms, and season.

Confirmation

For more advanced gourmet mycophagists only…I’ve discovered that if you can catch your ceps at the very early stages of Hypomyces chrysospermus infection – characterised by the odd rusty spot, perhaps the very beginnings of mould/mushiness and a somewhat cheesy smell – this actually adds wonderful parmesan-like umami to the mushrooms once dried. Really good, but i’m only talking about the very early stages of infection here. To prepare: To rehydrate, soak in warm water for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then drain using a sieve, reserve the soaking liquor for use in recipes too. Dried shiitake Using a pestle and mortar, lightly crush the coriander seeds, cloves and peppercorns together. Add to the bowl with the orange zest, the salt and sugar and mix well. Remove the parchment and beans and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes, or until the base is dry and lightly coloured. Trim any overhanging pastry from the tart and set aside. Begin by allowing the pastry to come to room temperature, then carefully unroll the sheet of pastry and roll it out on a well-floured surface to 14 x 14 inches (35.5 cm x 35.5 cm).

From food writer Liz O’Keefe’s upcoming mushroom cookbook co-authored with the Mushroom Man Michael Hyams. Gradually add the sifted flour and use a firm spatula to incorporate it thoroughly. You will need to work this dough in the pot so that it forms a firm consistency. This will take some minutes as you need to make sure all the moisture is cooked out of the dough. Uses: Slice and serve as a side dish or add to casseroles or stir-fries. Gigante mushrooms are also ideal for stuffing and baking for a main course or starter. Next, make the filling. Heat a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the butter and half the oil. When the fat is bubbling away, add both the soaked and fresh mushrooms, along with the parsley and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Toss the mushrooms around the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes, until softened. Habitat– under beech, birch, scots pine, spruce; solitary or in clusters. Summer cep ( Boletus reticulatus) grows only under deciduous trees, tends to appear earlier in the year, and is distinguished by its pronounced reticulum and darker cap. Boletus pinophilus (aka the pine bolete or pine cep) grows only under pine or spruce (including plantations). Both are every bit as tasty as boletus eludis and there is no need for fungi novices to worry too much about the subtle differences.To prepare: Scrape the spongy underside away before cooking (it goes soggy) and wipe clean with kitchen paper. Named after the enoki tree that it grows on, the wild variety has a tiny yellow-orange cap with a long, slender stem, the more common cultivated variety are a creamy colour. They have a sweet, fruity flavour with a slight crunch and are native to Japan where they are widely used. Available all year. Four victims of the bolete-eater fungus and one good-looking cep for drying (as it still has plenty of fungal gnat larvae in it) Dollop some creme fraiche on a plate or platter, pile some crisps on top, sprinkle with cep powder and then either finely slice the truffle on top using a mandoline or truffle shaver or grate using a Microplane. Be generous! Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, heat the olive oil and butter, then add the whole garlic cloves and onions, then sprinkle with the sugar. Sauté for 5 minutes, until the onions are soft. Add the St George’s, morels and horse or button mushrooms and sauté for 2 minutes. Season with a pinch of salt, then add the rice, coating with the mixture and add the wine and lemon. Bring to a high simmer to reduce the liquid.

Distribution – 3/5– quite common, though enigmatic, often with a short, intense season (3 weeks around the start of September in Scotland, usually later further south), and rapidly infested/decomposing. You can play with the flavours here – using dried seaweed (nori or dulse) instead of ceps and trout or salmon roe instead of truffle makes an equally delicious combination. Heat a large frying pan with a glug of oil over a medium flame, and, when hot, add the sliced red onion and potatoes, and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, spices and greens, and fry for a further three minutes, stirring occasionally. Take a tablespoon of the mixture and drop it on to a tray. Repeat with the rest of the mix, leaving a couple of centimetres between each bhaji. A delicious combination of cep, chanterelle and fairy ring mushrooms which can be used in a range of recipes.Uses: Sauté whole flat mushrooms in a little butter and garlic or remove the stalk and stuff and bake.