The Mushroom Caper

Last Sunday me, Jim, Debbie & Mike were supposed to go boating but the weather didn't cooperate so we went 4-wheeling instead. We decided to go to the Steelville area where Mike owns some property with a small cabin. When we pulled up to the cabin there was a truck with a trailer and a Jeep parked in the yard. Mike said they were probably owned by his step-sister's husband who lives in Cuba, MO (a real country boy). While we were waiting for Jim to get the 4-wheelers started, Debbie & I did some target practice with her little 22 revolver. As we were wasting time, Mike's step-brother-in-law, Rick pulled up on a four wheeler and we did introductions. He said he had come back for a bag because they had found a huge patch of elk horn mushrooms. Debbie & I asked a few questions before he took off again. Jim got the 4-wheelers going and we proceeded to go up & down logging roads & paths through the woods. We got pretty muddy and only got stuck once or twice. It was fun but getting late so we went back to the cabin to barbecue some dinner before driving 2 hours back home.

When we got back to the cabin I noticed some mushrooms on Rick's trailer and stopped to take a look. They didn't look like any mushroom I'd ever seen. I remembered the morels we used to eat when I was a kid and I expected the same but these weren't even close. As the barbecue was cooking I went over to inspect the mushrooms again and noticed a big trash bag next to them and when I looked in I couldn't believe it was cram-packed with more mushrooms! Some of them were huge! They looked like coral you'd find on the bottom of the sea.
When Rick & his gang got back to the cabin, I proceeded to quiz him on the mushrooms; how he cooked them, what they tasted like, etc. He told us there were some growing close to the cabin so Debbie & I went mushroom hunting. We didn't get nearly as many as them but we got a gallon ziplock bag of them to bring home and try. We agreed we'd get together Tuesday night to make dinner & try our elk horn mushrooms.

I checked the internet for elk horn mushrooms and couldn't find anything. When I got to Debbie's last night she had the mushroom pulled up on the screen of her computer. Come to find out they're called CORAL FUNGI. Talk about gross! I didn't have my camera but took pictures with my cell phone. I don't know how to get them on the blog and I've tried to post a picture off the internet but it won't paste onto the page. This is the link if you'd like to take a look http://www.backyardnature.net/f/coralfng.htm. We made sure to soak them in water overnight because they grow through all kinds of leaves & stuff & Jim was afraid of what animal might've peed on them! We cleaned them up real good & cut the stems off just as Rick told us. We egged & floured them and pan fried them. I am a huge mushroom lover but I didn't know if I could eat the coral fungi mushrooms, not only because of the way they looked but also because of their name. Fungi! Yuck! And I had read they could have a laxative effect on some people. I certainly don't need that!

Well, we ate them and they weren't too bad. Not a whole lot of taste but pretty good. We didn't get diarrhea and they didn't have any effect on our minds.
Too bad....