Oyster Mushrooms

I've never been mushroom hunting before, largely because I'm terrified that I will misidentify the mushrooms I find and poison myself.  So, it was with a bit of trepidation that I accepted some  wild oyster mushrooms from a friend last week.  I had been reading a lot of posts and seeing pictures of these mushrooms on the Oklahoma Wildcrafting Facebook group page, and the mushrooms that my friend gave me looked just like those.  In addition, he is an experienced gatherer of wild food, so I felt relatively secure I could eat these mushrooms and not die.  Some of them were huge!



First order of business was to trim away the tough neck or stem or whatever it is called. You can see it better when the mushroom is turned over, gill side up.

Here's the mushroom with the neck trimmed away. 

Next, chop the mushrooms into bite-sized pieces.

Then, put the chopped mushrooms into a skillet with some olive oil or butter.  I have a well-used wok that I like to use.  I threw in some chopped garlic too.

 Cook until the mushrooms are tender. 

I have to tell you these were the best mushrooms I have ever eaten!  I had enough for several meals, so I froze some of them.  To freeze them, I cooked them in olive oil and then put them in freezer bags.  However, I understand that you can also dry them.  

After seeing these mushrooms first-hand, I felt confident that I could identify them in the wild.  From what my friend told me,  they grow on dead trees, usually cottonwood or willow trees.  So, I took a walk over to the creek near our house and, sure enough, about half-way up a dead tree that was leaning out over the creek I saw several of them.  Unfortunately, they were not within reach and I was not able to get them.