Fairy Ring Friday

Marasmius oreades, the Fairy Ring, is a petite, delicious edible and choice, white spored mushroom species that dwells in grassy habitats. This #mushroom often forms prolific #colonies in giant circles which enlarge year-to-year.
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Having a tough stem (too tough to eat), I pinch off the caps and dry them on the wood stove, in the sun or strung on a string. Then they are best stored in an airtight glass jar for future use.
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This mushroom is one of my favorite #edibles for a variety of reasons. First, it has a cashew like flavor, and its thin flesh makes it easy to stir fry (in #butter …yum! ). I love this species on #toast. It is especially tasty when the edges of the caps and gill edges are browned from high heat. Some use it to flavor #cookies! This species is very versatile for #mycophagists.
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Please note that up to 50 other species can form #fairyrings, some of which can be poisonous, so it takes a trained eye (and nose) to identify this species accurately. Emitting a species-distinctive odor which, after repeated encounters, you can memory-map for future confirmations. (Unfortunately, words are inadequate to describe this fragrance accurately.)
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What is truly remarkable about this species is that it can dry out and then #rehydrate, coming back almost perfectly true-to-form of when it was fresh. Then it can release spores again! Few other mushrooms have this ability. Most shrivel up and cannot be reconstituted to look like they did when picked fresh. Its abundance of trehalose sugars make this possible – like with brine shrimp, which when they dry out, go dormant for years, springing back to life when re-immersed in water.
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Surprisingly, this mushroom also produces cyanide-like compounds which act as an insecticide. Not known to be harmful to Homo sapiens. Nevertheless, I suggest you don’t eat more than 10-20 of these at a time, out an abundance of caution, not that I have any direct evidence to the contrary. Some chemists may want to weigh in here with their opinions.
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(That is our garden in the background just being planted!)
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Filming by Pam Kryskow. Mushrooms by #nature. Thanks also to Whitney who first spotted these. 
#foragedfood #mycology #fung