7Jelly Fungi
Jelly fungus
Jelly mushrooms are amorphous, gelatinous mushrooms (jellylike in texture and/ or appearance) that come in many sizes, shapes, and colors. They are saprobes found on dead, decaying wood. Of these jelly fungi, wood ears are tastiest. Most others are tasteless or considered inedible, but they are always a delight to behold and worthy members of an ever-expanding repertoire of your fungi knowledge.
Wood Ears
Alpine Jelly Cone (Gumdrops)
Fan-Shaped Jelly Fungus
Wood ear is often found on rotting elder wood.
Auriculariaceae (Auricularia auricula-judae (Bull.) J. Schröt.)
Origin: Auricula is Latin for “external ear.”
Season: Begin your search in the spring while morel hunting.
Identification: Ear-shaped or cuplike saprobe, brown to grayish black, to 4" wide plus or minus, with folds resembling those forming the pinna of a human ear. Underside is a lighter shade that is more reddish brown to gray black, wavy, smooth, velvety, fine hairs. It is cartilaginous or rubbery to the touch, thin fleshed, with irregular folds (veins), and grows in groups on dead branches, typically elder.
Spore: It emits a white to off-white to yellowish sausage-shaped spore, and the print is white.
Habitat: A difficult find for me. Found in woods, fringes of woods, and edges of streams, ponds, and lakes; grows on wood (on disintegrating, rotted wood) that can be shredded with your fingers—many sources mention elder trees as a preferred habitat. Although available for several months, we find it rarely, or rather accidentally, stumbling over it.
Look-alikes: A Gyromitra could be mistaken for a wood ear, but Gyromitras grow on the ground and not dead limbs and their flesh is brittle. A few cup fungi look similar, but they also grow on the ground and are brittle, not flexible.
Edible: Wash thoroughly, then add to Asian stir-fry, or simply sauté in butter—an interesting chewy texture and surprisingly good taste—great in sauces cooked with wild leeks, thickened with sour cream, and served over toast. The fungus is a popular ingredient in hot-and-sour soup.
Medicinal: A. auricula-judae was a folk medicine treatment for sore throats, sore eyes, and jaundice. It is astringent and also used in Ghana as a blood tonic. Modern research into possible medical applications variously concluded that A. auricula-judae is anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, hypoglycemic, and has cholesterol-lowering properties (Luo et al., 2011).
The mushroom is anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-thrombotic, and inhibits platelet aggregation. Simply grow or forage for the mushroom and then eat it (Powell, 2014). Recent investigations strongly suggest A. auricula-judae polysaccharides show an antidiabetic hypoglycemic effect, reducing plasma glucose, insulin, urinary glucose, and food intake (Yuan et al., 1998).
Caution: Dr. Dale Hammerschmidt, a hematologist from Minnesota, linked eating wood ear mushrooms to bleeding and its antiplatelet-aggregating activity. People on blood thinners should consult their physicians. A. auricula-judae may possess a possible antifertility agent and should not be taken by pregnant or lactating women or those planning to conceive.
Storage: Wood ears are best stored dried and kept in sealed jars, or frozen in cooked dishes and double-wrapped.
Comments: I found wood ears the first time while searching for morels; they were growing on small lengths of rotting wood (probably elder), and I found them throughout the spring and summer. The best time to hunt and taste them is after a soaking rain. Folklore suggests this fungus emerged for the first time in the shape of an ear on the site where Judas died.
RECIPE
Wild Leeks, Daylily Buds, and Wood Ears
Wood ears are readily available in Asian markets. They are typically dried. They’re a versatile addition to o’soba, miso soup, and stir-fry.
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp butter
⅓ cup water
1 cup wood ear mushrooms
1 cup daylily buds or flowers without pistils and stamens
⅓ cup chopped wild leeks
1 tsp chopped fresh Asian ginger
1 tbsp soy sauce
Whether found in the wild or purchased at the farmer’s market, wood ears are delicious sautéed in butter and balsamic vinegar with wild leeks and daylily buds. The leeks will have lost their leaves by the time the lily buds or lily flowers are available, so use the leek bulb. Slice the cup of mushrooms into strips. Chop the leeks. Remove pistils and stamens from the flowers. Then add 2 tablespoons of butter to a sauté pan plus 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, and ⅓ cup of water. Stir in ginger, leeks, daylilies, and wood ears. Sauté until leeks soften. Blend in 1 tablespoon of soy and serve as a side dish or omelet stuffing.
Guepiniopsis alpina
Dacrymycetaceae (Guepiniopsis alpina [Tracy & Earle] Brasf)
Origin: Guepiniopsis translates roughly to “knowledge,” and alpinus means “alpine.”
Season: Spring and other seasons as moisture allows
Identification: The golden jelly or alpine jelly cone is a western jelly fungus, conical, bell shaped or fan shaped, gelatinous, that is found hanging from a point (pendant-like) in groups on dead conifers in Washington. Fruiting bodies are yellow to orange; small 0.16"–0.3" (4–8 mm); bell-, pendant-, cone-, or fan-shaped; often hanging from a single point of attachment like a gumdrop. Surface dries hard to yellow-brown or reddish orange. Outer surface wrinkled, finely hairy; inner surface smooth.
Spores: Sausage-shaped, yellow spores
Habitat: Conifer forests, on dead or downed pines and firs, saprophytic, in moist, cool, shady areas up to 9,000 feet—often just as the spring thaw uncovers the logs
Look-alikes: Cup fungi are brittle.
Edible: Claimed to be edible mushroom but is bland to tasteless
Medicinal: As folk medicine, it was (is) eaten to treat headaches.
Comments: Found while tripping through long-dead pines
Recipe: Not a significant food source because of its small size
Spathularia growing from a crack in treated pier boards
Dacrymycetaceae (Dacryopinax spathularia [Schwein] GW Martin) Syn. (Cantharellus spathularius, Schwein)
Origin: Dacry means “tear,” and pinax means “likeness,” thus “like a tear.” Spathul means “blade” or “spadelike.”
Season: Summer or fall (in Washington, July–Dec) after considerable wetness and high humidity
Identification: Tiny, erect saprophytic jelly fungus, orange to yellow-orange, ½"–1" (0.5–2 cm) tall, and typically half as wide. Spade- or spatula-shaped fruiting body on rounded stalk, often described as fan shaped. Ephemeral, wilting as the day progresses to reinstate itself by morning—grows erect and in clusters in cracks of decaying pine board.
Spores: Translucent (hyaline)
Habitat: In the cracks of decorticated (bark removed) wood. Boards of tree houses and playground decking, plus older pier (dock) slats or boards frequently have the mushroom growing in colonies from the cracks in the wood. Found from coast to coast, even in chemically treated boards.
Look-alikes: There are several species in the genus; shape, saprophytic substrate, and size are indicative.
Edible: With this caveat: The mushroom will grow from treated boards that may be toxic.
Medicinal: Chinese medicine
Storage: Eat fresh and immediately. Asians dry the mushroom, but who has the time for such a small morsel of fungus?
Comments: The mushroom is often included in the Chinese Buddhist vegetarian dish Buddha’s Delight, or Lo Han Jai. It features several mushrooms including wood ear mushrooms, 18 to 20 nuts, seeds, noodles, and vegetables. See recipe: www.dinneratthezoo.com/buddhas-delight/.
