It's Mushroom Time

Yes, it's mushroom time in Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia. I'm sure it's that time for many other states as well. Mushrooms are a unique fungus which grows in mid April most of the time and usually on the North/Northeast side of the banks in the woods and sometimes flat, marshy places. I've found them under an apple tree orchard in a family yard as well as under big oak trees in the deepest and darkest of the woods. I've also found them in hollows on the side of the road where the leaves are dead and moist gathered in the ditch line.
Mushrooms pop up where ever they find the conditions most pleasing to them. I have found white/light gray mushrooms to a darker brownish/darker gray mushroom. Usually the lighter ones come first and the darker ones later but this can happen in the opposite manner.

There are a few nicknames for Mushrooms that we find and eat in April. One is Monkey Doddles. I find that one a bit sexist. lol The other name is Hickory chickens. Many people used to find them under Hickory trees in the woods so the name Hickory stuck but I have no idea where the chicken part came from unless they think they taste like chicken but I beg to differ. Mushroom have a taste like no other in the world.

I can't explain exactly the way they taste but I will say that I soak my mushrooms in water with a little salt in order to pull out any bugs or contaminants. After soaking awhile, I rinse them over and over in cold water. I pat dry or let them dry on their own and then mix flour and a bit of cornmeal together with salt and pepper and fry in a hot skillet with canola oil and a bit of butter for taste. Sometimes I lay them out after cutting them lengthwise in the skillet to fry or other times I simply mix them all together like scrambling eggs. I prefer that taste to the individual taste.

The mushrooms just need to cook a few minutes. They become soft and the batter turns brown.
I do have to say that I have been hunting, finding and eating mushrooms since I was a little girl so I have a taste for them. People who haven't ever eaten them may not like them at first or they may love them too much but remember they are only out once a year and after a mess or two of them, that's usually enough until the next year.

So eat and enjoy and remember when you find them, break them off at ground level. Don't pull them up or they may not pop back up the next year. That could be an old wives tale but I live by it.
Oh yea and remember to not get them all and to email me and tell me where you found them! That's a must! LOL They're scarce!

                                      ~Robin Michelle Zachery

What I'm about this week of April the 1st 2010

Where am I right now? I'm finished with my book Autumn Bay and started on another one or two. 
I'm praying for my family and friends and everyone I know and don't know every day. I'm taking care of my animals and my husband the best I can. I am missing my dear cousin Terrie who left this realm in January of this year 2010. I'm missing many people. I'm trying hard to get back into shape like I once was. NO...even better. I'm joining an exercise program and I hope it works. It has too. I have to help I know by eating better foods and less of it. I need to keep busy and exercise a bit more often at home. I still want my own home and land for my husband and myself with our little animals. I don't know if we will ever get it but it's pretty nice hoping for it. I'm not always nice to the world but I do love the people who are in it...their soul that is. I wish us all happiness, good health, safety and peace and most of all faith and love. ~Robin Michelle Zachery