April 2015 • NEBRASKAland 29
batter, sautéed alone or with vegetables
and occur in late summer and fall. It
is imperative to know what mushrooms
you are collecting – some species of
mushrooms in Nebraska are poisonous.
The morel, sulfer shelf, shaggy mane
and puffball described here are some of
the most recognizable of the edibles. It
is unwise to eat any mushroom when in
doubt about genus and species, so stick
to these Nebraska edibles if you're a
beginning mushroom hunter. These are
more than enough to keep you busy
throughout the year. ■
Always cut puffball mushrooms in half to check color and for the embryonic outline of
a cap, gills and stem of the deadly amanita mushroom.
Sliced quarter-inch thick, puffballs can be dipped in an egg batter, coated with flour
and cinnamon and fried until golden brown like French toast. Top with a pear slice.
Turkey Tail
T
he turkey tail is a small, fan-shaped
mushroom that boasts a tough
texture but is leathery and supple when
fresh.
The fans resemble that of a strutting
tom turkey, are covered with fine hairs
and have bands of contrasting colors
ranging from white, gray, brown, yellow,
buff to bluish, reddish or black and
sometimes greenish from algae. Its
flesh is thin and has virtually no stalk.
This polypore mushroom has a long
history of medicinal use in China dating
back to the mid-1300s during the
Ming Dynasty because of its immune-
boosting capabilities. Turkey tails
are most popularly known as being
a natural source of the anti-cancer
Polysaccharide-K or PSK, which is a
carbohydrate found in the fruit bodies
and in the mycelium of turkey tails.
Turkey tails can be consumed by
drinking the tea made by boiling them
for a prolonged period of time. Some
mushroom hunters will chew the fresh
caps like gum or use them to make
ornaments or jewelry.
This mushroom typically grows in
rows, tiers, or overlapping clusters
on logs, stumps or fallen branches of
hardwoods, thriving mostly on decaying
matter. At times it will thrive on live
trees, but rarely appears on conifers.
Turkey tails are commonplace and
widely distributed year-long, and can
even be found fruiting during winter.
The turkey tail is often researched as
a medicinal mushroom.
