Today, Friday , October 1st, I went out and found quite a few mushrooms in the Sooke area including these, Armillaria ostoyae. These are a type of Honey mushroom and they are best when young and should be well cooked to bring out the flavour. There are occasional reports of allergic reactions to these mushrooms and sometimes this includes honey mushrooms growing on hemlock trees. Some suggest disgarding the stems although I think they are palateble. They are tough. Michael Kuo, 100 Edible Mushrooms, pg 246, suggests parboiling them for 1 minute before slicing and cooking. This removes the bitterness of some species and may also remove gastrointestinal irritants.
I also found some Winter Chanterelles, Craterellus tubaeformis, along with a number of different boletes. The Winter Chanterelle, formally called Cantharellus infundibuliformis, is another edible mushroom and though it is considered by some to be inferior to other chanterelles because it is small and thin fleshed, there are many who relish this mushroom and, in Finland, it is harvested commercially. I personally really enjoy this mushroom and, although I found some very beautiful specimens today, it is not uncommon to find this mushroom in December or January, when most other mushrooms, other than hedgehogs, have disappeared here. Raymond McNeil rates this as an excellent edible mushroom, Le Grand Livre des Champignons, pg 392.
