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bloodworm
cube con·nois·seur


Registered: 05/22/10
Posts: 10,926
Loc: 352
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.pidpenky mushrooms (armillaria mellea).
#14310490 - 04/18/11 05:09 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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ok, so here's the deal. i'm ukrainian and originally from northeastern, pa. my first memories of mushroom hunting were with my dad at about age 5 or 6 picking pidpenky; aka armillaria mellea or honey mushrooms (prized mushrooms in the ukrainian tradition). since then my dad and mom divorced and i no longer communicate with my father. i now live in florida, where i have resided on and off for the past 7 years or so. most of my relatives are still in pa and far too old to be out hunting mushrooms. i've done some research and have found out that these mushrooms are "widely distributed," although i have yet to stumble across any. i was wondering if anyone has ever came across any in the south (more specifically florida) and if they even fruit here. any information anyone can provide would be amazing because i would love to surprise my mom with some. she has been craving them since she left pa where we used to find them in abundance. i'm thinking i might have to wait until "fall/winter" rolls around to find any down here. any ideas?
thanks in advance.
peace and love bloodworm
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trigger
non-trusted identifier


Registered: 08/13/06
Posts: 2,092
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Re: .pidpenky mushrooms (armillaria mellea). [Re: bloodworm]
#14310665 - 04/18/11 07:10 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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all i can say is the honey mushroom is the largest fruit producer in my area, the ground will light up like polka dots, blankets of thick clumps of honeys...
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If you want to under stand me more better, use a hillbilly redneck voice while trans posing my words
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masspan
l'eclair


Registered: 07/26/08
Posts: 5,268
Loc:
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Re: .pidpenky mushrooms (armillaria mellea). [Re: trigger]
#14311084 - 04/18/11 09:31 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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like pa they thrive in new england, new england weather and vegetation being so different, my guess is that they won't be as or if at all present...but that is just a guess
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my mother said, to get things done, you'd better not mess with Major Tom...whose status is the baddest, everytime 'they' bless the apparatus
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amilibertine
It’s good to be back!



Registered: 06/10/09
Posts: 3,241
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Re: .pidpenky mushrooms (armillaria mellea). [Re: masspan]
#14311137 - 04/18/11 09:45 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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There all over here in Ohio as well. I never see them till the fall, October.
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Hook420
Stranger


Registered: 04/20/10
Posts: 724
Loc: Northeast Pa.
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Re: .pidpenky mushrooms (armillaria mellea). [Re: bloodworm]
#14311157 - 04/18/11 09:52 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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You may get lucky this winter. I seem to recall about someone finding a small patch in FL. The main flushes are in early fall the where I'm at. Check areas with old oak trees and or maples or ones that have been cut down the year before. Good luck.
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bloodworm
cube con·nois·seur


Registered: 05/22/10
Posts: 10,926
Loc: 352
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Re: .pidpenky mushrooms (armillaria mellea). [Re: Hook420]
#14313314 - 04/18/11 07:11 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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thanks everyone for the input. ill be on the lookout come fall/winter.
peace and love bloodworm
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Stopwhispering
The voodoo peoples




Registered: 05/01/10
Posts: 4,390
Loc: Melbourne
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Re: .pidpenky mushrooms (armillaria mellea). [Re: bloodworm]
#14313569 - 04/18/11 07:56 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Good luck
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bloodworm
cube con·nois·seur


Registered: 05/22/10
Posts: 10,926
Loc: 352
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Re: .pidpenky mushrooms (armillaria mellea). [Re: Stopwhispering]
#14314536 - 04/18/11 10:52 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Stopwhispering said: Good luck 
thanks man.
"start shouting"
peace and love bloodworm
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Fungi01
John Plischke



Registered: 06/29/08
Posts: 1,212
Loc: Western Pennsylvania
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Re: .pidpenky mushrooms (armillaria mellea). [Re: bloodworm]
#14320768 - 04/19/11 11:52 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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I Live in PA and I have mushroomed in florida several times and Have found Armillaria in florida. Not armillaria mellea but another species of Armillaria, cant remember at the moment but I took digital photos of them. At least you can find the genus there.
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bloodworm
cube con·nois·seur


Registered: 05/22/10
Posts: 10,926
Loc: 352
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Re: .pidpenky mushrooms (armillaria mellea). [Re: Fungi01]
#14323992 - 04/20/11 04:54 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Fungi01 said: I Live in PA and I have mushroomed in florida several times and Have found Armillaria in florida. Not armillaria mellea but another species of Armillaria, cant remember at the moment but I took digital photos of them. At least you can find the genus there.
very cool. i'll be sure to be on the lookout come fall/winter. thanks man.
peace and love bloodworm
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Bobzimmer
Crawlin' Kingsnake


Registered: 09/07/08
Posts: 8,696
Loc: NY
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Re: .pidpenky mushrooms (armillaria mellea). [Re: bloodworm]
#14337467 - 04/23/11 08:34 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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This thread made me smile.
I have little competition here for morels, chants or any other thing I want to find, but in the early autumn, the woods fill up with pidpenkies... and Ukrainians! We have a lot of both around here and they are CRAZY mushroom hunters.
I doesn't really conflict with me since I'm not really after the honeys, but they sometimes turn over stuff I want to photograph. I can hear people yelling to each other in foreign languages and see figures in the woods with large buckets and long knives.
Once, getting back to the road, I see a guy coming down the trail with this knife...If this thing was any f***king bigger, it'a been a sword! I admit, it made me uneasy and my eyes were glued to it as I approached him. He smiles and says "Hi" with a thick accent. I try talking to him but he can't understand me, so I say "Pidpenkies?", and he lets me look in his bucket. A couple of old gnarly clusters that I wouldn't eat. So I showed him some pics of some nice young clusters on my camera and pointed down the trail to the left. Then I went across the road and found a couple of clusters and laid them on his windshield.
Here's the kinda work they do...if there weren't thirty pounds of stems here, there wasn't one...
 NEMF 2010 was held at a Ukrainian heritage center...
 It was a nice place, but with all the accordian music, I kept having flashbacks to the wedding scene in "The Deer Hunter".
What I wanted to ask though, is why is this mushroom so popular with the Eastern European crowd and what are some traditional ways of preserving/preparing them? Thanks.
-------------------- Mr. Mushrooms said: I will confess something that should be quite obvious, CC. I love mushrooms, i.e. fungi. I really do. I am talking about a strong feeling, i.e. emotion, for them. I think they are beautiful. I even dream of them.
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flyingmonkeys
Banana Sandwich


Registered: 10/20/10
Posts: 13
Loc: In ur Pint, S.ontario
Last seen: 10 months, 10 days
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Re: .pidpenky mushrooms (armillaria mellea). [Re: Bobzimmer]
#14337660 - 04/23/11 10:15 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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They grow like crazy in my area, souhtern ontario, from late august to october.
Personal favorite way to eat them, I was passed this recipe from my Ukranian friend,
only the caps, stems ok if they are very young and fresh, its a texture thing.
Boil for 5 to 7 minutes (dump water)rinse in fresh water, pan fry with butter and fresh cut onions until the onions are nice and soft and turn colorfull. over cooking not an issue. salt and pepper to taste.
mouth is watering just thinking about it! n-joy!
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bloodworm
cube con·nois·seur


Registered: 05/22/10
Posts: 10,926
Loc: 352
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Re: .pidpenky mushrooms (armillaria mellea). [Re: Bobzimmer]
#14338089 - 04/23/11 12:01 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Bobzimmer said: This thread made me smile.
I have little competition here for morels, chants or any other thing I want to find, but in the early autumn, the woods fill up with pidpenkies... and Ukrainians! We have a lot of both around here and they are CRAZY mushroom hunters.
I doesn't really conflict with me since I'm not really after the honeys, but they sometimes turn over stuff I want to photograph. I can hear people yelling to each other in foreign languages and see figures in the woods with large buckets and long knives.
Once, getting back to the road, I see a guy coming down the trail with this knife...If this thing was any f***king bigger, it'a been a sword! I admit, it made me uneasy and my eyes were glued to it as I approached him. He smiles and says "Hi" with a thick accent. I try talking to him but he can't understand me, so I say "Pidpenkies?", and he lets me look in his bucket. A couple of old gnarly clusters that I wouldn't eat. So I showed him some pics of some nice young clusters on my camera and pointed down the trail to the left. Then I went across the road and found a couple of clusters and laid them on his windshield.
Here's the kinda work they do...if there weren't thirty pounds of stems here, there wasn't one...
 NEMF 2010 was held at a Ukrainian heritage center...
 It was a nice place, but with all the accordian music, I kept having flashbacks to the wedding scene in "The Deer Hunter".
What I wanted to ask though, is why is this mushroom so popular with the Eastern European crowd and what are some traditional ways of preserving/preparing them? Thanks.

great story man. thanks. i'm sure he appreciated the information as well. i can't speak for all eastern europeans but in our family you never, ever told anyone your spots. so im sure you did that guy a huge favor pointing out some more spots for him to hunt. i've heard stories that some of my ancestors wouldn't even tell their own brother and take their spots to the grave. i believe one of the major reasons it is so popular is because their are so many holidays and holy days, not to mention fridays that eastern europeans don't eat meat. take for example today. today is holy saturday (let me just state for the record that i do not follow these traditions) in the ukranian greek catholic church. we do not eat meat friday or saturday to sacrifice. we then celebrate with kielbasa, ham, horseradish, eggs, salmon roe etc... on sunday because of the resurrection. i'm not sure of all the preparations but most were either dried or canned. the mushrooms are so meaty that they are able to be boiled and preserved. in our family we preserved everything. they were either, dried or canned. we made them into soups, sauteed them with butter and onions, pickled them and ate them on the days which were considered "holy."
from wiki: "Edible - Choice. Honey Fungus or pidpenky (Ukrainian: підпеньки) are considered in Ukraine to be one of the best wild mushrooms and highly prised. They are commonly ranked above morels and chanterells and only the cep / porchini is praised more highly. However pidpenky (Ukrainian: підпеньки) must be thoroughly cooked as they are mildly poisonous raw."
i can't really speak on why they are so prized and valuable other than the fact that we used them in and for just about everything on these "holy days." mushroom soup is the thing that stands out the most in my mind. my grandmother prepared it with a mirepoix, potatoes and roux. fucking delicious. other things that come to mind are them sauteed with onions and butter, served with sauerkraut and sour cream. also, pickled and served with cucumber (pickled or raw) and salmon roe. i definitely miss not only eating them, but hunting them. i haven't hunted them since i was about 15. now, not only am i looking forward to cube season to kick into high gear but i also have something to look forward to in those off months. even if i can't find any, the hunt will still be rewarding.
once again, thanks for the story my friend. it brought back a lot of memories. i hope i shed some light on the ukranian pidpenky mushroom craze.
as always...
peace and love bloodworm
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bloodworm
cube con·nois·seur


Registered: 05/22/10
Posts: 10,926
Loc: 352
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Re: .pidpenky mushrooms (armillaria mellea). [Re: flyingmonkeys]
#14338102 - 04/23/11 12:04 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
flyingmonkeys said: They grow like crazy in my area, souhtern ontario, from late august to october.
Personal favorite way to eat them, I was passed this recipe from my Ukranian friend,
only the caps, stems ok if they are very young and fresh, its a texture thing.
Boil for 5 to 7 minutes (dump water)rinse in fresh water, pan fry with butter and fresh cut onions until the onions are nice and soft and turn colorfull. over cooking not an issue. salt and pepper to taste.
mouth is watering just thinking about it! n-joy!


peace and love bloodworm
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Oreganic
Connoisseur of Life



Registered: 02/08/10
Posts: 1,807
Loc: Orygun
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Re: .pidpenky mushrooms (armillaria mellea). [Re: bloodworm]
#14338191 - 04/23/11 12:19 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Hmm, I am definitely going to give the Armillaria mellea a taste next fall when this local woodland area I know of gets carpeted in these. I am not joking when I say that I could literally full up 2 car trunks to the brim with Honey's, if not more... I've never seen a more prolific mushroom fruiting in my life.
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  __________________________________ In case you didn't know, The Shroomery holds a Picture of The Month poll each month and anyone is welcome to nominate pictures and vote! Keep it active folks!
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Bobzimmer
Crawlin' Kingsnake


Registered: 09/07/08
Posts: 8,696
Loc: NY
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Re: .pidpenky mushrooms (armillaria mellea). [Re: bloodworm]
#14340859 - 04/23/11 09:53 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Thanks for the great response, Bloodworm!
-------------------- Mr. Mushrooms said: I will confess something that should be quite obvious, CC. I love mushrooms, i.e. fungi. I really do. I am talking about a strong feeling, i.e. emotion, for them. I think they are beautiful. I even dream of them.
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