Habitat: Northeast Ohio - It had rained the night before. Yesterday morning, it was 60 F and with a low lying fog. I drove past a large patch of mushrooms that caught my eye. On my way home later that day, I stopped at the site. They were growing around a large pine tree. Close to the tree was a bed of fallen pine needles. The bed thinned the further from the tree and turned to grass.

It was an amazing site to see. Multiple colorations of all very similar mushrooms were present. I spent some time admiring the scene.

Scattered within the patch, I noticed some very bright and colorful mushrooms. They were absolutely beautiful.

I am fairly certain that I came across some Amanita muscaria. I found extremely similar mushrooms earlier this summer (not as large with much lighter colors - ) in an area about 3 hours south from here. I harvested 3 of varying sizes.
1)

2)
 (the taller on the left)
3)

Gills: creamy white
Stem: 4-6 inches in length of the tallest, 0.5-1.5 inch diameter, creamy white, fuzzy above a bulbed shape base
Cap: 2-5 inch diameter, red center fade to orange/yellow, creamy white spots, concave
Spore print color: white/creamy white
Bruising: no bruising, but one stem got a little tan after handling (somewhat like what an eggplant does after peeling...not sure if anyone one else knows the experience)
Other information: Has a very unique and enticing aroma after drying that I cant relate to anything at the moment
I weighed the harvest at 204 grams. I then removed the caps from the stem. Cut the stem down its length, and once again so I had four pieces from each stem. I left the caps whole. I placed them in the oven @ about 70-100 F, the stems dried in a few hours and I removed them.

In the same oven, the caps were becoming soggy and slightly darker on the gills, I had flipped them multiple times for an even dry and noticed this. I think this may have been because I did not crack the oven door or allow any ventilation. I then turned the temperature up to somewhere between 200-300 F, I cannot remember specifically. They remained at this temperature for quite some time, I think over an hour. This was late last night and I had to turn off the oven for bed. The caps were still not completely dry, but had darkened significantly. They steamed slightly when removed from the oven. I put the mushrooms under a box fan facing towards the floor to dry them. When I woke up today, I had forgot to check on them before I left the house. They were much drier and getting close to a cracker consistency near the cap edges. The center of the caps still has more drying to do.
Can anyone confirm that this is Amanita muscaria? Any thoughts on why the gills turned so dark?
Thanks
Edited by gnostic (10/10/15 06:11 PM)
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