Bear’s Head Tooth
Hericium americanus
The mushrooms in the Hericium genus (otherwise known as tooth fungi) are an interesting and beautiful looking bunch. They include the aptly named coral tooth (Hericium coralloides) and lions mane (Hericium erinaceus), both of which look like what you would expect them to look like from their perfectly descriptive names. But today we found our first collection of bear’s head tooth, perched on top of a half-sunken log in the creek at the bottom of our property. Steve was fishing the creek (and catching some beautiful, native brook trout!) while I had my trusty mushroom basket and camera with me and was on the hunt for some mushrooms. A lovely way to spend the morning together and it turned out pretty fruitful with a new fungi find to add to our list of edibles.
The bear’s head tooth is a unique looking mushroom and quite easy to identify with its long spindly, noodle-like teeth and a more tufted appearance, due to its branching growth from the base, than the rounded lions mane. Their spores are released from the teeth, as opposed to from gills or pores as in most other mushrooms. You can find them growing on dead hardwood or sometimes from wounds on living trees from late August to November. They are white when young and will yellow with age but as their taste apparently turns quite bitter as they get older, it’s best to pick them only while they are still a bright white colour.
If you only find a small amount, as we did this first time we found them (and also because we like to savour the actual taste of the mushrooms when we first get to try them) you can keep it simple and just sauté them up with some butter and a tiny pinch of salt and pepper. There is quite a lot of moisture in these mushrooms so it’s a good idea to dry sauté them first until most of the liquid has been released and evaporated off. Then add the butter and seasoning and sauté until they turn a nice brown colour. We served them with crackers and absolutely loved them! Super tasty, they make a delicious little snack with a unique seafood flavour to them. We will definitely be keeping our eyes peeled for more of them!
Because of their texture and slightly fishy taste these mushrooms also work great in any crab cake recipe (just swap out the crab meat for mushrooms). They make for a very rich and tasty snack or part of a meal. Once you’ve tried it once you will be hooked and on the look-out for these mushrooms whenever you’re out in the forest at the right time of year! Click the link below to see the recipe we use for lion’s mane crab cakes, just substitute in the bear’s head tooth and you’re good to go:
