[Luigi Daniele]

Still haven't found any (in the fall--right?)

When do they grow--in general? By that I mean, before porcini, at the same time as porcini, after porcini. If before or after, by how many weeks?

While we're at it, flavor compared to a porcino (porcino being a 10 on a 1-10 scale). May have asked this part before--if so, my apologies.

[Dufferin Shroomer]

In Ontario, we are picking hedgehogs right now and have been for a week or so. Well ok my brother is picking them. They are quite uncommon in my area and we discovered a small patch of forest that seems to produce them fairly reliably although in small (less than a dozen) quantities. The patch is in an awkward place for me as I would not pass it while going elsewhere but for my brother it is on the way to good hunting grounds and he stops in every weekend to grab a handful. On your scale they would be somewhere around an 8 in flavor and they have a wonderful firm texture. The best way to describe the timing of them is to say that we are also picking chanterelles, lobsters, and a few summer boletes at the same time. The patch is pretty much surrounded by hemlock trees and perhaps if I spent more time around hemlock I would find more hedgehogs but in the forests where I normally hunt they are quite rare.

[V in VanBC]

Here on the Canadian southwest coast, Hedgehogs are much later than Porcini, normally occurring well after the Fall rains begin. They seem to need more moisture than Chanterelles, which pop up sooner after the rains start. I find them in two distinct habitats: low elevation sites where Chanterelles could be growing and high elevations near the tree line. The high elevation sites are not reliable because some years the Fall rains begin so late that it is already too cold in the mountains when the needed moisture arrives. The low elevation Hedgehogs are also dependent on the start of the Fall rains but can be found in November and December if the rains are late. In California I would expect them to appear during the Winter, when moisture is at its maximum.

As far as rating them, I consider them slightly better than Chanterelles, and I rate Chanterelles significantly above Porcini.

[Feral Boy]

No real high altitudes here in Missouri. We find them early to late fall, down in
oak leaf litter -- hard little buggers to see, but you find one & get WAY down there
and there's more. Actually more in mixed pine and oaks... maybe that's because
the shape stands out more where there're needles alll around

[Morel Doctor]

I find spreading hedgehogs in north Idaho in fall...

...

I find bellybutton hedgehogs in the Washington Cascades in fall...

...and in the coast ranges of Southern Oregon & NorCal I often can find sweet tooth, spreaders, bellybuttons, yellow & black trumpet chanterelles as well as matsutake in the same general area at Christmas time...

yellow chantrelles, left in hand, & in half-full basket

bellybutton hedgehogs right & 6 kilos in heaping basket

... however the white bellybutton hedgehogs are my favorite of all, I do not care so much for the other types such as spreaders, sweet tooth or hawks wings

I would place any bellybutton variety above most all other mushrooms, excluding perhaps lions mane or white pom pom




I usually find the hawks wing hogs when researching fall porcini & matsutake.

...often little critters will eat the teeth which contain the spore.





...and finally a couple tooth type fungi found growing under a log.

[Roosevelt]

I'm betting the habitat and timing is much different here than where you are Luigi, but in Southern Michigan I find them, standard hedgehogs,in deciduous forests of mainly Beech and Oak. Sometimes they like a few pine mixed in, generally the same habitat as the common chanterelle. The spots I find them usually have a gentle slope and filtered sunlight. I get them sporadically from the time the Chants start, July, up until just before the hens typically start which is roughly middle September. I usually only find a few here and there though. They are one of my favorites and I like them better than chants. I usually get rid of the teeth as they seem to make them bitter at times.

[Feral Boy]

I found a few small hedgehogs today on the peak of Mount Pisgah
in the Blue Ridge Mountains on Saturday

[Dave W]

Here in the NE of NA I find the smaller more orange Hydnum umbilicatum in hemlock forest. Found one 2 days ago up here in Vermont... where we're currently vacationing. The larger and often more beige-colored H. repandum is found in beech woods, and other mixed woods. Sometimes I get single specimens in perfect eating condition that are almost 1/2 pound each!

[Luigi Daniele]

Morel Doctor, on 29 July 2010 - 06:46 PM, said:

[/b]

I had something that looked exactly like this growing in my lawn. Is that possible?