I've already had Tremella mesenterica as Fungus of the Month- you may remember it as Witch's butter. They range in color from brown to yellow and even white. Members of the Tremellales tend to be of a softer texture and more easily 'squished' than the other two phyla, although there are exceptions. There are three unrelated orders of fungi that fall under the common name of jelly fungi: Auriculariales (the ear jelly fungi), Tremellales (the jelly fungi), and Dacrymycetales (the tuning fork jelly fungi). It would be good at this point to discuss the many different kinds of jelly fungi. It is easily available in dried form in almost every oriental food store, in specialty food markets, and even in many large grocery stores. However, it certainly can be much larger and tends to grow in subtropical to tropical areas. It seems likely that Auricularia polytricha, cultivated for use in Oriental dishes, is a very close relative or even the same species. Sometime the scientific name is listed as Hirneola auricula. In fact ' Auricularia' means ear and the epithet ' auricula-judae' means 'the ear of Judas.' Since the mushroom is particularly prevalent on menus in Oriental restaurants, more preferred names would be the 'wood ear mushroom' or the 'cloud ear mushroom,' Some would consider other translations of the name perjorative, and hence I have not mentioned them here. However the intriguing name has stuck, even with the normally stuffy taxonomists. Obviously someone had an overactive imagination when seeing an ear on a tree and thinking of Judas. If you don't remember your New Testament (or care about it), Judas was the apostle who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. The common name Judas's ear comes from the legend that Auricularia formed its ear-shaped fruiting bodies as a curse on the tree on which Judas hanged himself. When you're out in the woods with your friends, it's nice to have a stories to tell, and we hope you will learn much about this fungus on this page.

Most of them have the uncanny ability to dry out then rehydrate, and you will likely be able to find them even in the early spring as leftovers from last year, even if you're in the far north. The 'jellys' are fun fungi to find in the woods and can be found very soon after a rainfall. Most are more solid than jelly that you spread on bread, with a texture similar to that of Gummi Bears TM.

This month's fungus, Auricularia auricula-judae, is one of the jelly fungi.ДЄll of the jelly fungi are Basidiomycota with unusual jelly-like texture. for the rest of Tom Volk's pages on fungi Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month for April 2004 Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month for April 2004ДЄuricularia auricula-judae, wood ear or cloud ear mushroom a.k.a. One of the best ways of utilising them that I have tried is a recipe in the Bushcraft and Survival Skills Magazine a while back by Fergus Drennan.Auricularia auricula-judae, Wood ear fungus, Cloud ear fungus, or Judas' ear fungus, in honor of Easter.

One way to use it is to dry it and then crumble it into soups, stews and sauces both to thicken and to add a mushroom flavour. Generally it requires a decent amount of cooking (at least 30 minutes) and if frying the fresh fungi it has a tendency to pop and spit quite violently. It is usually cut into thin strips and dried and then rehydrated and used in soups such as Hot & Sour soup and spring rolls.

In the East however this texture is relished and the very closely related Auricularia polytricha is widely used in China and Vietnam. Jelly Ear Fungus Auricularia aricula-judae growing on Elder Sambucus nigraД«ecause it is so distictive and cannot really be mistaken for any other species it is often the first fungi the novice forager trys often with dissapointment, as it is not particularly tasty and despite long cooking it retains a tough rubbery texture described in one book as вЂњlike eating an India-rubber with bones inвЂќ. The number of tree species that it can be found growing on appears to be increasing with global warming and in the UK it is documented as growing on 20 species, personally IвЂ™ve seen it growing on Sycamore Acer pseudoplatanas, Wych Elm Ulmus glabra, Beech Fagus sylvatica and Ash Fraxinus excelsior as well as the usual Elder. It really does resemble a large pinky-brown human ear. Also known as Wood Ear and previously as JewвЂ™s Ear or Ear of Judas owing to the fact that Judas supposedly hung himself from an Elder Sambucus nigra (which is the main host species for this fungi). One fungi species that can be found all year round, and which there seems to be loads around at the moment is Jelly Ear Fungus Auricularia auricula-judae.

Auricularia auricula range