Field guide and drying blueberries
 

Has anyone come across instructions for drying blueberries (and cranberries
for the matter)

Also I want to get hold of a good field guide to funghi, with illustrations
and detailed descriptions etc (no sense in killing myself with my first
gatherings). Any suggestions folks?

Ray Warner
Thomas Etty Esq - Heritage Seedsman
http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~nfarl...etty/etty.html

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

"Ray Warner" wrote in message
...
Has anyone come across instructions for drying blueberries (and
cranberries
for the matter)

Also I want to get hold of a good field guide to funghi, with
illustrations
and detailed descriptions etc (no sense in killing myself with my first
gatherings). Any suggestions folks?
You can buy a dehydrator for not too much money.
www.mycologue.co.uk
Does all kind of mushroomy things too including books etc.
I bought my dehydrator from him and found him very helpful.Dried cirtus
fruits, apples etc last year and used them in Xmas decorations around the
house.

Ray Warner wrote in message
...
Has anyone come across instructions for drying blueberries (and
cranberries
for the matter)

Also I want to get hold of a good field guide to funghi, with
illustrations
and detailed descriptions etc (no sense in killing myself with my first
gatherings). Any suggestions folks?

Ray Warner
Thomas Etty Esq - Heritage Seedsman
http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~nfarl...etty/etty.html

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


Hi Ray,

Before buying any field guide (or killing yourself with dubious fungi!), I
suggest you contact your local wildlife trust. Most arrange 'fungal forays'
during the autumn. If you went along to one of these events, you would be
able to observe an expert mycologist finding and describing fungi and their
hosts. You would also have the opportunity of discussing field guides with
a dedicated user.

Spider

The message
from "Ray Warner" contains these words:

Has anyone come across instructions for drying blueberries (and cranberries
for the matter)

Also I want to get hold of a good field guide to funghi, with illustrations
and detailed descriptions etc (no sense in killing myself with my first
gatherings). Any suggestions folks?

Others adequately have dealt with the mushroomy bit.

You can dehydrate things by putting them in a net or on a non-corrodible
mesh in a closed container over calcium chloride crystals.

These are available from some hardware shops as refills for moisture-traps.

Water absorbed by the crystals can be driven off later by heating the
crystals (or the fluid, if a lot has been absorbed.)

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from "Spider" contains these words:

Before buying any field guide (or killing yourself with dubious fungi!), I
suggest you contact your local wildlife trust. Most arrange 'fungal forays'
during the autumn. If you went along to one of these events, you would be
able to observe an expert mycologist finding and describing fungi and their
hosts. You would also have the opportunity of discussing field guides with
a dedicated user.

I'd agree with everything said except the 'before buying' bit. The two
field guides mentioned are well worth buying whether or not you intend
eating specimens.

My interest began in 1950 and I never went on a foray as such until the
late eighties, and I'm still alive, despite having eaten a good portion
of Agaricus semotus today...

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in
message k...
The message
from "Ray Warner" contains these words:

Has anyone come across instructions for drying blueberries (and
cranberries
for the matter)

Also I want to get hold of a good field guide to funghi, with
illustrations
and detailed descriptions etc (no sense in killing myself with my
first
gatherings). Any suggestions folks?

Others adequately have dealt with the mushroomy bit.

You can dehydrate things by putting them in a net or on a
non-corrodible
mesh in a closed container over calcium chloride crystals.

These are available from some hardware shops as refills for
moisture-traps.

Silica gel packets are more effective.

Water absorbed by the crystals can be driven off later by heating
the
crystals (or the fluid, if a lot has been absorbed.)

Franz

The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these words:

You can dehydrate things by putting them in a net or on a
non-corrodible
mesh in a closed container over calcium chloride crystals.

These are available from some hardware shops as refills for
moisture-traps.

Silica gel packets are more effective.

They're certainly less trouble, but I'd dispute the 'more effective'
bit. I bought an old fireproof safe which had been standing outside for
a while, and all my guns began to go rusty in it, so I put half a kilo
of calcium chloride in a two litre plastic bottle, made some extra holes
near the top, and within a month had collected more than a litre of
water which had soaked into the glass fibre lining.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/