The Shaggy, Ink-cap, gloomy, toxic sludge appearance, edible, lawyers wig, mushrooms, magical, tales, fairy tales, wild, self-digestion, ink, writing.
The shaggy ink-cap, also known as lawyer’s wig, gets its name from it’s shaggy white appearance, and also from the fact that as it matures, it releases a digestive enzyme that dissolves itself into a thick drippy black ooze, depositing its black spores on the earth around it. Despite its gloomy, toxic sludge appearance- the inkcap is not only edible (if you pick it while its gills are still pink and tasty) but it provides a great service to the plant life around it, because of its ability to kill off nematodes that feed on plants. This makes it a friendly, albeit messy small guardian of the woodland. Edibility of this mushroom is tricky- once it’s been picked, it will begin to dissolve into ink very quickly and therefore must be eaten fresh if the consumer is to avoid a mouthful of black muck. Mushrooms are mysterious, magical. They are a source of inspiration for many fairy tales and stories. For centuries they have been striking lots of people’s imagination because they are wild. Even scientists are still not sure if mushrooms are actually plants, they seem to come from another world. The self-digestion of these mushrooms continues until the entire body has turned to black ink. In the old days this ink was actually used for writing. This mushroom is absolutely delicious but has an extremely short shelf life. If you leave one on your table overnight you will come down to a black ink stain on the table in the morning. If you cook with these when the caps are on the turn, they will dye everything you cook with them black. If the caps have started to open when you pick them you will have to eat them that day. Young ones may last 48 hours in the fridge if you are lucky. You can make younger ones last a bit longer in the fridge if you remove the stem before chilling; this seems to delay the transformation into ink. You can also make some very good ink from them. To do this mix the ink cap ink with a little water and some cloves and heat it.
Size: 3456px × 5184px
Location: Lincolnshire
Photo credit: © Steve Welsh / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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