Wood Ears

A recent trip to the woods brought me several pounds of wood ears.  These are wonderful mushrooms that once cleaned and dried are easily stored in air tight bottles for winter soups.  Several pounds dried turned into a few ounces! 

I soak these for a while and clean them very carefully as they often have little worms or other bugs hiding at the base.  No problem.  Rinse them off, cut them in slices and dry in the dehydrator.  From what I understand they are better once they are dried and then re-hydrated later.  My research told me the Japanese highly prize this mushroom for soups.  I used mine all winter long that way.  Oh, if you have tons of mushrooms and are running out of ideas, my sister suggested that you grind the dried ones into a powder to add to almost any sauce or casserole.

This time of year you have to do a tick check upon arriving home around these parts.  Only one tick after 2 trips into the woods.  not bad.