If you are keen on a bit of foraging then keep an eye out for Horn of Plenty and Blewits which are starting to pop up. Blewits can be found alongside woods and the edges of fields – identified by the lilac-blue colour that you can see at the base and stem of the younger mushrooms. There are both wood and field blewits and they can be found into January unless there is a particularly heavy frost and as a result are a great winter foraging mushroom.
They are also delicious and worth keeping an eye out for. Make sure that you cook them as they have been known to cause stomach upset when raw.
Make sure that you are 100% sure that you have identified them correctly as there are some similar mushrooms around – with the best way to be sure is with a spore print – place the mushroom gills down on a piece of dark paper and the blewit leaved a pale pink print. This is an excellent way to help identify other mushrooms, along with the other visual clues.
These are delicious cooked up in an omelete or as a side dish with venison or game.