A Delicate Veiled Beauty

A garden is truly an amazing place and sometimes wild plants just germinate and become plants of beauty. There is also a variety of wild mushrooms that appear overnight and disappear a few hours later.

Like this delicate veiled beauty which is possibly a variety of the Veiled Lady Mushroom (Dictyophora indusiata) found in the wild in Malaysia as well as China and other parts of Asia.

 

I did not notice any rotting smell but rather that of the typical straw mushrooms we buy in cans from China. However, I am no expert in identifying mushrooms and never use fresh wild mushrooms in my cooking! There was a skink there, though, and within half an hour, it had made a meal of the veil :-)

  

If this variety is indeed Dictyophora indusiata, it is an edible mushroom though I would never ever even dream of collecting and eating them. Never ever take the risk of eating DIY-collected mushrooms! Get fresh/canned/dried mushrooms from the supermarkets!

In local supermarkets, the veiled lady mushrooms are imported from China. The unopened ones (where the veils are not seen) are sold as Straw Mushrooms and are available preserved in brine (in cans) or dried. The opened ones with the long veils, also known as the Bamboo Mushroom, are sold dried. These mushrooms make for a delicious addition to Chinese soups and steamboats!