Odd stinks

[Seagull]

While in my local wood, Ive noticed recently, that there are 3 or 4 places where there,s a noticable pong of something, almost but not quite like domestic gas.

Its almost, but not quite, a very weak mix with aforesaid gas and dodgy eggs.

Is this a naturally occuring H2S, the remains of someones buried pet, or some sort of plantlife.?

seagull

[Tantalus]

possible causes that immediately spring to mind are stinkhorns rotting vegetation in damp boggy patches or indeed something dead

dead things and stinkhorns smell very similar, stinkhorns are a little sweeter and perfumey

H2S the classic rotten egg gas and stinkbomb stuff is both flammable and poisonous so do take a little care, a whiff or 2 wont harm ya but continued exposure isnt great, and despite its awful smell your nose gets rapidly desensitised and stops smelling it quite quickly

nice pics of stinkhorn http://www.fishing-in-wales.com/wildlife/fungi/stinkhor.htm

Tant

[JFW]

It may be natural methane gas (CH4) escaping from the ground. Methane can be produced from the decomposing of vegetable matter which is burried in the ground, often found in peaty/boggy ground which may have been the location of ancient forest. It is not uncommon in mature woodland areas as well.
Hope this helps.

Cheers

JFW

[Seagull]

Thanks JFW and Tantalus.

I continue to be amazed at the knowledge in these forums

So I went out, early- doze today and, checked out these sites again and from this I am almost (almost) certain that the pong is being caused by the remains of stinkhorns.

So, the downside was, that I hadnt, in fact, found my fortune in the discovery of a hitherto unknown field of natural gas.

Upside was, that I found a puffball and , after consulting my DK Pocket Nature, by Evans and Kibby, I brought it back for brekker.

Wife thought I was mad, so did the kids and so I ate the lot myself. A"first" for eating any sort of fungi which hadnt come from the Supermarket.

Am a bit suprised at the texture, when cooked and eaten ; something like marshmallow, fish roe and boiled eggwhite. I had removed the skin, first, in case something had wee,d on it, are you supposed to remove the skin?

Anyway, it tasted great with bacon and bangers.

I will still , however, need a lot more convincing before trying nettle tea .


Seagull

[Tantalus]

I can see the delight on the faces already as you stagger in tomorrow with an armfull of stinkhorn eggs for breakfast

actually i have yet to meet anyone brave enough (or hungry enough i guess) who has tackled these tho many sources list them as edible and they are quite easy to find

all that jelly goop is a bit daunting , and then the smell..............

I like puffballs tho, a little tasteless , and yeah i take the skin off usually cos it is quite leathery
nice in bacon fat they absorb the flavour

a quick word of warning on puffballs, i have in the past confused immature fly agaric mushrooms with little puffballs
see bottom pics here
http://www.bluewillowpages.com/mushroomexpert/amanita_muscaria.html

when cut open they had little peppercorn like black bits which led me to discard them anyway but on looking them up later i realised what i had been looking at

i have been searching for a pic but no sucess yet, the peppercorns are easily visible tho when ya cut em open

happy foraging :)

Tant

[Kim]

Nettle tea is the complete business.

If you use fresh leaves (pick off the very top smaller leaves, the nice green ones) take care to not leave them in your hot water for too long as the taste quickly gets quite strong. Turns the water a beautiful green colour though.

Apparently nettle is generally very good for you and it's a plant that I'm rapidly falling in love with!!!

It can be an acquired taste though, so I recommend you try it a few times.

Enjoy :biggthump

[Kim]

Oh for goodness sake...today is not going well.

For those of you who haven't noticed, my previous post was not meant to end up in 'odd stinks'. The thing is I can't find the link I was trying to respond to because I'M TIRED AND IT'S ALL GOING WRONG. So consider it a bonus to hear a bit about nettles (that have nothing to do with horrible smells.)
:shock: :banghead:

[Paganwolf]

wot happened there? :rolmao: :rolmao: :rolmao: :You_Rock_

[Tantalus]

I will still , however, need a lot more convincing before trying nettle tea .


Seagull
Mebbe ya will convince him yet Kim

[Kim]

Thanks Tant,

not so confused now, am bailing out before I post anything else that sounds like I've been drinking too much elderberry wine!
:rolmao:

[Seagull]

Oy, Oy!

This nettle tea, then; no chance of milk and two sugars I suppose?

I did try various green teas, neat, a few years ago.
Tasted , like I imagine the water does , when used for steeping leather.

Nah! you won,t get me that easily.

rgds
Seagull