A bit earie

Damp and drippy in the woods this afternoon. slippy underfoot. The dog does her own thing: checking, tracking, vanishing and re-appearing to touch base just often enough to reassure me. I slither and grab trunks or branches to keep upright. I see cramp balls, candlesnuff and dead man's fingers - all the the usual suspects, like these jelly ears. 

Known as wood ears, they are are a standard ingredient in Asian cuisine, sold dried. (If you pick one and keep it in a dry place you can watch it gradually shrink into little husks. I sometimes find them in my jacket pockets when I've forgotten about them after getting home.) Rehydrated, they are popular as a salad, which is delicious when my son makes it. See here for  that but there's lots of other recipes using them online.

Anyone who would like to know a bit more about the world of fungi would do well to lend an ear to the three-part introduction to the subject which started today on BBC  R4 Fungi: The New Frontier.