This is the recipe my husband, George Downin of Frog Hollow (Sharpsburg), MD, makes for us IF WE ARE LUCKY in the spring.

They come in during what I call the Yellow Time - after the daffodils and forsythia are blooming and the spring peepers have been peeping for a few weeks, when the mayapples are up, and when we've had some warm days and plenty of spring rain.

Some say they find them under oak trees, some say old apple orchards - every hunter has her secret clues and spots.

Many carry their booty in a net bag in order to spread the spores as they walk through the woods. I've often wondered if that really works... By the way, the amount of rain and the timing of your hunt will result in different looking specimens - black ones or white cappies, some tiny overall, others with long stalks or huge spongy tops.