Country diary: It's phallic, it smells of death - and it's good enough to eat | Michael White

Cranbrook, Kent: The wood here suddenly smells of autumn, and the smelliest fungus of all - the common stinkhorn - is also deliciousAutumn is many things: morning mist hanging over the low pasture, swirling flocks of swallows drifting imperceptibly south, the light ripening with the hazelnuts. Under the trees, autumn arrives as a scent; the smell of damp decay, as the summer plants give way to fungi.To the mycophile, this forest funk is a call to action, a reminder that mycelium in the leaf litter is proliferating and preparing to fruit. And so, as a self-confessed mushroom lover, I find myself, basket in hand, contemplating the scentscape of this shaded woodland. There is something different here, though, a sickly note of rotting flesh amid the background odour. Most would walk on, fearing a macabre scene, but recognising the olfactory calling card of a very special mushroom, I start to search. Continue reading...