THEN they pack a punch!! I like to lightly saute them and use them in anything that will make them the dominant flavor.

On edit: they can be mildly toxic when eaten raw, and even after cooking for that matter but to a lesser degree. False morels are also a problem. Unless you trust the gatherer or see the stem yourself it can be difficult to tell them apart and you really don't want to eat the false morels.

Regular agaricus, oyster, chantrelles, ink caps, shiitake, maiitake, straw mushroooms, boletes, they all taste like just plain old mushrooms to me. Except giant puffballs. Sliced, breaded, and sauteed in butter, they taste like a piece of paper towel breaded and sauteed in butter.

Oh, except wood ears. They actually have a taste and texture of their own that is different from "all of the above". So I would vote for wood ears.

Ever make oyster mushroom soup? Nothing else will work for that. I agree with the wood ears - very different. I've never tried truffles because I refuse to pay $400+ per pound for something a pig dug up.

So did that shelf fungi I hacked off a walnut stump and put in the soup pot (although they were quite chewy....like an insole). As far as truffles, they taste like mushrooms rolled in dirt IMHO -- but good rich dirt, if that is any consolation.

If I want a treat for the taste buds, I'll look for some plant flavonoids and leave the saprophytes for the compost heap.

Now REAL mushroom soup is another story! You can't get that in a can.

I believe that would be saprotrophic organisms. I've never heard the term "saprophytes" before. I studied mycology 35 or so years ago, so maybe the terms have changed since then. Now I just eat them.

saprophyte
[sap-ruh-fahyt]  
sap·ro·phyte
   [sap-ruh-fahyt] Show IPA
noun
any organism that lives on dead organic matter, as certain fungi and bacteria.
Also called saprobe.

Origin:
1870–75; sapro- + -phyte

Hmmm, 1870s, that's even older than you, ya geezer

I put them in everything. Stir fry for fajitas, cooked with onions and spice to add to my homemade spaghetti sauce or raw in my nightly salad.

I guess that just didn't fly well in our "can't mention such things" society so they invented the word "canola".

It has no redeeming nutritional value, and it is delicious.