The other day I saw some wild mushrooms at the local farm stand and thought to myself... I need to start looking for mushrooms!
My friend had told me that Yellow Foot, Morels and Matsutake can be found in the local forests. But he was unclear on time of year. I figured things need to start warming up.
Then I saw these farm stand mushrooms and looked up in my book. Turns out Yellow Foot can fruit throughout the winter if the conditions are right. So you're telling me I missed out on 3 weeks of mushroom harvesting already since I got here?!
The first chance I got I went for a hike and took a meandering path through the forest.
It sure is beautiful!
Well I didn't know exactly where to look but as it turns out it didn't take long to find some Yellow Foot mushrooms!
Once I found a few it didn't take long to find a few more and then a few more.
Yellow Foot is easy to identify because of the hollow center at the top of the mushroom and more often than not in the stem. The gills look like Chantrelles and the bottom of the stem is yellow, often brighter at the bottom with a gradient going down the stem.
It had just rained and snowed for a few days so the Yellow Foot mushrooms were a little on the soggy side. No worries, that didn't stop me and I picked the ones that were still firm.
This was my favorite find :)
Here is the biggest patch I came across.
So I came back home excited about my harvest. Not bad for a few hours of walking around, fairly clueless about where to look. A little luck and it paid off early this time :)
I spread the harvest out on a towel to air dry a bit. After they were no longer soggy and fairly dry to the touch I put them in a paper bag. No room in the fridge so its sitting outside - temperature is still cool enough out there.
Word to the wise: Don't harvest and eat wild mushrooms unless you are 100% sure what they are. And even then if its your first time with a new mushroom just eat a little bit at first until you know how your body reacts to it. Better yet have someone show you how to identify the mushrooms, especially if you are not sure!
So I went out the next day for a second harvest but in a different part of the forest. I wanted to learn where they liked hanging out and see if I found any bigger patches. Well I didn't find any bigger patches but I did end up with some more.. not quite as the previous day.
On the way out I met a man that was just finishing his own mushroom hunt, coincidentally enough. Only he was a true professional and harvesting mushrooms is his full time job. Pretty nice if you ask me... getting paid to camp and walk around the wilderness??
So he had another mushroom with him... the black Trumpet. I said... so you're telling me those are around here? Yep! He wouldn't tell me where his spot was of course but he gave me some vague tips.
Day 3 I set out for a few hour walk around the woods. This time I try a totally different area, different microclimate and within the first hour lo and behold.. I stumble across my first Back Trumpet! This must be my lucky weekend.
It's beautiful. And so different than the Yellow Foot. A ways off I find a few more.
The Black Trumpets are much harder to spot because they blend with the dark forest floor. Actually it seems impossible to spot them from a distance. Apparently they are not as common as the Yellow Foot and so that makes it even harder to spot them.
Black Trumpets are easy to identify as there are no lookalikes! There are no gills and the whole mushroom is completely smooth. The stem is hollow and the cap has a hole in it as well.
Interestingly I did not find any but one Yellow Foot in the area where I was finding the Black Trumpets. I suspect they prefer different habitats.
At first I thought I was on a roll and I would find a bunch more. I found a few more but then I spent another few hours and didn't find anymore. But I came a way with a decent harvest for my first time that will make a nice meal or two :)
The Yellow Foot mushroom didn't really stand out to me in terms of flavor. It is very mild in flavor. The texture is soft. I don't dislike it and am grateful for the wild mushroom in my diet. I really like that it seems to absorb and pickup other flavors that I cook with it.
The Black Trumpet mushroom has a lot more flavor and I'm really liking it so far. I've only tried it raw and have yet to cook with it. That will be tonight :)
I am excited to keep exploring new patches of forest... find some "spots" and see how the mushroom season changes throughout the year. I am pretty sure I will be able to find Morels. But some of the less common mushrooms... we will see!
Wild Foods
I really appreciate wild mushrooms because they pack a lot of protein, nutrients and minerals. Some mushrooms are known to prevent or fight cancer.
Its food that wasn't grown or shipped industrially so there is less pressure on the system.
As a novice mushroom hunter I am glad to be adding more layers of wild food to my diet and wild food repertoire.
Foraging mushrooms gives me more respect and appreciation of nature. I get to find food and explore nature's beauty at the same time. It certainly doesn't feel like work.
The more time I can spend in nature, the better. I am happier, feeling more fulfilled, disconnected. I feel more unplugged... but then I feel plugged in to a whole other world, one that I want to be a part of and connect with.
Sustainable Harvesting
And mushrooms can be harvested sustainably if you follow good ethics and practices. Taking only a minority of the mushrooms that were found so that the remaining can grow through their lifespan and sporulate to ensure longevity of the mushrooms.
Also it is a good idea to keep in mind, if you see a harvester has already been to a patch you found (you see evidence of mushrooms cut off the stem already) best to take even less or better yet move on to find another patch that hasn't been tapped yet.
What Are These Mushrooms??
So... for the Mushroom connoisseurs that have been at it longer than I have... I have a challenge for you. Can you identify any of these mushrooms? I saw them, they stood out to me and I have know idea what they are.
