Unclasses

I would love to learn where to go (relative to the Bay Area) and what to look for. In exchange, I can teach a cooking class using them.

*New info:

Hi all- while I don’t consider myself an expert, I do have experience and knowledge when it comes to mushroom foraging. I also have access to people who have been doing this for a decade or more, so there are plenty of resources here. There are many variables when foraging for mushrooms, including season, type, edibility, habitat, etc. I’ll attempt to quickly summarize a few of the best that we might expect to find and when (relative to the bay area). I will also leave out most of the scientific names since it’s easier for us to use the common name. Since Northern California’s rainy season happens from fall to winter, that is typically the most active mushroom time, but there are exceptions.

Porcini- the porcini mushroom falls into the family of Boletes. It is also called the king bolete. There are several types of boletes, including queen bolete, butter bolete, slipper jacks, etc. The distinction of the bolete family comes mainly from the fact that they have a spongy spore structure rather than gills. This can easily be seen by looking at the underside of the mushroom cap. It will literally look spongy and feel soft. This material can easily be removed and is not considered the tastiest part of the mushroom, but can be used for things like creating a mushroom demi-glaze or stock. Porcinis typically like it warmer, so in my experience the most active fruiting times are in the fall season. The previous fall ’09 was an exceptional porcini year, as we had a wonderful early fall downpour. Porcinis were popping up like weeds! There can also be Summer porcinis, but these typically fruit farther out in Northern California in the mountainous regions where Summer rainfall occurs. The best time for us is definitely the fall season.

Chanterelles- the chanterelle mushroom is another great one that grows locally. It belongs to the Cantharellus family. There are again several types of chanterelles, such as golden, yellow, black, yellow-feet, white, red etc. The easiest identifiable distinction for me is again the gill structure. If you look closely, they don’t appear as true gills, but veins that flow from the base of the stem with many small forked veins in between the bigger ones. The best time for chanterelles can vary depending on rainfall, but in my experience they are most commonly found in the colder late fall through early spring. These mushrooms are also plentiful but typically take longer to grow to full size (up to 6 weeks).

Candy caps- the candy cap mushroom is becoming more popular these days. It belongs to the family Lactarius. This mushroom is typically much smaller than the porcini or chanterelle, but can grow somewhat large if given the time. This is truly one of my favorite mushrooms for its distinctive flavor and aroma. When dried, the mushroom literally smells of maple syrup and can be used in baking. I find it easiest to identify these mushrooms by the cap and skim-milk substance that comes when breaking apart the gill structure.

Morels- the morel mushroom is in the Morchellaceae family. Types include the black morel, white morel, yellow morel, etc. These elusive mushrooms are different in that their peak season is typically in Spring and Summer. There are wild morels that grow like other mushrooms under living trees, but one of the best ways to find large patches of black morels are to follow forest fire areas. This sounds odd, but when a forest fire occurs, the black morels can fruit in huge quantities in an attempt to spread to another area.

Truffles- there are also different varieties of truffles. The most common we might find in California would probably be the Oregon truffle. These are difficult to find in the wild for several reasons, but there are ways of doing so. I won’t go into much detail here because personally I have never found one, but if there is a lot of interest we can spend more time researching and talking about these mushrooms.

There are many other wild edible varieties, such as Russulas, Matsutakes, Chicken of the woods, Oysters, etc, but this is a good start. There is so much variable information when it comes to the correct identification of a mushroom. It’s often times overwhelming, which is probably one of the reasons that most people don’t know how to forage for mushrooms (or just plain aren’t interested), but I assure you the energy invested is well worth the effort when you find your heart racing after stumbling upon a patch of porcinis! There are also plenty of good resources out there in the bay area. For more information, I suggest joining the Mycological Society of San Francisco (webpage at www.mssf.org). A great book for identification is David Aurora’s Mushrooms Demystified. It’s a large book, but has plenty of good information on correct identification.

This should be a good start, and the meantime, we can continue the discussion and plan some fall foraging trips. As it is morel season right now, it might be possible to organize a trip, but these mushrooms are harder to find and it typically takes a trip out of the city into Northern California. Most likely a multi-day investment. For general information on mushrooms, check out the work of Paul Stamets. He has several books and videos on YouTube. I also have a small blip about mushrooms on my recently created blog (http://kscreates.blogspot.com/p/mushrooms.html).