We’re excited to be back home from our travels to Peru and Portland, OR! The abundance of wild mushrooms at the Portland Farmers’ Market made us excited for the foraging season back home.
As I write, I am comforted by the steady pitter-patter of rain falling on my roof. Gazing out my window, the ominous gray clouds on the horizon make me positively giddy.
After Monday’s much-needed torrential downpour, this new round of rain seems too good to be true. And the forecast only holds more good news – the rain is expected to continue intermittently throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening, and more passing thunderstorms are in store for the weekend. Monday’s rain may have been abundant, but one good flood is not enough to cause abundant flushes. Heavy rain means lots of runoff and insufficient infiltration – what really turns the mycelium on is steady, even if light, rainfall over the course of several days. And that, it seems, is exactly what we are getting.
Yesterday I went for a hike near Burlington, and I was mildly disappointed by the overall lack of mushroom activity. However, I was delighted to find my first chanterelle of the year, albeit a slug damaged loner. The intoxicating, fruity yet earthy fragrance reminded me of all that I have been missing.
Indeed, Vermont already received some small chanterelle and chicken of the woods flushes a couple weeks ago while I was on my honeymoon in Peru. But when I returned from my travels, I was met with parched soils that harbored virtually no fungi whatsoever, let alone gourmet offerings.
Now, I can confidently say that my lone ugly duckling chanterelle will not prove to be an anomaly. While I didn’t see much on my hike yesterday, you can rest assured that the mycelial fabric in the forest is hard at work. Nascent chanterelle and perhaps even black trumpet primordia are forming at this very moment, invigorated by the abundant moisture. By next week I expect to be a very happy forager.
Northeastern ForageCast for the upcoming week!
Great site guys (and gal),
I love the pic of you “foraging” at Portland’s Farmer’s Market. We are blessed with an abundance of edible and medicinal fungi, here in the Pacific Northwest. But like where you live, sadly, the weather can make or break a season.
I have to say that I like your idea of training Judah to hunt for edible mushrooms. (However, take a closer look at Tuber lyonii, it may be in your area. They have found it along the Eastern seaboard clear into Canada.) My older Golden, Lovey, loves (too much) to munch on mushrooms she finds in the forest, to the point it gets scary! She has, to her credit, unearthed at least a dozen Oregon black truffles, and three Oregon white truffles so far. I would love to get her to find Boletes for me, but at twelve-and-a-half years old, well I am lucky to still have her around.
Again… Great Site!
Mike
Sublimity, OR
Hi Mike, Thanks for sharing your dog’s story. That is fascinating that she is so naturally drawn to mushrooms – I imagine you are saying that she has spontaneously found truffles without training?
Yes, I did not train her to do this. She learned by watching me dig in the dirt and figured out what I was after. She does not do it every time, but is consistent enough that I take her with me on all my truffle outings. But like the truffle pigs in Europe, I have to be right there or she will eat them!
She has also unearthed an old, unidentifiable mushroom and ate it before I realized what she was up to. She also ate some unidentified, dried out mushrooms from my dad’s front yard in Idaho. Like I said – scary. Especially so since every year you hear of dogs dying from mushroom poisoning.
Wow – sounds like your dog is an old, bold mushroom forager. Perhaps one day I will train Judah to help me find mushrooms, though he seems very uninterested in fungi.
I am sorry if I am not at the right place to ask for mushroom help! I just found a 20+ lb hen of the woods . and if I am reading everything right ( there is no poisonous look alikes ) I found it in N.E. Pennsylvania Sept 3 2012.. my question is .. now I have it, what is the best way to clean it and dry it ??? There is still a good 100 lbs there .. I guess I messed up with this one by just pulling it out of the ground.. I read I should cut it and leave the roots ?
Tom, You are right that there are no poisonous look-alikes, though there are a couple of mediocre edible look-alikes. Feel free to post a photo to our Facebook page. Ideally you do want to cut, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much. That is incredible (though not unheard of) that you found such a huge patch! Maitake is a great candidate for dehydrating as well as freezing. It is best to saute first and then freeze in freezer bags. You also can freeze maitake raw – if you do this, make sure you don’t let it defrost when you cook – just throw it straight into the hot pan frozen.
Thank you for the info on the hen of the woods. I didn’t know I could freeze them raw. Now what is the best way to clean them? And will washing them under running water , to get the bugs and dirt off them, hurt the mushrooms?