Forage for mushrooms

“When I first took us on a mushroom-hunting course with the aforementioned Mr. O’Dea, I did not walk into the woods with expectations; I had looked for mushrooms before and found nothing. Once we began, though, we saw them everywhere – partly because we were in the kind of lush old forest they like, and partly because we learned to notice them. When everyone in our group returned, we had all found several basketfuls; edible puffballs, that we had to break open to test – if they were black on the inside, they were inedible “earth-balls.” We found chanterelles [...] We found inedible sulphur caps [...] and most memorably the infamous stinkhorn, its powerful smell detectable from a distance. A bit of experience, and suddenly we saw a world of mushrooms all around us.”

“The first time I felt confident foraging was after taking an in-person mushroom foraging expedition class with a local foraging expert. It taught me things I could have never experienced just by reading books or reading things online (I.e. confirming the smell or the texture of mushroom, or point out the ecosystems we were in and the very specific growing conditions for the types of mushrooms we were looking for). And I could ask questions and get real life experience actually out in the field, and if I had doubts, the instructor was there to confirm, or steer me in the right direction.”

“Given that this was my group’s first time foraging, it was very much tailored to an educational experience. Making correlations such as is the mushroom growing on dirt, live wood, or dead wood, does it “bleed” when scored, distinguishing aromas when cut, etc. I would love to do it in the same environment again as I think having an expert with you is invaluable.”