News & Stories / Mycology & Art News The Wine and Mushroom Experience was Phenomenal One of the wettest storms of the season greeted festive party participants at the Scotts Valley Community Center. Everyone walked out of the rain and into a beautiful bright and cheery room decorated with a glowing grape arbor. Margaret Carpenter • April 2, 2011 Wine and Mushroom Experience. Photo by Margaret Carpenter All your senses were immediately engaged—the smell of Bob Wynn’s craterellus pizza and foccacia bread permeated the air along with the wafting fragrance of stuffed morels. The sight of numerous other appetizers filling the table was tempting and made your mouth water. The pleasant murmur of sounds, the sheer draping and amethyst grape lights drew us to the tasting tables. The Plan was to enjoy an evening of wine and mushroom tasting with first-class wines and foods provided by the Fungus Federation members and excellent Santa Cruz Mountain Appellation wineries. The Plan was fulfilled. Jeff Emery of Santa Cruz Mountain Winery arranged for six exceptional SC area wineries to share their wines. We were not disappointed: we were given the opportunity to enjoy excellent wines from Ahlgren Vineyard, Alfaro Family Vineyard, Beauregard Vineyards, Muns Vineyards, Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard and Silver Mountain Vineyards. The wineries and their representatives were outstanding and our senses were rewarded with appropriate, enticing aromas, perfect colors, and pleasurable tastes. The appetizer table was overflowing and the entrée table was beyond our wildest imagination. And then there was the dessert table… the decadence was beyond description. Candy Cap Mango Brulée, Candy Cap brittle, chocolate, chocolate and more candycaps. And rising above all the desserts was a field of astounding chocolate mushrooms – the artistic and extravagant creations of Fred Molnar and Debbie Johnson. I saw many people taking pictures of this chocolate mushroom collection with their cell phones. This was an exceptional evening; many thanks to everyone for their efforts. Special thanks go to Bob Wynn, our chef and food coordinator and to the Santa Cruz Mountain vintners who shared their outstanding wines. As with most of our events, we could not have done this without our fantastic volunteers who help before, during and after the event. You transformed the room for a gala party event and cleaned it all up afterward. Thank you yet again! As perfect as the night was, there were traffic challenges with over 120 people present. A learning curve... we hope to use this venue again and plan to change the table layout and traffic flow, so our next event here will be better than perfect! If you are an entertainer at heart, or would just like to join the party early, please consider joining the Culinary Committee. Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Fair News 2023 Outdoor and Virtual Fungus Fair Once more we will not be doing our normal fair at the London Nelson Community Center. Instead we will do a series of local forays with culinary events, Zoom talks, and an iNaturalist project during January 2023, similar to the event we held in 2022. All of these events will be open to FFSC club members and the general public. Santa Cruz Fungus Fair Committee • December 19, 2022 Outdoor Fair Local Forays - Sold out We will offer a series of guided local forays on the weekends of January 7,8 and 14,15. These forays will be led by local mycologists and will have the goal of identifying and learning about our local fungi in their natural habitat. After each foray, our culinary committee volunteers will prepare a tailgate style tasting of incredible mushroom dishes while we discuss the days finds. We will try to keep the group sizes small in order to allow a more personal interaction with our leaders and for covid safety. These will be outdoor events, so be prepared for wet and cold weather and some walking to see our mushroom habitat. The price to attend the walks will be $10 for adults, $5 for full time students and free for children under 12. We are suggesting that participants make a $5 donation if they will be sharing in the treats prepared by our culinary artists. Xerocomellus atropurpureus Mushroom Lecture Series During the week between the forays, Monday-Friday, January 9-13, we will be offering a series of discussions/talks on Zoom featuring talented mycologists covering a range of topics. This is an opportunity to hear about the exiting work of some great amateur and professional mycologists.The talks will also be live streamed to our Youtube channel for anyone unable to attend the Zoom. Tropical Mushroom Collage. Photo by Lauren Re iNaturalist Project During the forays citizen scientists will be encouraged to document what they see on iNaturalist. Observations will automatically be added to the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair – 2023 Mycoblitz Project on iNaturalist. In addition, th e general public are encouraged to record their own fungal observations in the Santa Cruz Mountains and surrounding area from January 1-15, 2023 for inclusion in the Mycoblitz. Visit the project page for more information. We hope that this modified format will provide an interesting, educational, fun, and safe event for the whole family, and that next year we can bring back the traditional fair, bigger and better than ever. 2023 Fungus Fair iNaturalist Mycoblitz Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts 40th Fungus Fair: Time lapse of the Island setup A Short History of the Fungus Fair Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Field Reports Species List — Albion II Foray 2009 The Albion II foray January 23–25 was a good time. It was well attended with a good mix of people. There seemed to be mostly recreational hunters, and not that many beginners. Douglas Smith • February 2, 2009 From Albion II, 2009. Photo by Hugh Smith Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Albion I 2008 Recap 2009 Alaska Foray Travelogue Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

Pairing and Cooking Mushrooms with Wine Everyone knows drinking wine with wild mushroom dishes is a delight beyond compare. Can we go a step further and think about pairing styles of wine with a particular mushroom genus? ... Caption Pairing Mushrooms with Wine Good wine is a careful balance of fruit and acidity. The alcohol has to be in balance with the fruit and acidity to give that rounded yummy taste. California white varietals tend to be a little less acidic, so winemakers sometimes add acid during fermentation for balance. That's where you get that nice clean crisp feel in your mouth. Red wines in general are slightly higher in alcohol content. That’s where you get that nice glow in your head. White wines give a lighter lift to food, while red wines, because of their complexity, lay a heavier interest to dishes. Now lets think about wild mushrooms. Are morels light or robust? Chanterelles are light. Lepiota spp. are heavy. Coccora and Amanita velosa are light. Chocolate is heavy. You can think about the balance you want to create between the wine and the mushrooms you're serving. Objective: Complementary Total Time: N/A Suggested Mushrooms: See code Equipment and/or Ingredients Your favorite mushroom dish and a variety of wines to choose from. Method Cooking Mushrooms with Wine When cooking, too much wine can overwhelm the dish and you lose flavor. As an example, people who dump half a bottle of red wine on a 5 pound roast have to add a lot of salt and fat to compensate for the acidic taste from the reduced wine. If you are going to cook a mushroom dish with wine, add the wine during the last ten minutes of the cooking cycle. The more acidic the wine, the more oil or fat you can add. Suggested combinations are: Boletes with butter and 1/4 cup Sauvignon blanc Cream of chanterelle soup with 1/4 cup of Chardonnay (per 2 quarts) Morels sautéed in olive oil, a dash of tamari, a pinch of brown sugar and a sprinkling of Zinfandel Sliced coccora wrapped in 1/4 strip of bacon, broiled and brushed with a mix of Pinot Noir, tarragon and a little arrowroot (for thickening). You get the idea. Taste taste taste. When you are cooking with wild mushrooms and wine, think about what you are combining and how the ingredients will play on one another. Remember to only cook with wine you would drink. A so-so wine will result in a so-so dish. Think about sampling and enjoying the complexity of each bite, sipping thoughtfully. Ahhh…Life is good. Previous Technique All Techniques Next Technique

News & Stories / Mycology & Art News Bedbugs Banished by Beauveria Bassiana Just when those creepy little bloodsuckers seemed to become resistant to all pest control options, in comes the mycological equivalent of Buffy the vampire slayer, Nina Jenkins and colleague Matthew Thomas. Cortinarius • May 12, 2014 Grasshoppers killed by B. bassiana (on wikimedia.org) In truth, the real heroine is an arthropod-killing fungus, Beauveria bassiana . Jenkins and her team are pursuing research and development on a new bio-pesticide utilizing powdered fungal spores of B. bassiana. Initial bioassays show promise. Invading bedbugs marching through the dust appear to be highly susceptible, going belly-up within 6 days. Although this is a novel approach to bed bug infestations, B. bassiana is already in use as a bio-pesticide for termites, thrips, whiteflies, aphids and some beetles. Nina Jenkins is working at Penn State in the Thomas Lab where her work centers on the development of bio-pesticides derived from fungi. Development includes strategies for mass production of fungal conidia, its enhancement and long term stability. For more, visit [a copy of] the original article: https://web.archive.org/web/20140926020643/http://www.huck.psu.edu/about/news-archive/thomas-bedbug-control/ Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Microscopy of Gilled Mushrooms Mycology & Art News Could a Stropharia Filter E. Coli Bacteria From Drinking Water? Mycology & Art News Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

2026 Speaker Schedule : Room 1 2026 Speaker Schedule : Room 3

Hmmm... We couldn't ID that link (If this were a mushroom, we'd go back to our field guide and start over.) Try a Search Report a Broken Link

Hmmm... We couldn't ID that link (If this were a mushroom, we'd go back to our field guide and start over.) Try a Search Report a Broken Link