Spooky Grisette (Amanita constricta). Photo by Adam Ryszka Spooky Grisette Adam Ryszka Even fungus likes to dress up. This Amanita species, possibly Amanita contricta ( grisette ), has patches of universal veil tissue resembling a skeletal hand. Thank you Adam for providing this great photo from up in Oregon. Camera Samsung SGH-T989 Focal L. 4mm Aperture f/2.7 Shutter Sp. 1/300s ISO 50 Flash Off Photo taken on October 16, 2016 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

Savory Mushroom Clafouti I learned this recipe from the late Larry Stickney, a phenomenal guy who was instrumental in creating a culture of mushrooming in the Bay Area. ... Bolete. Photo by Yevgeny Nyden The adaptation transforms clafoutis, a traditional French dessert made with cherries, into a savory first course or entrée. Boletes may be switched for Black Trumpets, Agaricus species, or other robustly-flavored wild mushrooms. Objective: Main Course Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes Yield: Serves 6 Suggested Mushrooms: See code Ingredients 3 C (about 1 lb.) bolete buttons, cut into 1 to 1 ½ inch pieces ½ C chopped shallots 1 ½ C half & half or whole milk 3 eggs 2/3 C unbleached all-purpose flour ½ C freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus extra to sprinkle on top 1 tsp grated lemon zest ½ tsp kosher salt Method Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a baking dish or pie plate (about 1 ½ inches deep) with butter or olive oil. Sauté shallots in olive oil until transparent. Cool and reserve in bowl. Mix the batter ingredients in a blender and let rest in the fridge for an hour. The batter can be prepared up to a day in advance. In another pan, sauté the mushrooms in butter until lightly browned. Cool and combine with shallots. Combine the clafouti batter with the mushroom/shallot mixture. Pour into the prepared baking dish and sprinkle with cheese. Place in the middle of the oven and bake for about 1 hr. The clafouti will puff up in the oven but will sink a bit when taken out. Serve warm. Previous Recipe All Recipes Next Recipe

Auriscalpium vulgare. Photo by Dan Tischler Auriscalpium vulgare Dan Tischler The ear-pick or pine cone mushroom is a member of the order Russulales , making it a close relative of Russula and Lactarius species along with Stereum and Hericium . Camera Olympus TG-4 Focal L. 6mm Aperture f/3.2 Shutter Sp. 1/100s ISO 200 Flash Off Photo taken on January 19, 2019 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

News & Stories / Mycology & Art News Algae and Fungi Team Up--and They're Lichen It... A bit of lichen-laden poetry (with apologies to Robert Burns) as intro to the upcoming Bioblitz at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Deb • March 2, 2014 Fungi and lichen. Photo by Nick Wagner We turn to National Geographic for poetic lichen, as we get ready for the upcoming Bioblitz at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area -- virtually your back yard --March 28-29, 2014, enjoy. Check out the poetry here: https://web.archive.org/web/20140226235002/http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2014/02/25/algae-and-fungus-team-up-and-theyre-lichen-it/ Find out about the Bioblitz, organized by the National Parks Service and National Geographic: https://web.archive.org/web/20140303211118/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers/projects/bioblitz/golden-gate-california-2014/ Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Will Mushrooms Make Styrofoam Obsolete? Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

Vendor Areas Tasty food, beautiful artwork, mushroom-dyed silks, jewelry and more can be found throughout the venue. Food and Mushroom Vendors Fantastic Flavors for Foodies Have you ever smelled candy cap mushrooms ( Lactarius rubidus )? When dried, candy caps smell like maple syrup, butterscotch, fenugreek or burnt sugar! A compound called "Soloton" is responsible for the aroma in these foods. Fungiphiles use candy caps to flavor chocolate, pastries, ice cream and more! en.wikipedia.org Sotolon - Wikipedia And freshly picked Matsutake ( Tricholoma murrillianum ) smells like cinnamon to some people, and the taste of cooked matsutake is often described as earthy and spicy, nutty and sweet with an aroma of pine and cedar. Another popular edible mushroom is our state mushroom, the California golden chanterelle ( Cantharellus californicus ). When cooked, people think it tastes fruity, like apricots or peaches, with a hint of pepper. Learn all kinds of interesting information about edible mushrooms at the Fungus Fair while you sample a variety of wild mushroom delicacies for sale by vendors at the Fair, and/or purchase mushrooms to try at home. Some of the vendors below include recipes on their websites, and you can also explore FFSC's Mushroom Recipes . For 2026, the Fair's food vendors include: Indoors King of Mushrooms , Todd Spanier Outdoors Far West Fungi Penny Ice Creamery Benni Pops (Santa Cruz Fungi) Fox Tale Fermentation Sea Soil Sky Shared Cultures , @sharedcultures Living Swell Kombucha Modern Forager Geo Forager FUNGI Magazine , Britt Bunyard Be sure to also check out the menu for our annual After Hours Dinner, presented by Chef Chad Hyatt. (A separate ticket is required.) Clothing, Craft and Services Vendors 301 Center St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA Take home beautiful prints, ceramics, blown glass, and/or clothing that features your favorite mushrooms. Enrich your mind and spirit with related onsite services. For 2026, the Fair's craft and service vendors include: Outdoors Lovage Somantics Mushrooms in Bloom , Sara Stinson (@mushroomsinbloom) Fossil Forager (@fossil.forager) NorCal Forager Indoors Light Energy Glass, Jeff Hinkle MacLean Custom Screen Printing , Robin MacLean Forage and Dye The Local Naturalist , Andrea Dingedein (@the_local_naturalist) J Calcagno Pottery , Jeannine Calcagno Mayumix Botanical Design , Mayumi Fujio Ancient Hands Tile, Steve Baranoski The Deep Read , Laura Martin, UCSC Humanities Institute Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz The 2026 Santa Cruz Fungus Fair T-shirt will be available for sale at the FFSC Store. This year's shirt features a glow-in-the-dark version of the 2026 Fair logo! Books, Stickers and More Get great prices on useful field guides and more at the FFSC Store. FFSC also sells posters, stickers, books and other mushroom-related items at the Fair for fundraising and to promote interest in mushrooms. The Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History will also be on hand with fascinating educational items for sale. Interested in Becoming a Fungus Fair Vendor? We usually finalize the list of vendors 3 or 4 months before the fair (early October). If you sell mushroom-related items and you'd like to be considered for the 2027 Santa Cruz Fungus Fair, please use the Contact FFSC form and select "Other" as the topic. Let us know why you think you'd be a great fit!

"Mushrooms Demystified" © David Arora What We're Reading Over the years we've collected a library of books, articles, and other educational resources. We've started to list a few of them here, and we'll add more as time goes by. Field Guides We Use Here's a list of field guides and other mycology books and articles that FFSC uses for our classes and/or shares through our member library. We offer some of these books at or near cost at the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair . They're also available through various book retailers and the original publishers. Mushrooms Demystified , by David Arora All That the Rain Promises and More: A Hip Pocket Guide to Western Mushrooms , by David Arora Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast , by Noah Siegel and Christian Schwarz Mushrooms of Cascadia , by Christian Schwarz and Noah Siegel More Resources Mushroom Dye Resources : Books and articles suggested by our members who dye fabrics with mushroom pigments. NAMA Book Reviews : A reading list by the North American Mycological Association

Santa Cruz is blessed with some of the finest foray habitat on the West Coast. Fungal enthusiasts, whether taxonomist, dye artisan or edible collector, can choose from hundreds of species available in the area. With this bounty so close at hand and popular, many intrepid FFSC members heed the call of far-away places as they venture away from the Central Coast. FFSC members adventure up and down the West Coast and to points farther afield as they participate in FFSC’s long-distance forays, private ad-hoc forays, and organized events with other mycological groups. FFSC's long-distance forays are usually 2- to 4-day group trips, and we stay at campgrounds or rustic cabins. We allocate at least one day for organized activities, such as a group meeting before we all go out to hunt, a delightful potluck dinner and mushroom ID assistance. Other activities vary per location and season. Before joining any foray, we ask that you review the Collection Ethics and Etiquette page and familiarize yourself with our Must-Know to Participate in Long-Distance Forays guidelines. Costs For most long-distance forays, the fee (if any) covers your accommodations. We may add a small surcharge to help the club defray our annual operational costs (insurance, etc.). Meals are bring-your-own and potluck, unless otherwise specified. These forays are organized and led by our club ministers, who are volunteers. You must be an FFSC member to sign up for and participate in our long-distance forays. (We also offer one-day local forays in the Santa Cruz area, for both members and non-members.) Popular Long Distance Forays Our long-distance foray calendar is subject to change each year depending on environmental factors (weather, fires, and what’s coming up) and the availability of group accommodations. Here are some of the forays we arrange most years. Subscribe to the FFSC Calendar or join our Contact FFSC to find out when registration opens for each trip. Albion Long Distance Forays Our Albion forays are weekend-long trips to the Mendocino area, where chanterelles, black trumpets, and more can be found. Event Overview Spring Long Distance Foray Join our Spring Foray when the snow melts in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and enjoy the vernal appearance of morels, coccoras, woodland agaricus and early boletes. Event Overview Alaska Long Distance Foray Our Alaska Long Distance Foray is a joint event between the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz and Bill White's Alaska Sports Lodge on the banks of the Kenai River in Sterling Alaska. Event Overview 63 days to the event Alaska Long-Distance Foray, September 2026 Aug 29, 2026, 3:00 PM – Sep 06, 2026, 11:00 AM Bill White's Alaska Sports Lodge, 38110 Greatland St, Sterling, AK 99672, USA Save the date for our fantastic journey in Alaska! Explore the Alaskan Kenai peninsula and be amazed by the wildlife, fjords, glaciers and of course mushrooms. Buy Tickets Scheduled Long-Distance Forays Past Long-Distance Forays Sold Out Fri, Jan 23 Albion II Long-Distance Foray, January 2026 / Details Save the date for our January foray in Mendocino! Enjoy fruiting fungi, pleasant people, feast on fabulous foods, and refreshing rains. RSVP Closed Fri, Dec 12 Albion I Long-Distance Foray, December 2025 / Details Save the date for our December foray in Mendocino! Enjoy fruiting fungi, pleasant people, feast on fabulous foods, and refreshing rains. Alaska Foray participants Long-Distance Forays Long-distance forays are overnight (or longer) trips farther afield. They carry the allure of new fungal finds, amazing culinary pleasures, and collaborative education adventure.

News & Stories / Spring Fungi of the Sierra Nevada - 2026 Recap Each spring, the retreat of the snowpack provides a unique ecological window of opportunity for “snowbank fungi”, a group of mushrooms that (as the name suggests) grow in and around snowbanks. As spring gives way to summer, curious mycophiles from around the world gather at a rustic campus in Tahoe National Forest to study these fascinating fungi. Lisa Tesler • June 18, 2026 Snowbank fungi (Mycena overholtsii). Photo by Lisa Tesler At the beginning of June, my mom and I headed up to the Tahoe area to participate in Spring Fungi of the Sierra Nevada . This is a 5-day mycology course designed for absolute beginners and experienced mycophiles alike. Snowbank fungi are endemic to the high-elevation coniferous forests of western North America, where short, cold summers allow snowbank remnants to linger into August. To help others learn about these interesting species, the renowned mycologist Dr. Harry D. Thiers created this course in 1982. Over the years, other instuctors have included Dr. Roy Halling , Dr. Andrew Methven , and Dr. Dennis E. Desjardin . As of 2017, Dr. Brian Perry has been leading the course. Dr. Perry maintains a detailed species list and grows it each year. So in lieu of a field report, here's a recap of what we experienced in this year's course. The Campus Setting Daily Activities Course Registration Final Comments The Campus Setting Sierra Nevada Field Campus sign. Photo by Lisa Tesler The academic setting is SF State's Sierra Nevada Field Campus, a semi-rustic outpost tucked off Highway 49 , along the North Yuba River in the Tahoe National Forest. Due to limited funding and historic preservation agreements, this campus' architecture sits somewhere between a 1970s research station and a U.S. Forest Service campground. In fact, a non-profit group, Friends of the SNFC , and the university are both seeking donations to improve student amenities and the facilities. ( More info below ) The campus center is a two-story wooden building, housing a single communal classroom downstairs, along with bathrooms and showers, and a dining hall upstairs. For this course, Dr. Perry (Brian) converted the classroom’s long tables into rows of temporary lab workstations. Each workstation included a compound microscope plus basic supplies (razor blade, forceps, slides, cover slips and lens wipes). Pairs of students also shared a dissecting scope and an assortment of diagnostic reagents. Our classmates included a few mother/daughter participants (like my mom and me), as well as couples and friends who had come up together. So the pairs formed quickly, and those who came solo synced up to form the remaining pairs. Other buildings on the property include housing for the campus director, teaching staff, etc., as well as forest-service-style showers and bathrooms at both ends of the campus for students who were camping. On-Site Lodging Tent photo from https://sierra.sfsu.edu/gallery-0 Most students rented large canvas-wall tents built on wooden platforms (which were apparently pretty comfortable), or pitched their own tents among the pines. Alternatively, some people slept in their own camper vans or trailers in the parking lot across the river. (For our own accessibility and health reasons, my mom and I opted to stay in Sierra City, about 10 minutes away.) Due to an aging bridge and limited budget for road maintenance, students who camped could drive to their tents to unload/load gear on the first and last day, but otherwise we were all asked to leave our cars in the main parking lot during the week. Food Options As this is bear country, the campus provided an industrial refrigerator in the dining hall for personal perishables, plus shelves for non-perishables. If you attend this course and opt in to camping on campus, please note that the kitchen was for staff only, and students were asked not to cook or have food in their tents. Campus chefs typically prepare one tasty main dish per meal (with variants for meat-eaters and vegetarians). When we were there, they offered stroganoff, Chilaquiles, Taco Tuesday, etc. and incorporated wild mushrooms as available. They also laid out self-service buffets for morning cereal, brown-bag lunches, and evening salads. Daily Activities We followed a regular daily schedule, with each activity building on what we had learned in the morning earlier in the week: Morning Lecture Daily Foray(s) Afternoon Lab Session Evening Talk Morning Lecture Each morning after breakfast, we gathered at 8:15am for a lecture in the dining hall. Dr. Brian Perry started the week with lectures on macro- and micro-morphological characteristics. As the week progressed, he shifted to beautiful slides covering the taxonomy of local Spring basidiomycetes and ascomycetes. (Heh--for my part, I spent most of that time taking notes on how Brian pronounced the Latin names--much to my mom’s amusement, along with her observations about California’s high school education system no longer requiring Latin...) Daily Foray(s) View of the Yuba River from the the Sierra Nevada Field Campus bridge. Photo by Lisa Tesler At around 10:30am each day, we packed up our lunches and baskets, and we headed outdoors. After a short walk across the Yuba River, we gathered in the parking lot, while enjoying the fresh air and a swarm of California Tortoiseshell butterflies. From there, we carpooled along Highway 49 to seek the types of fungi we had studied so far. Some participants were experienced snowbank mushroom foragers, and seemed to easily find interesting species left and right. Others initially found the hunting to be a little more challenging--especially if used to hunting for large edibles in areas where the mushrooms practically stand up and wave at you. With some time, everyone still found plenty to study for the class. On the first day, a fellow participant whom my mom befriended approached our car during a break, reverently holding a beautiful Spring King. “It’s the first porcini I’ve ever found, after all these years!” she bubbled. We congratulated her, and my mom asked if she was planning to prepare a special meal with it. “I’m going to donate it to the campus kitchen, so everyone can enjoy it!” she replied with delight and generosity. Another delightful foray location was at around 7,000 feet, where the air was cooler, and the mosquitoes were still blessedly dormant. Hunting here was familiar and yet different (compared to our typical FFSC forays). For this hunt, we started by looking for patches of snow. Then, with sunglasses and face masks on for sun protection, we carefully peered under and around the melting edges of the snowbanks. Note: One passerby was clearly baffled to see people surrounding snowbanks near the road, each of us hunched over, squatting, or nearly lying down amongst broken logs and rocks. In this habitat, we found elegant mushrooms like the snowbank fairy helmet ( Mycena overholtsii ). This is a paradoxical giant among the usually tiny mycenoids, growing up to 6 inches tall, with caps over 2 inches wide. Like other snowbank fungi, their fruiting bodies are just warm enough to melt small caverns in the snow, allowing them to grow tall until they break through the surface (or the snow melts away) to release their spores. The snowmelt also created an ideal habitat for spring orange peel fungi ( Caloscypha fulgens ), black snowbank cups ( Donadinia nigella ), and other beauties. On another foray, we visited a wide open area at around 5,000 feet, where we found more black snowbank cups, along with bird’s nest fungi, and more. One day after lunch, some people began a little show-and-tell and “what is it?” with Brian and others. My mom took the opportunity to rest, so in the last few minutes before we left the area, I strolled back to revisit some trees where I had seen a couple of large, decomposing porcini, but I still didn’t find any others. Basket with Porcini ( Boletus rex-veris ) That is, of course, until I experienced the classic foray trope: On the way back to my car, right smack in the middle of the area where 20 other students had just been hunting for over an hour, three robust porcini caps peeked out at me from under pine needle ‘shrumps, like sleepy foreheads emerging from blankets after a long winter slumber. With strategic mercy, Brian saved the wettest and most mosquito-choked habitats for Thursday, our last day of foraging. Some of the rarer high Sierra species only grow in marsh grasses or tucked into soaked logs, so upon arriving at this soggy location, students donned sandals and/or rubber boots—and a lot of mosquito repellent—to see if they could find some rarities. My mom and I didn’t find any of the rare specimens, but we were at least pleasantly rewarded with other enjoyable species. The group forays typically ended at around 2pm, giving everyone time to hunt at their own secret spots, rest/shower, or get ice cream at the Bassett’s Station Store. (My mom reported that the ice cream was very good.) At 3pm, we reconvened in the coolness of the lab. Afternoon Lab Session On our first afternoon in the lab, Brian briefly reviewed the morphological characteristics of basidiomycetes. Assistant instructor Taye Bright made sure everyone had at least one mushroom of the same species, and then they led us through a traditional group ID session. We used a set of dichotomous keys which Brian and Dennis Desjardin had developed for the course. (If you’re not familiar with dichotomous keys, think of an eye exam where you are asked to choose “A or B?”, and then each answer takes you to the next “A or B” question until you drill down to the species.) Next, we used our microscopes to look at the mushroom’s spores, to ensure everyone was able to see the same shapes. On Tuesday, we reviewed how to study more complex microscopic features, and Taye walked us through another ID session as a group. From then on, each of us began to work at our own pace in the lab—given that some students were professional biologists, and others were microscopy newbies. Several course alumni and guest advisors joined the sessions for the first few days, including Mike Woods , Douglas Smith , Dr. Andrew Wilson , and others. Thus, those of us who were new to microscopy (or who hadn’t touched a microscope since high school) got plenty of one-on-one help. They showed us (or in some cases re-showed us) how to prepare a basic squash mount, operate the microscope, understand which parts of different specimens to dissect, etc. Note : If you’ve attended this course in the past, Dr. Perry said alumni are welcome and encouraged to come back as guest advisors. You can join the forays, assist students in the lab, and sit in on lectures. Evening Talks (and Final Exam Day) After dinner each evening, students could attend optional evening talks, gather around picnic tables to socialize, or do their own thing. This year's speakers were Brian, Dr. Andrew Wilson , and campus Director Lynx Gallagher. In addition, J.R. Blair led an evening trip to go birding in the Sierra Valley. Tortoiseshell butterfly taking the final exam? Photo by Niecea Freeman On Friday morning, the instructors set out several specimens on those same picnic tables, with test questions as a final exam. (This was an open-book test, mostly for ourselves.) By Friday, my mom and I were mentally and physically exhausted, but happy about what we’d learned. Despite being tired on the drive home, we couldn’t resist stopping a few times to explore potential foray areas. “Let’s just look for 5 minutes…” we’d say, and then of course we’d poke around for 20 minutes. Knowing we still had a long drive back to the Monterey Bay Area, we finally agreed “This is the last spot!” The elevation was lower and the ground was pretty dry by then. We only found the remains of one morel, some Dyer's polypore ( Phaeolus schweinitzii ), and not much else. “Time to go,” said mom. But then, once again, while walking back toward the car, I noticed a clearing where the sun lit a pile of pine needles on an odd-looking rock. “Hmm… Is that a rock, or could it be a ‘shrump?” I wondered, and detoured over. Sure enough, another three porcini!! A tasty end to a long week. Boletus rex-veris on the way home. Photo by Lisa Tesler Course Registration Speaking of porcini, this year the course registration fee was $395 (plus meals and camping fees). Given the price of fresh morels and porcini at my local fine foods store, the edibles we found on this trip were probably worth about the same as the class fee! Even if you don’t look at the pricing that way, many commercial half-day and weekend ID classes range from $100-$150 per day and only have enough time to cover a fraction of this course’s depth. SNFC classes are treated like part of an extension program, which means you don’t need to be a matriculated student at SF State (or anywhere else) to take this course. In fact, this year’s cohort ranged from teenagers to octogenarians, and beginners to biologists. It should be noted that this course may be canceled if conditions are overly dry (as occurred in 2014 ). In fact, Brian normally co-leads a course with Alison Pollack the following week ( Myxomycetes of the Sierra Nevada ), but that course was canceled this year, due to inopportune conditions. Scholarship (and Donation) Options If you’re hesitant or unable to afford the $400 investment, I would encourage interested students and members to apply for an FFSC scholarship to cover (or at least offset) the fees. A non-profit group, Friends of the Sierra Nevada Field Campus , also offers scholarships for this course-and for any other SNFC courses and workshops. The Friends group also accepts tax-deductible donations . Over the years they've successfully funded many of the amenities that affect day-to-day campus life. Plus, the university is seeking larger donations to help fund infrastructure improvements to the bridge and buildings. Final Comments If you’re not interested in fungi that grow in the Sierra Nevada, there are many excellent courses in the Bay Area (including through FFSC ) that can teach you how to use dichotomous keys and/or how to use a microscope. That said, the length and depth of the Spring Fungi of the Sierra Nevada course (not to mention the lack of cellular, WiFi, and TV distractions) gives you a unique opportunity to focus (no pun intended) on your microscopy and ID skills. After you learn a skill, you get several more days of practice with attentive instructors and advisors in the room. They’ll answer your “Did I get this one right?” questions in real time, troubleshoot your squash mounts, and/or thumb through the keys alongside you to figure out why you went down an unexpected path. And it's a lot of fun! Where to Learn More about the Course In this YouTube video, Dr. Brian Perry gives an overview of what he covers in the course. You can read more about snowbank fungi in the Spring 2009 issue of Fungi Magazine : https://www.fungimag.com/spring-09-articles/13_Snow.pdf Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Spring Fungi of the Sierra Nevada, June 2013 Microscopy of Gilled Mushrooms Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

Mushroom flower. Stalked polypore. Photo by Alex Russakovsky Mushroom Flower Alex Russakovsky On a yearly trip to the Mendonoma coast that we always dedicate to the memory of Ryane Snow . Spent some days under pouring rain hunting for edibles, however not much to report. About 200 chanterelles (3 different varieties), 15 matsutake, 20 honeys, a couple of pigs' ears. Camera (Not provided) Focal L. Aperture Shutter Sp. ISO Flash Photo taken on December 7, 2019 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

Wild Mushroom Duxelles Spread on a baguette or crackers, or use it as mushroom duxelles to enliven a variety of dishes. ... Wild mushroom basket This is one of those recipes that could inflate your girth to frightening proportions if eaten regularly. But it is so good that on special occasions it finds a place in my kitchen. It can be served as a spread on a baguette or crackers. Or it can be used as a mushroom duxelles to enliven a variety of dishes. Objective: Sauce/Garnish/Stuffing Total Time: 30 mins (est) Yield: Varies by use Suggested Mushrooms: See code Ingredients 1/2 c butter 1/2 c finely chopped shallots 4 cloves garlic, minced 9 oz fresh wild mushrooms 1/2 c white wine 1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme, minced 1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp fresh black pepper 3 Tbl fresh parsley A note on mushroom species: Craterellus calicornucopioides are the best I know. King boletes can overpower this recipe, so use sparingly and mix with milder species. For some mushroom species like chanterelles, it is necessary to dry-saute first. Of course, be absolutely sure of your species! Method Sauté in an open skillet: butter, shallots, garlic and mushrooms Deglaze pan with 1/2 cup dry white wine Add thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper Saute above mixture until nearly dry, then add 3 Tbsp fresh parsley and only sauté lightly. Remove from pan, and then very lightly (just a second or two) in the blender or food processor. This adds to creaminess, but you don't want to lose the texture from bits of shallot and mushroom Scoop into a small terrine or pãté mold, seal container and refrigerate until use. Serving Suggestions Garnish with fresh rosemary or thyme if served as a spread, or just keep it sealed and handy to enliven vegetables or meat dishes. So simple! Previous Recipe All Recipes Next Recipe

News & Stories / FFSC Scholarship Awarded to Alison McGregor The Scholarship Committee has awarded funds to UCSC student Alison McGregor in order for her to purchase a microscope to better pursue her mycological studies. Marje Young • May 2, 2012 Microscope Lenses (stock photo) She writes: “I am interested in the species diversity and composition of Santa Cruz crustose lichen communities, and in exploring novel methods of propagating local species of mycorrhizal fungi for the purpose of myco-restoration. I dream of conducting crustose lichen surveys in the coastal ecosystems and the urban surfaces of Santa Cruz. These surveys require the observation of spore size, type and number per ascus to diagnose the details of reproductive structures. With a microscope I could identify samples and create herbarium specimens for UCSC’s Museum of Natural History Collections. “My other major pursuit is to develop the skills necessary to nourish and rejuvenate disturbed and decimated ecosystems. With the aid of a microscope, I will be able to inspect spores to ascertain species and observe the morphological characteristics of fungal spawn. Over time, I can use this knowledge to introduce appropriate mycorrhizal fungi to aid in the recovery of disturbed, poisoned and eroded habitats inbackyards and agricultural watersheds of Santa Cruz.” The FFSC looks forward to having Alison speak to us about her many projects. Marjorie Young and Phil Carpenter Scholarship Committee Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Field Reports January 2016 Field Report Although soggy, there was a fair selection of fleshy fungi to be observed. Notably, a couple of lucky folks went home with a basket of candy caps, and a mushroom-dyeing enthusiast went home with a nice clump of jack-o-lanterns! Cass Fuentes • January 24, 2016 Hypholoma fasciculare (Sulfur tuft) at a Santa Cruz Fungus Fair. Photo by Larry Volpe Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts 2016 February Local Foray Field Report Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article