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News & Stories / Editoricus Blatheronsus: What are Entheogenic Mushrooms Since I just love stirring the pot, let's see if I can't create even more controversy this month. Larry Payne • February 1, 2000 Amanita muscaria ssp. flavivolvata. © Sadie Krier (CC-BY-NC) (from inaturalist.org, obs. 198254605) Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Field Reports Summer Time Mushrooms! With all the fog we have been having along the coast, aided by summer lawn irrigation, there are lots of mushrooms fruiting in the wetter locations. Michael Wood • September 1, 2001 Amanita pantherina. © Chris Evers (CC-BY-NC) (from inaturalist.org, obs. 2763070) Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

Vegan Mushroom Broth (Chef's Treat) Use this broth as a base for a non-dairy mushroom soup, vegetable soup, or just float a few veggies and herbs in it and serve as a light first course. by Bo Letos Boletus edulis. © Shahram Tavakol (CC-BY-NC) (from inaturalist.org, obs. 331615746) Method In a large soup pot, heat the oil on medium-high. Add the onions and fresh mushrooms, and cook until they shrink and develop a deep brown color (5 to 8 minutes). Toss in the carrots, celery, parsnips, thyme, bay, rosemary, and dried oregano. Sauté for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the garlic and sauté for another 2 minutes. Season with 1 tsp salt. and a dash of pepper. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir until it coats the vegetables (like a roux). Stir in tomato paste and wine. Raise heat to a boil, and vigorously scrape the bottom of the pot to blend all the flavors for about 2 minutes. Add 6 cups of water and the dried porcini, bring to a boil again, then lower the heat. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Strain the broth into a serving bowl, or into jars. Pick out the cooked mushrooms and set aside, along with a splash of the broth. (Discard the remains of the carrots, celery, parsnips, thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf.) Refrigerate the broth for up to 1 week, or freeze it. You should end up with about a quart of broth. Chef's Treat Purée the cooked mushrooms with just a splash of the broth to create a cup of rich, velvety soup base that you can enjoy immediately. Optionally, thicken the puréed mushrooms with a cornstarch slurry, mashed potatoes, cooked white rice or cannellini beans; or simmer uncovered to reduce the purée down; or add a roux of flour and olive oil and simmer until thick. If you want to stretch your treat into 2 servings, pour it over veggies or noodles. Recipe contributed: January 2013 This broth takes a bit of time, but it stands head and shoulders above packaged broths from the store, and it freezes well. It was adapted from a recipe in Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison’s Kitchen . Objective: Soup Total Time: 1 ¼ hour Yield: 1 quart broth Suggested Mushrooms: Porcini (Boletus edulis, Boletus regineus, Boletus rex-veris) Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) Join FFSC or renew your membership to access the rest of this content. Join FFSC Login as an FFSC member to access the rest of this content. Login Ingredients 1 cup dried porcini 6 cups water 4 tsp. light sesame or olive oil 1 large onion, chopped 1 large carrot, chopped 2 celery stalks, diced 1 small parsnip, peeled and chopped 4 sprigs thyme sprigs 1 bay leaf 1 rosemary sprig 1 tsp. dried oregano ¾ lb. fresh porcini (or shiitake and/or scraps and trimmings from other recipes) 4 garlic cloves, crushed Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 1 to 1 ¼ Tbsp. tomato paste 1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour 2 cups Merlot, Cab, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, or other dry red wine Previous Recipe All Recipes Next Recipe

News & Stories / Field Reports September Seasons and October Rains I pause to reminisce about September and the beginning of our mushroom season. What a start, with our wonderful 25th anniversary dinner followed closely by the beautiful Echo Summit foray at Lake Tahoe. Wendy Wells • October 1, 2009 Volvariella bombycina. Photo by Taylor Lockwood (taylorlockwood.com) Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

2013 Speaker Schedule : Room 1 Friday 3:30 PM Kicking and Screaming: Dragging Mycology into the 21st Century with the Help of Citizen Scientists (aka YOU) Christian Schwarz Friday 4:45 PM Mushroom Toxicology (Friday) Henry Young Friday 6:00 PM Introduction to Wild and Edible Mushrooms David Rust Saturday 10:30 AM Zen and the Art of Mushroom Hunting Debbie Viess Saturday 1:30 PM Tales from the Cryptogams - Twelve Alternative Lifestyles from the Kingdom Fungi. Beware! Sex, Death and Insanity lie ahead Christian Schwarz Saturday 3:00 PM Introduction to Mushroom Identification Phil Carpenter Sunday 10:30 AM Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms of California Debbie Viess Sunday 12:00 PM History of Mushroom Dyes Dorothy Beebee Sunday 1:30 PM Mushroom Toxicology (Sunday) Henry Young Sunday 3:00 PM Introduction to Mushroom Identification Mark Gillespie 2013 Speaker Schedule : Room 3 Friday 3:30 PM Mycorrhizotopia: fungi are the puppet masters of the universe Britt Bunyard Friday 5:00 PM Cooking Demonstration Chef Bob Wynn, Jeff Emery Saturday 11:00 AM Medicinal Mushrooms Dr. Christopher Hobbs, Ph.D., L.Ac Saturday 1:00 PM Wheel of Fungi (Saturday) David Arora Saturday 3:00 PM Cooking Demonstration Chef Cal Stamenov Sunday 11:00 AM From Aflatoxins to Zombies: weird weird weird fungi Britt Bunyard Sunday 1:00 PM Wheel of Fungi (Sunday) David Arora Sunday 3:00 PM Cooking Demonstration with Wine Pairing Chef Maurice Dissels

News & Stories / Field Reports Mushrooms are Everywhere! Mushrooms are everywhere once you start looking... This beauty was photographed by Deb (at Verve Coffee Roasters on 41st Avenue)! Ram Aria • December 1, 2010 Can you see the mushroom? Photo by Debbie Johnson Photo by Sue Willis Sometimes they match the colors of the leaves... You just need to look twice! They’re here — now get out and find them! We'd love some samples to exhibit at the 2010 Santa Cruz Fungus Fair while you're at it! Look very, very carefully at the first image below... Hmmm. See anything? Maybe just south of the redwood cone? Craterellus cornucopioides. Photo by Bradley Dunbaugh Craterellus cornucopioides. Photo by Bradley Dunbaugh Craterellus cornucopioides. Photo by Bradley Dunbaugh (To be viewed while listening to Flight of the Valkyries at top volume...) Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

Mushroom Bisque I usually look at my recipes and then wing it, so quantities are guesstimates. The liquid needs to be varied to get the right consistency of the bisque. by John Spaur Mushroom Bisque in a Teacup. Photo by John Spaur Method 1. In a heavy skillet, heat butter. Add the onion and sauté to caramelize; add garlic during the last 1-2 minutes to soften but do not brown the garlic. Put the onion garlic mixture into a blender or food processer. 2. Sauté the shitake mushrooms in butter to brown a bit and put into the blender or food processor reserving a few to use as garnish. 3.Sauté the maitake mushrooms in butter to brown. I cook these separately because they are moister and take longer to brown than the shitake. Place the mushroom in the blender or food processor reserving a few for garnish. 4. Add the vegetable stock to the onion/mushroom mixture in the food processor or blender and puree or blend until smooth. Be careful when starting the blender because the hot mixture will expand and blow the top off of the blender and spill the hot mixture. Pulse quickly before blending on high speed. You may need to do this in batches and add more vegetable broth. This is where you can add the porcini broth with water and white wine. The porcini broth will add salt so be careful. 5. Pour the blended mixture into a soup pot and add the white wine if you have not added it already. Add the bay leaf and thyme. Simmer for a few minutes to a boil or just under. Add the cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cayenne to taste. Heat up and cook a few minutes longer. 6. Remove the bay lead and stir in the sherry just before serving with the reserved mushrooms as garnish. Recipe contributed: December 2014 Objective: Soup Total Time: 30 minutes Yield: Serves 4 Suggested Mushrooms: Matsutake (Tricholoma magnivelare, Tricholoma matsutake, Tricholoma murrillianum) Porcini (Boletus edulis, Boletus regineus, Boletus rex-veris) Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) Join FFSC or renew your membership to access the rest of this content. Join FFSC Login as an FFSC member to access the rest of this content. Login Ingredients Butter as needed divided use 1 onion, diced 1 small clove of garlic, minced 8 oz maitake mushrooms, sliced 3-4 shitake mushrooms, sliced 1 14.5 oz can vegetable broth (more or less) ½ C heavy cream (more or less) ½ C white wine (more or less) ½ cube porcini bullion dissolved in a little water 1 sprig fresh thyme 1 small bay leaf Salt and pepper to taste Ground nutmeg - smidgen Cayenne pepper - smidgen 2 Tbls dry sherry (to taste) Previous Recipe All Recipes Next Recipe

News & Stories / Culinary Committee — Whats Up? So, will it be lots of early rains this year? We've had 0.4 inches so far. Rene Seltzer • October 1, 2000 Collybia nuda. © MJ Nehl (CC-BY-NC) (inaturalist.org, obs. 332550168) Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Mycology & Art News Early Fruitings that Don't Require Rain It's odd to be writing about the mushroom season in August, when the prospect of rain is months away. Still, there are those early fruitings that do not require rain. Henry Young • September 1, 2002 Agaricus augustus. © Karen Offerein (CC-BY) (from inaturalist.org, ID 345223859) Agaricus augustus , the Prince, fruits in the summer and early fall. A. augustus is related to the common button (and cremini and porcini) mushroom, Agaricus bisporus , found at the market, but with a sweeter almond/anise aroma and taste. This usually is a large mushroom, reaching dinner plate size. The cap is a light tan overlaid with darker fibrils. The flesh of the cap stains a deep yellow when bruised and smells of almond/anise. The gills are pallid when young turning through pink to chocolate brown in age. The stem is about as long as the cap is broad, with a skirt-like annulus. The surface of the stem below the annulus is shaggy. Agaricus augustus. © tovyawager (CC-BY-CC) (from inaturalist.org, ID 359437814) Agaricus augustus cap. © tovyawager (CC-BY-CC) (from inaturalist.org, ID 359437814) Agaricus augustus. © joqatana (CC-BY) (from inaturalist.org, ID 140003307) Agaricus augustus. © snarlsdarwin. (CC-BY-CC) (from inaturalist.org, ID 171088725) Two other mushrooms which can often be found around this time are Laetiporous gilbertsonii (Sulphur Shelf) and Pleurotus ostreatus (Oyster Mushroom). Check out some of our other pages for more info about these mushrooms: What is Not to Love About The Prince? (Agaricus augustus) Four Dry Season Mushrooms To hone up on your ID skills, join our ID classes or drop in at our monthly meetings from September through May. Bring in any mushrooms (the whole mushroom) that you find, in paper or wax bags. Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Don't Forget Mushrooms Just Because It’s Summer! Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Continental Picnic — 2001 Report On Saturday, April 7, for our Continental Picnic, we resorted to 'Plan B' due to threats of rain. Rene Seltzer • May 1, 2001 Local Boletes. Photo by Phil Carpenter Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Writings Memories of Matsutake I grew up picking matsutake in the pacific northwest with my dad. We joined the first chapter of the Puget Sound Mycological Society and would go on field trips. It is one of my most precious memories and in the Northwest. The whole Japanese community buzzes with matsutake talk in the fall. Wendy Tokuda • March 3, 2016 Tricholoma murrillianum (magnivelare) (matsutake). Photo by Hugh Smith I was struck when I visited Mendocino for the first time because so much of the vegetation there was simliar to the Northwest and felt like it would be good for matsutake. In the Northwest the host plants are blue huckleberry, salal, and doug fir. In California, I'm having to learn about the strikingly different host plants for mushrooms I grew up picking. My mom wrote an essay about them, reprinted below. Memories of Matsutake (September, 1983) Indian summer brings some golden weather but the air has a sharp edge. There is frost on the grass some mornings and windshields have to be scraped. Now is when the Japanese community in Seattle perks up it ears for the first reports of the pine mushroom "matsutake". Thus begins the annual ritual of autumn. "Hear Yamamoto got some matsutake from someone. Must have come from Rainier area. It's only the middle of September.", George says when he comes home from visiting a neighbor. "Oh", I reply but I think to myself that now he won't be able to stay still. Is it going to be this coming weekend? No, we're retired so we can beat the crowd by going Thursday perhaps. "Let's take a run out there since the weather's so nice anyways, " he says. Anyone else?" I ask. "I'll call Bob and John, " he replies. Wednesday night I make some rice balls and teriyaki chicken, and George gets his hiking sticks, compass, and a cotton sack for carrying the mushrooms. Thursday morning, Bob and John come by at 7, old men but they are grinning like little boys that know something. Bob's driving, and we load our gear in his old Buick truck and climb into the back seat. "Too bad it didn't rain a little more last week. I think it's been too dry. We'll try Crystal Spring, they come out early there." "You going to take us to your secret spot this year?" George asks Bob. "No use taking secrets like that to the grave." "I'm taking them," says Bob. They start talking about a neighbor that had a stroke a few days ago. It used to be that so and so's wife ran off with someone or see that new barmaid at Bush, but lately it's talk and isn't so cheerful. Yet I don't feel as upset as I used to get about people getting sick or dying. I guess there isn't time to waste on feeling sorry for those who drop dead when I feel like I dodging bullets myself. George has snuggled into the corner of the seat and is dozing off. I feel it's not fair to sleep when Bob has to drive. "How come Mary didn't come?" "Someone has to work. She's watching the shop today." I forgot that not everyone has retired. "Too bad" I say but already I'm yawning and feeling warm. I try valiantly to go on. "How's your daughter getting along with the new baby?" Bob starts to describe the baby boy, how it looks Japanese one day and Jewish the next, but then despite all my efforts I fall asleep. The car jolts to a stop and both George and I wake up. We seem to have arrived someplace. I glance at my watch and discover it's been an hour and half ride. "Remember this place?" John says. I look out to see a huge mountainside of tree stumps. "Where are we?" I ask. "It's by Blueberry Creek." That beautiful forest and all those mushrooms reduced to an expanse of sawed off stumps. We are silent. Every year some former haunt disappears and a familiar place we're looking for is wiped out. Over and over, to become old is to find ourselves strangers in our own world. "We're not getting any matsutake here." says Bob and he starts up the car. We drive on some bumpy roads by so many beautiful creeks and forests and every place looks good, like it might be a spot we ought to stop and explore. Suddenly John says, "Hold it. I remember this place. Just a little ways in, I know a place." We tumble out of the car, stiff after nearly two hours of riding. I feel for my compass and whistle in my pocket. Bob has opened the car trunk and we grab our walking sticks and bags. I brought a little basket so the mushrooms won't get ground together with the dirt. The men start drinking tea and I have just a sip, holding back because thre are no bathrooms in the forest and I'm with three men. Bob bangs the trunk door down and John is already in the woods. I can see his orange knit cap bobbing up and down as he hurries toward some spot. George holds back to wait for me and he shouts to the other two, "let's meet back here in an hour and a half". We start trudging toward the forest, stepping over bushes and I think about Christmas. I must have stepped on some fir and it's fragrance of the holidays floating through the woods. The brush on the edge of the woods disappears and it's easy walking now. I try to keep up with George as he tramps ahead of me. Already he has forgotten me and his head is down looking for signs of matsutake, trying not to miss any suspicious white cracks in the ground. My vision is always half of his back as the idea of being lost in the woods terrifies me and it's the sight of the trees, the woods, the feeling of being embraced in the world of nature that I seek. Once again I feel at home under the quiet trees, apart from the crush of human entanglements. I press on the outside world drops away. There is only the occasional crack of twigs, the sudden scurrying of a chipmunk, the flash of a bird in flight. George and I are as we were when we first met. I follow in silence and we are suddenly in a clear space covered with bright green moss. Over the moss grows some little white mushrooms. Their caps are white, light, and small. Their thin stems are almost invisible. I feel a sensation of floating. These mushrooms seem to be suspended, motionless, and I understand why fairies are associated with these delicate ethereal mushrooms. I stand for a moment and stare at the lovely sight. I wish my children and parents were here with me now. Eventually the children will enjoy the same trip, some day, but alas, these joys are no longer for my parents. It was on a long ago October day when the autumn skies were gloriously blue and clear like today when I saw Dad for the last time. George had gone mushrooming the day before and I took two matsutake for him. His wrinkled brown face was all smiles, his eyes brightened and I could feel worlds of past memories unfoling in his mind. "George went to the Cascades yesterday," I said and then rushed outside to pursue some errand. As I started driving off, I saw him waving goodbye from the window. That turned out to be the last time I saw him alive. Mom called about 5 o'clock that day and said Dad hadn't returned. After I left them he had taken one of the two matsutake or perhaps the beautiful day must have pushed him on to visit other friends. He walked further and further, finally taking the bus to the Public Market where a friend had a flower stall. Was he bidding farewell to every one? He boarded a bus in the 5 o'clock downtown rush and suffered a heart attack. Do we pick a time to go? I think he did. Tricholoma magnivelare (matsutake) Suddenly as I stand mezmerized by the floating mushroom caps, I see something and I can't believe it. Near my feet there is a crack in the mossy floor and I see that something white is showing under the moss. I hurriedly lift the dirt and moss, and there is a matsutake. The fragrance is unmistakeable as I use the pick of my walking stick to dig it out. I lay it on the green moss and see that this stem is a good inch and a half in diameter and the white shaggy cap, not fully opened, hugs the stem. The first matsutake of the season. It's like seeing an old friend. No other picked or seen later in the season will be as wonderful. Suddenly, I feel alone and I call out for George. There is no answer. I look up and the gently swaying tops of the trees merge together layer after layer into the distance. It is like staring into deep waters. I fumble around for my whistle and realize my throat is dry. I blow frantically so that anyone for miles around can surely hear me but there is no answer. I put the mushroom in my basket and tell myself to stay calm. I take out my compass but realize I hadn't taken a reading on the way in. If only I hadn't stopped. Knowing George's relentless speed I should have kept up with him. I decide to stay put and keep blowing my whistle. Finally I hear a whistle responding but I can't tell which direction it's coming from. "George, George," I keep screaming, repeating, determined not to lose his response. Suddenly I can fathom the direction and I shout, "Don't move," and start trudging in that direction hanging on to my basket and stick. After an interminable mad scramble I catch sight of his red Scottish beret. "Were you lost?" he asks. He hadn't really missed me. "Got one, huh?. That's a beauty," he says. I want to explain to him the terror I had just experienced but he seems to be in a world of his own. Besides there is no time because he starts pushing ahead, always running this way and that to follow up on all the little clues that seem to beckon him from all over the forest floor. I have my one, and I now feel my only interest is not to get lost. It's the first time I got one before he did and I realize his eyesight isn't as sharp as it used to be. He used to have 20/20 vision but lately he's been thinking of getting glasses. Still his mushroom sense is sharp, he seems to smell them out, and my the time this trip is over he'll have far more than I do. He always does. Sure enough at that moment he's stooped down and he's yelling for me to hurry. Climbing over a few logs I reach him by the base of a tree and he's found three, no, it turns out to be five as he uproots the first few. "Only reason I saw it, the deer had eaten the cap off of one and it was sitting there completely exposed." He dusts off the brown needles and the bits of dirt. How different from the old days when he just threw it into the bag, dirt and all, rotten ones and all. Now he admires them, each one, takes time to clean it. Then he pats the dirt down over the disrupted ground and we start out again. "Its going to be a good year, " he says and I notice there are all sorts showing here and there. There are the shiny little orange cups in a line running over the logs. There are the purple ones and those that look like toasted rounds of bread. The brown velvet caps that remind me of animal backs. Once in a while I skirt around bear and deer droppings, reminding me that we humans are not alone. Sometimes I actually catch the scent of deer but I don't recall ever running into one. They must hear us lumbering through the woods from long distances away. I glance at my watch and tell George it's time to start back. "Just that little spot over that log," he says. Sometimes it's harder to get George out of the woods than to find the matsutake. "No, let's give ourselves at least twenty minutes to find our way back. You know how you hate it when others don't get back in time." So reluctantly he pulls out his compass and we start our trek back. But all the while we are trudging his eyes keep scouting all over the ground and indeed he does find a few. "Isn't it funny you walk over the same path and you always find some you missed." I agree but I don't find anymore. When we return, Bob and John are already waiting. The truck is open and they are looking for lunch and beer. I look for the tea and see their matsutake spread out in 2 separate wooden crates, carefully arranged on fresh fir boughs. There are seven in one and three in the other. George and I arrange ours in a box together. There are ten, my one and his nine, some only as big as a thumb. "George, I think it's mother must be crying for that one," I say, pointing to the little one. "Yeh, but look at this one," he says, picking one up that looks like it must weigh a quarter pound. "I found it next to the one eaten by deer." We all pause to admire it. The cap is shiny, as if sheer silk is drawn over it. Some sunlight must filter in, even into these dense woods to give a sheen to the slightly tan cap. The shaggy stem has bits of thick soft veil clinging to it. There are signs of rich black loam clinging to the upper part of the stem but the base is gray with dry dirt. The twisted stem gives the feeling it has struggled to rise out of the ground and triumphed. I sigh in wonder and George is smiling. Tricholoma murrillianum (magnivelare) (matsutake). Photo by Hugh Smith Everyone in the party has found matsutake, a rare and joyous event for a first trip of the season. Of course, we intend to take in a few more spots after a little rest. I think to myself, we all made it again. Together. How nice. I untie the white dishcloth wrapped around our lunch box and pass the rice balls to Bob, John and George. Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Lost: The Companion's View Reality Check: Dispelling a Myth Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Field Reports Foraging in Alaska in 2008 Fred and I took a family trip to Alaska this summer and stayed at Bill & Gerri White’s lodge in Sterling. It was lots of fun. Bill has hosted groups from the FFSC in past years, and we hope he’ll think about doing it again. Deb • September 1, 2008 Fred Chin and Debbie Johnson picking lovely Agaricus silvicola. Photo by Kerry White Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts The Great Alaska Foray 2010 2009 Alaska Foray Travelogue Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article