We headed out for my
birthday in hopes of finding a few coastal fungi in this drought.
Make sure you know the
landmarks when you’re headed out foraging. This spot was a ways down the road
from Nipple Rock….a landmark that the locals paint pink in honor of
the boob each year.
We searched long and
hard for mushrooms in the woods. It was a little frustrating to us to kick up
dust in a forest normally soggy wet and teaming with thousands of fungi this
time of year.
This is the driest year on record since the 1850’s (not that it was dryer back
then… that’s just when they started keeping a record!)
We did eventually find
a few straggler chanterelles, oyster mushrooms, a shrimp mushroom and a pig’s
ear.
Abalone found a pool of
water (luckily) at the base of a cliff she fell off. She swam for a while to
her heart’s content (too fast for a focused picture).
On the way out we
passed a huge black elfin saddle, then Justin found a scaly chanterelle (not
edible), and then we found a group of nice oyster mushrooms on a tree we had
all walked under before.
When all was said and
done our harvest was minimal in comparison to past years when we got bored of
harvesting hedgehogs and winter chanterelles because there were so many of them
to pick. But we still had a very fun time. I had a great birthday, and the
meals to follow were fantastic!
None of us had eaten a
shrimp mushroom before, and though all the features necessary to key it out
were obvious, we were all skeptical. But after consulting David Aurora’s
mushroom Bibles “Mushrooms demystified” and “All that the Rain Promises and
More”, we took a spore print and were ready to venture a small taste (with any
new food it is important you don’t eat too much in case you are allergic even
if it is not poisonous).
The shrimp mushroom was
great! And we are all now pondering seafood soups and chowders it might be
added to.
I was so excited about
our mushroom pizza I forgot to take a picture!
The next day, I did get
a photograph of our venison steaks in golden chanterelle cream sauce (steaks
courtesy of a friend of my brother’s girl)! I will be honest, I ate three whole
steaks! Venison is my favorite meat on Earth!
Keep the old ways
alive!
Mary,
ReplyDeleteSorry it took me so long to reply, I only just found that folks were commenting on my posts. Glad you enjoyed it! I can't sell you it, but I am always happy to trade!