Sporadic Press
Journal of The San Diego Mycological Society
December 2005 Vol. 10 # 4
Meeting January 17
This month the meeting date and place are both different. The meeting will be on Tuesday, January 17th in Room 104 at the Casa Del Prado. Room 104 is directly across the courtyard from Room 101. This change is to make possible a very special event.
Our speaker will be Tom Volk. Tom may be the best-known of the professional mycologists, because of his wonderful web site and his appreciation of the role of amateurs in mycology. His topic will be The impact of fungi on humans and history. He sent the following description of the talk.
“Many fungi have been very useful to people, while others cause us nothing but problems. Many different fungi have affected history, from Chestnut blight to the Irish potato famine to sudden oak death. Many fungi are also direct human pathogens. Many molds are very useful to humans in drug, antibiotic and industrial applications, while others poison us with their toxins. We will discuss many of the ways that fungi have played and continue to play roles in our lives.”
The following is a short introduction gleaned from the web site: “I am a Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where I teach courses on General Mycology, Medical Mycology, Plant-Microbe Interactions, Advanced Mycology, Food & Industrial Mycology (with S.N. Rajagopal), Latin & Greek for Scientists, as well as Plant Biology. I am currently supervising six MS graduate students in Mycology. During my research career, I have been lucky to work on a variety of interesting projects on interesting fungi. I have also had the opportunity to travel a great deal. I love to give lecture to departments, as well as Professional and amateur mycologists.”
You can read much more at Tom’s web site, and check out the “Fungus of the Month”. Go to:
http://tomvolkfungi.net/
Tom will be speaking at the LAMS meeting on January 16th. It is possible that there will be a LAMS foray with him at El Cariso on Sunday, January 15th, if so, notice will be sent out by email.
Pre-meeting dinner
Will be at 5 pm at the Blue Water Seafood Market and Grill, 3667 India Street. You can check out the menu at www.sdreader.com/menus/
Upcoming Meetings
February 6th
We will try out a novel approach at our February meeting. The focus will be on edible wild mushrooms, with a “cook and taste” session. This will be a cooperative effort. We will need volunteers to track down wild mushrooms to sample, and to help with cooking and cleanup. We will also need some portable camp stoves, plus pans and utensils. We hope that the mushrooms will cooperate, and the folks at Specialty Produce will have an assortment of species for sale.
March 6th
A presentation by Gary Lincoff, best known as the author of the Audubon Field Guide to North American Mushrooms.
April 3rd ??
May 1st
The annual end of season potluck and party.
Mushroom Events
SDMS Events
January 17, 2006
SDMS Meeting
Note date change
No meeting on Jan 2
February 6, 2006
SDMS Meeting
February 19, 2006
SDMS Fair
Other Events
January 14 to 16, 2006
SOMA Mushroom Camp
Occidental, CA
www.somamushrooms.org
January 14 & 15, 2006
FFSC Fungus fair
Louden Nelson Center
Santa Cruz, CA
January 28, 2006
Myco-blitz at Point Reyes
Bear Valley Visitor Center
Point Reyes National Seashore
January 29, 2006
Mushroom Display
Bear Valley Visitor Center
Point Reyes National Seashore
Myco-Blitz Foray at Point Reyes
The Point Reyes National Seashore, the Mycological Society of San Francisco, and the Biology Department at UC Berkeley are collaborating on a project to document the fungi in the park. They will be joined by members of the Sonoma and Santa Cruz clubs.
For more information, you can contact David Rust, MSSF, 510 430-9353 incredulis at yahoo dot com
Truffles are worth the trouble
But one can't really fathom a truffle until one touches, smells, tastes and eats what some chefs refer to as "the black diamond."
By Gui Alinat
"The origin of the truffle is unknown; they are found, but none know how they vegetate. The most learned men have sought to ascertain the secret, and fancied they discovered the seed. Their promises, however, were vain, and no planting was ever followed by a harvest. This perhaps is all right, for as one of the great values of truffles is their dearness, perhaps they would be less highly esteemed if they were cheaper.
"Rejoice, my friend," said I, "a superb lace is about to be manufactured at a very low price."
"Ah!" replied she, "think you, if it be cheap, that any one would wear it?" - Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, 1825
170 years have passed since French epicure Brillat-Savarin wrote those words, and truffles still are not cheap. Nearly impossible to cultivate, their rarity makes them highly prized. And highly priced.
A recent charity auction at Christie's set a new record: $95,000 for a huge white truffle that weighed about 21/2 pounds.
Retailing at about $65 per ounce for fresh black winter truffles and $125 per ounce for fresh white winter truffles, this is a gourmet treat for exceptional occasions.
Exceptional is the taste too.
I could talk about intense, earthy flavor, the pungent scent of cooked wild mushrooms, subtle Gorgonzola cheese and a pleasant, rubbery smell. I could talk about autumnal aromas of woods, musk and decaying leaves, about the potency of the smell, one that could flavor your entire home if you left one small truffle on your kitchen counter.
But one can't really fathom a truffle until one touches, smells, tastes and eats what some chefs refer to as "the black diamond."
There are many types of truffles. There are the highly esteemed white and black winter truffles, in season now, respectively from Northern Italy and France's Provence, or from elsewhere, such as Spain, Poland or Croatia. There are the smaller, less pungent summer truffles, and the bland, chewy Chinese truffle.
Subvarieties abound. In Oregon and California, hunters have had success with an acceptable black truffle at a reasonable price. In some markets, the infamous, tasteless white truffle from West Africa is fraudulently stained to mimic the black truffle you can find at higher prices.
So, all truffles are not created equal. And neither are their gatherers.
It was common knowledge that truffles could not be cultivated. Yet, recently, some motivated, stubborn Frenchmen defied the laws of nature. The end justifying the means, they found a very winding way to produce truffles under oak trees. Exploiting the symbiotic relationship between a truffle and its host tree, the process is long, wasteful and sometimes unsuccessful. But they can, and do, cultivate truffles.
But mostly, truffles are hunted. Female pigs are attracted by the aroma that smells, at least to them, like sexual hormones of male pigs. They have been widely successful at finding truffles under oak trees. If you have ever witnessed this, you know that this almost always ends up in an absurd race between the pig and its owner, ultimately resulting in a fight for the precious truffle. Dogs, expensive to train but more mobile than pigs, are popular too.
Some older human hunters, helped by tradition, experience and a really well-trained nose, can sniff through the woods and find truffles, after they purposely parked their car on the opposite side of the hill, as a decoy to potential truffle sleuths. Truffle hunting is rarely witnessed by outsiders.
Like wild mushroom hunting, this is a murky business. I have memories of my late grandfather, a wild mushroom gatherer in the South of France, being extremely discreet and even reluctant to indicate his "spots."
In Northern Italy and Provence, during the season, you'll find truffle dealers in bars and cafes, faking innocence, hiding electronic scales and calculators in their pockets.
A recent visit to the Fresh Market in Clearwater brought a remarkable surprise. Many moons had passed since I last saw fresh truffles on the shelves of a bay area market. But here they were, smartly packaged, one good-sized truffle tucked into Arborio rice, unnoticed. I bought them all, for a reasonable $14 each.
Cooking with truffles is fairly easy. Classic combinations revolve around ingredients that will absorb their intense flavor. Naturally, potatoes, rice, pasta, polenta or eggs are all good supports to the truffles. Little or no cooking is necessary. Shave raw truffles on top of a salad, a risotto or mashed potatoes. Scramble eggs with a few chopped shavings. Truffles pair well with poultry. Some chefs roast turkeys, or free-range organic chickens with truffle slices inserted between the skin and the flesh.
If you make a sauce, like a port reduction, a shallot and mushroom or a cream sauce, you can add a few slices just before finishing the sauce. Brillat-Savarin, in his book The Physiology of Taste, recommended sautéing them in butter, cut into halves, with salt and pepper. Great if you can afford it.
From the St. Petersburg Times
Mushroom Fuel?
LiveScience.com
Researchers have discovered and copied the Shiitake gene, Xyn11A, which gives the mushroom the ability to produce the enzyme xylanase, which dissolves wood into sugar.
Scientists are experimenting transferring the gene into yeast, in which they have already produced xylanase. They are looking into whether it can be used for digesting rice hulls or other harvest leftovers into sugars to make ethanol.
Mold yields a sweet wine
By Karen Miltner, Staff writer, Rochester NY Democrat & Chronicle
For Heron Hill Winery co-owner John Ingle, there truly was a silver lining to last month's wet spell, which cast a cold, damp cloud over the tail end of the grape harvest season.
In mid-October, he discovered a purplish-brown hue was starting to take over the Chardonnays planted at Ingle Vineyard, his Ontario County estate vineyard on the west side of Canandaigua Lake. Soon, a spongy mold crept along the exterior of the berries, and by the end of October, much of the fruit on the once plump, green-white clusters had shriveled like raisins.
"There you are, a perfect infection," says a beaming Ingle, pointing to a cluster that has about as much appeal to the layperson as that long-forgotten cottage cheese in the back of the refrigerator. All around him on the east-sloping hill, a couple dozen pickers — home-schooled youth, locals hired from a newspaper want ad and Heron Hill employees — cheerfully snip the grapes into 5-gallon buckets, which are then dumped into giant bins set on the back of a truck.
Ingle is talking about Botrytis cinerea, a fungus that the French glorify as pourriture noble, or noble rot. If it strikes under just the right conditions, it's a golden opportunity for the winemaker. The resulting dessert wines, typically labeled as late harvest here in the United States, have unctuous, honeyed overtones that grow even richer after years in the cellar. The Rheingau region of Germany, the Sauternes region of France and the Tokaj region of Hungary all have long traditions of producing botrytised sweet wines.
Noble rot is pretty much dependent on Mother Nature. First, the grapes must be ripe so their sugar levels are at their peak. This summer's hot, sunny weather sealed the deal on that. Then there must be just the right balance and sequencing of moisture, dryness, humidity and temperature. Nine days of unrelenting rain in early October jump-started the Ingle Vineyard infection. Following that was a string of damp, misty days that helped the infection spread from a few vines to the entire Chardonnay planting.
The four dry, warm and breezy days before Halloween added the finishing touches, helping to dry out and shrivel the grapes so that the sugars and acids were very concentrated.
"I hate to say this, but if it weren't for the hurricanes, we wouldn't be so lucky," says Ingle Vineyard manager John Rodgers.
The last time Ingle hit botrytis pay dirt was eight years ago, when some of his Rieslings became infected.
"You could have (botrytis) two or three years out of 10," estimates Ingle. "Last year we had a ton of rain, but not enough sun to ripen the fruit beforehand."
But this particular infection is doubly rare because it struck Ingle's Chardonnay grapes. In fact, Ingle's case is the first that Tim Martinson of Cornell Cooperative Extension has heard of the beneficial fungus doing its magic on Chardonnays, which are typically harvested earlier in the season. Late-ripening Rieslings are far more likely to succumb to the mold, says the Finger Lakes grape specialist.
Ingle is not alone in his good fortune. Seneca Lake vintner Hermann J. Wiemer also harvested a small crop of noble rot Chardonnay on Oct. 21. "It was very beautiful, extremely botrytised," says Wiemer.
But as both Ingle and Wiemer acknowledge, waiting out the noble rot harvest is risky business. First, you're sacrificing healthy grapes that could be used in higher-yielding wines for a more labor-intensive crop that will produce far less juice and wine. Then even if you do have a "perfect infection" under way, a downturn in weather could spell a total loss.
Not wanting to push his luck, Ingle decided to pick the day before rain was forecasted. Another downpour could have either rehydrated the grapes or burst their skins so that they lost all their juice.
Not all botrytis rot is noble. The disease comes in more than one form, but if it's not the "pure" strain, you could end up with pourriture grise, or gray rot, which attacks the grapes in the earlier stages of their development, before their sugar levels are high enough to tame the fungal attack. (In mature fruit, the sugar actually helps to kill and regulate the mold.) A little gray rot in the harvest can be dealt with in the winemaking process, but once it has passed a certain level, most winemakers will refuse to use the grapes.
Often, a vineyard manager will spray to prevent botrytis, but because the Chardonnays were developing so well, Rudger and Ingle decided to forego the spraying this summer.
By last Tuesday afternoon, all the grapes had been pressed, and Thomas Laszlo is encouraged by the winemaking that's ahead. "The juice is perfect. Thick and concentrated. The sugar levels are around 33 percent," writes the winemaker in an e-mail.
This enthusiasm comes from someone who is no stranger to botrytised wines. Before coming to Heron Hill three years ago, the Canadian-born and educated winemaker spent five years working the Tokaj region of northeast Hungary. There, Laszlo made sweet Tokaji aszú, the Hungarian dessert wines that have been prized since the 17th century.
What is particularly exciting about this vintage is that it will be the first time Laszlo will age a botrytised chardonnay in wood. About 40 percent of this vintage will sit in new Hungarian oak barrels, the rest in steel tanks. Then the wines will be combined before bottling.
"I think what makes a wine like this special is that it's man working with Mother Nature. We see the possibility, we prepare, then we step back," muses Laszlo. "It turned out that the cooperation worked."
Mushrooms: Some for Mice, Some for Men
By : Emma Krasov, in the Castro Valley Forum
Due to an unusually dry November, mushroom season this year started only now, at the beginning of December. As they do every year, mycological enthusiasts are gathering in groups big and small to search for the earthy delights that can turn any ordinary home-prepared dish into a feast.
There are about 150 kinds of edible mushrooms that grow in the wild in Northern California, while worldwide there are close to two thousand edible varieties.
Mushrooms have a natural affinity for garlic, parsley, dill, and other fresh herbs. They add texture and flavor to pasta, rice and potatoes, fragrance to meat and fish, and substance to soups and stews.
Chanterelles that look like a ruffled yellow trumpet and smell like apricot, are best used in beef dishes. Morels, with their honeycomblike cone-shaped cap have an intense smoky aroma and are great with lamb and shellfish. Slippery Jacks have greenish-brown sticky caps, and are most valued when very small, marinated in a mixture of oil, vinegar and spices.
All these and plenty of other varieties can be gathered in the state parks of the Bay Area and beyond, such as Salt Point, Land’s End, La Honda, Big Basin, Point Reyes and others.
And as every year, some mushroom feasts will turn deadly... Maybe it’s just an urban legend, but in the dark past, in the lands far removed from the notion of human rights, rich gourmands used to have “mushroom men” at their disposal. Before serving fresh seasonal mushroom dishes to their guests they would make the man try the forest harvest and see if its at all edible.
Year after year, modern day adventurous eaters, turned self-proclaimed mushroom men end up in hospitals nationwide, having their stomachs pumped, and some even require an organ transplant.
"Mushroom-poisoned man home after liver transplant, offers messages on mushroom safety, organ donation," reads a news release of UCSF news office about a man who mistakenly ate a Death Cap.
While gathering mushrooms is an enjoyable activity that has it all — fresh air, forest ambience, and a great company of friends, it is always a good idea to have a recognized expert on board your expedition and never rely on guidebooks. Distinguishing safe mushrooms from the look-alike deadly variety is often a hard task.
Anyone who develops any symptoms after eating wild mushrooms should call the California Poison Control System Hotline: 1-800-876-4766.
Tasty Toadstool or Fatal Fungus? Federal Researcher Makes Call
By Erin Peabody, from the USDA Web Site
With names like puffball, fairy ring and bird's nest, it's hard to take some fungi seriously. But, as mushroom experts with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) know, even the most innocent-looking toadstool sprouting from your lawn can be a life or death matter.
This is an especially important reminder in the fall months, when mushroom hunters across the country are trolling damp grass and groves in search of savory, golden chanterelles, meaty maitake mushrooms and other edible fungi.
David Farr, who studies fungi and works at ARS' Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., knows firsthand the dangers of munching on a mystery mushroom.
For 20 years, Farr has been a point person for several Washington, D.C.-area hospitals treating patients who've eaten a suspicious, potentially poisonous mushroom. Treatment depends, in part, on how deadly the ingested mushroom is-which is why a quick and accurate identification by a fungus expert is critical.
In some instances, Farr has been able to rule out that the mushroom in question is lethal, allowing a patient to avoid the uncomfortable procedure of having his or her stomach pumped.
Technological advances, like cell phones and digital cameras, are making Farr's job easier. He used to rely on descriptions given over the phone, but hospital staff can now send him a digital picture of the fungal specimen in seconds.
Most of the cases Farr has encountered involve one of two groups: curious adults who can't resist nibbling on pretty-looking mushrooms growing in their yards, or young children who don't know better than to pluck a toadstool and take a bite.
In addition to extensive experience identifying mushrooms, Farr also helps manage the nation's largest collection of fungi, which is housed at the Beltsville, Md., laboratory.
To avoid unnecessary mushroom mishaps, Farr encourages anyone searching for edible fungi to use up-to-date guidebooks and identification aids.
ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.
Deadly fungi sprout in Marin
By Mark Prado
As the rain pours, a new crop of deadly mushrooms rises from the wet loam around Marin, and experts are warning against picking any fungi.
"They are quite abundant," said Loraine Berry of Ross, past president of the Mycological Society of San Francisco, as she pointed out a "death cap" mushroom, the poisonous Amanita phalloides, during pouring rain in Novato last week. "The only place they find them in California is under these coast live oaks. They love it here when it rains, and they are all over the place."
What’s Cooking?
Fungi as Food
While looking for recipes, I found two nice web sites with wild mushroom recipes. Here is one sample from each.
Scallops with Chanterelles and Port Wine Sauce
Because it is cooked with wine and wild mushrooms, this makes a very "special" light summertime dish. It's an excellent change of pace from the standard barbecue fare, and can be prepared in minutes. Spinach salad tossed with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, a dash of walnut oil, red onion, and crumbled bacon makes an excellent accompaniment.
Sauce:
1/2 cup butter
1 chopped shallot
2 pounds chopped chanterelles
1/4 cup white port wine
1/4 cup chopped chives
Melt the butter in a skillet, then add the shallots and mushrooms. Cook over medium low heat for approximately 10 minutes, or until soft. Add the port wine and chives. Keep this mixture over a low heat, stirring occasionally, while you cook the scallops. If necessary, thin with additional port wine.
Scallops
˝ cup butter
2 ˝ pounds scallops
coarsely ground black pepper
Rinse the scallops under cold water, then drain and pat dry. Melt the butter in a skillet and sauté the scallops and pepper over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the scallops turn white and firm. Add the prepared sauce to the scallops and mix. Heat through and serve piping hot over arborio or basmati rice.
Borrowed from the Wild Harvest web site.
http://www.wild-harvest.com
Salmon with Creamy
Black Trumpet Leek Sauce.
Salmon Filets for four people
( 2 lbs or more, preferably skinned)
Juice of half an orange
(or a little bottled OJ)
1/3 cup fresh ramps or leek greens sliced across in 3/4 inch strips
(substitute green, white or even purple onions... why not?)
1/2 clove of finely chopped garlic
1/2 to 3/4 lb of fresh black trumpets (Craterellus fallax or cornucopioides)
1/2 cup of white wine
1/2 cup of vegetable or fish broth
1/4 cup of heavy cream
(or half and half will do)
1/2 a stick of butter
Put the Salmon on a plate and coat with orange juice. Sprinkle with salt and set aside.
If using dry mushrooms reconstitute them by warming them in a pan with the wine for five minutes (or longer depending on the mushrooms). When you get to a boil turn it down to low and simmer. Set them aside and consider straining the wine if the mushrooms were gritty. There's nothing worse than sand in your teeth to ruin a great meal.
Chop the mushrooms to bite size. Melt the butter and add the garlic for a few seconds then the mushrooms. When the mushrooms are cooked stir in the leek greens until wilted and dark green. Then add the stock and wine and reduce by half.
Butter and broil or grill your fish while reducing the sauce. When reduced add the cream and season with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Spoon the mushrooms onto plates and place the fish on top. Garnish with finely cut leek greens and/or orange zest. Serve with Asparagus and oven roasted potatoes. Wow!
-Roy Reehil
Borrowed from The Forager Press web site.
http://theforagerpress.com
SDMS Information
The Sporadic Press is published monthly during the mushroom season, from September to May, by the San Diego Mycological Society.
Membership in the society is open to all who are interested in mycology. Membership dues are $20.00 per year, and include a subscription to The Sporadic Press.
If the date on your mailing label is highlighted in yellow, your membership has expired. Please renew promptly.
To join or Renew, send a check for $20.00 with your name, address, phone number and email address to:
Janet Fraser
1010 W. Upas Street
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 260-8420
We meet once a month from October to May on the first Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in Room 101 of the Casa Del Prado in Balboa Park. Meetings are free and open to the public.
Web Site: the SDMS Web
site is:
http://SDMyco.org
Mushroom Hotline: upcoming events and spontaneous forays are announced by email. To get on the list, go to this link and enter your email address.
lists.igc.org/mailman/listinfo/sdmyco
Newsletter Submissions Welcome
Send To:
Dave Grubb
2233 Manchester Ave # 1
Cardiff, CA 92007
(760) 753-0273
davegrubb at ispwest dot com
Officers:
President, Paul Maschka
Vice-president, Elio Schaechter
Secretary, Charlene Atkins
Treasurer, Janet Fraser