January Meeting
Monday, January 8^th

The January meeting will be on the 8^th, to avoid the holiday.

This will be another "Cook and Taste" event.  Bring snacks, goodies, or mushroom dishes to share, and your own favorite beverage.

If you would like to demonstrate your favorite mushroom recipe or cooking technique, bring whatever you need.  There are no pots, pans, dishes, or implements in the Casa Del Prado kitchen.  There is a stovetop, but no regular oven.  There is a microwave and a refrigerator.

If you are planning a demo, email Paul at paulmaschka@mac.com, so he can keep track of who needs stove time.

 

El Cariso Foray Jan 6

LAMS will be holding its first foray of the 2006-07 mushroom season at the El Cariso "Big Woods" in the Cleveland National Forest on January 6, 2007 (Saturday) 10:00 AM-2:00 PM. SDMS members are welcome. Foray leader will be Steven Pencall

Directions: From the San Diego Freeway, I-5, in San Juan Capistrano, drive EAST approximately 22.5 miles on Ortega Highway, State Route 74, to the paved side road (Long Canyon Road) to Los Pinos Forestry Camp.  Turn LEFT and park off the road 100 yards north of the highway.

From I-15 in Lake Elsinore, (Central Street exit) drive WEST approximately 11 miles on State Route 74 and turn RIGHT on the side road to Los Pinos Forestry Camp (Long Canyon Road) and park off the road 100 yards north of the highway.  NOTE: You will pass a ranger station and the El Cariso Oaks store on your left before you reach the side road to Los Pinos Camp.

Please note that as of December 18, conditions are only marginal for a foray.  There has been some rain in the Santa Ana Mountains, but less than what would be needed to really start a big mushroom fruiting.  However, if additional rain falls between now and the foray things can only improve.

If conditions merit further collecting, we may visit other locations nearby.

Please allow yourself enough time to reach the foray site--typically around 1.5 hours from either the Los Angeles or San Diego metro areas.

As usual on all forays, bring a lunch, water, and warm clothing.

Web page for the January 6 foray is at: www.lamushrooms.org

Foray Notes

#1. In keeping with LAMS policy, all foray participants, members or not, will be required to sign a liability release in order to participate in the foray.

#2. You will also need a forest parking permit called an "Adventure Pass" to park in the National Forest.  "Adventure Passes" are available at National Forest ranger stations and at many sporting good stores, such as REI or Sport Chalet.  One day permits are $5.00 and annual permits are $30.00.  Parking passes may also be for sale at the small general store in El Cariso Village just east of the foray site.

#3 I also ask all members to refrain from collecting in the announced foray location in the 10 days prior to the foray on January 6. "Poaching" on announced foray sites before a group event diminishes the foray experience of many people for the benefit of a few (or one). This kind of activity has caused hard feelings in other mushroom clubs. LAMS has been remarkably free of this kind of divisive behavior. Let's not start now.

 

Think Fair

The 2007 Fair Poster is available on the SDMYCO.org web site. Look on the Habit(What We Do) page, and click on the link below the poster for a printable version.

 

Email List for Forays

Most forays are announced by email.  If you are not on the list, see the Info box on page 5 or the SDMS web site for instructions on how to add yourself to the list. 

SDNHM Specimen Collection Project

To make it easy for more of our members to stay informed about the project, and maybe get involved as well, we have added a section to our SDMS web site.  There are a number of documents posted there about the project, including a list of the things that need to be done.  See :

www.sdmyco.org/SDNHMCP.htm, or go to sdmyco.org, select the “What We Do” link, and look for the link for the SDNHM project.

Many hands make light work. Help! Many of the tasks can be done by one person, and brought to a meeting for approval by the group. Your participation will help us to get all of this done before another season goes by.

Pt. Reyes MycoBlitz III

by Debbie Viess
 from the BAMS web site

 

The Bay Area Mycological Society (BAMS) took a lead role in organizing this year's Mycoblitz, and amidst the good science, a good time was had by all. Although the inclement weather kept some folks away, there were plenty of people collecting in the field. A surprising number of fungi were found, despite the preceding dryish weather.

In addition to the many BAMS participants, we had representatives from The Mycological Society of San Francisco (MSSF), Sonoma County Mycological Association (SOMA), Humboldt State University, University of California Berkeley, San Francisco State University, and Harvard! Our Harvard colleagues were Dr. Anne Pringle, delighted by the abundance of Amanita phalloides in the field, a graduate student and a postdoc from her lab, and an NPR reporter who was traveling with them.

I hunted with Ben Wolfe, a Harvard grad student ecologist, and Brian Perry, currently with SFSU, and a Harvard alumnus. We had a great time collecting mushrooms in mixed habitat, despite the pouring rain. Besides David Rust and I, other folks who graciously offered to take groups out into the field were Peter Werner, Ron Pastorino, Terry Sullivan, J.R. Blair, and Darvin DeShazer, who introduced his students to the joys of hunting mushrooms in the rain!

Once we returned to the Bear Valley Visitor Center, our fabulous pool of taxonomists got to work. Darvin DeShazer was an invaluable resource for the rare and unusual mushrooms. Dr. Else Vellinga was in high ID mode, and swept from table to table, intent upon her work. Dr. Terry Henkel made the long trip down from Humboldt Sate with a number of his students, and made a nice addition to our crew. Both Dr. Tom Bruns and Dr. John Taylor from UC Berkeley were there, and J.R. Blair from SFSU. We managed to do a thorough presort and some on-the-spot identification prior to the mushrooms being transported to UC Berkeley. A number of fine taxonomists, including Dr. Dennis Desjardin from SFSU, chose to eschew the field portion and show up for the hard work of identification at Berkeley on Sunday. And of course, members of the Pt. Reyes staff were also present, cooperative and collegial, especially Ben Becker, our primary liaison with the Park. Although Ben referred to BAMS as the lead club several times on Saturday, I hastened to correct him that in fact the Mycoblitz was a cooperative venture between all of the Northern California clubs; working together, we can make a difference.

Special thanks to SOMA for donating funds to allow us to purchase coffee and goodies for the crowd, and extra special thanks to my husband David Rust and Tom Bruns for organizing the blitz and making it all possible. We "serious" mycologists (both amateur and professional) were also joined by several newly "be-mushroomed" members of the public, and even folks from local California Native Plant Society chapters attended.

We'll do it again on January 20th, with a mini-Fungus Fair on the 21st. Join us for big fungal fun, and a chance to participate in meaningful "citizen science." Go to www.bayareamushrooms.org for details, closer to the event.

 

About the Author

Debbie Viess was trained as a zoologist, but was seduced away from work with feathered and fuzzy creatures by the marvelous world of mushrooms. When she is not in the field hunting fungi, she is photographing, drawing, writing or talking about them to the general public. She is a Co-founder of the Bay Area Mycological Society, Northern California's and NAMA's newest mushroom society.

Harvesting by the Basket What France’s Diners Crave

By Craig S. Smith

New York Times, Nov. 16, 2006

CHANTRAINE, France — Claude Villiere, wicker basket in hand, set out into the dense woods beyond this sleepy village to hunt his prey: cèpes, better known in the United States by their Italian name, porcini mushrooms.

He is one in an army of part-time foragers who fan out through the country’s forests until the frosts of November, filling markets across France with humid mounds of chunky white pieds de mouton, or sheep’s feet; golden girolles; black trumpets of death; and cèpes, the beefy brown toadstools that are the royalty of wild mushrooms.

It is a remarkable feat, given the quantities of autumnal fricassees, mushroom-spiked omelets and fungus-flavored sauces that the French consume, using hundreds of tons of wild mushrooms a year. Every bite leads back to a walk in the forest.

The epicurean adventure is not without its dangers. Last month, the French health authorities warned mushroom enthusiasts yet again that they should be absolutely sure of what they eat after a dozen people were hospitalized - three in intensive care - with mushroom poisoning over the course of just two weeks in western France.

Every now and then, someone succumbs. Two elderly brothers died near Bordeaux two years ago after eating deadly 'death caps', or Amanita phalloides, which account for most mushroom fatalities. They apparently mistook the pale gray fungus for "agaric des bois," known in the United States as wood mushrooms.

There is even a lingering danger that some mushrooms could be tainted with cesium-137, which settled like snow over parts of Europe after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Mushrooms absorb and concentrate heavy metals or radioactive isotopes found in contaminated soil.

Mr. Villiere, 53, dismisses those concerns and insists that it is hard to mistake the most delectable fungi from toxic varieties. But following him through the woods proves otherwise. A novice accompanying him on a recent trip repeatedly picked what looked like cèpes only to be told they were "Satan’s boletes," which "would give you a good purge" if eaten, Mr. Villiere said. He sliced open each specimen, and the white flesh quickly turned a telltale inky blue.

Doubting foragers can take their fungi to any French drugstore for an expert opinion because all pharmacists here are trained mycologists. In rural areas, they regularly sort through baskets of mushrooms, picking out the toxic ones.

"Agaric jaunissant gives us the most trouble," said Catherin Leconte, the pharmacist in Chantraine, pointing to a picture of Agaricus xanthoderma, the poisonous mushroom’s Latin name. She said that people confuse the fungus, known in America as a "yellow stainer" because its white flesh turns yellow when bruised, with the tasty Agaricus campestris, known in the United States as the field mushroom or the meadow mushroom.

Mr. Villiere says he learned everything he needed to know from his mother, which is how most French foragers learn. "I have never had a problem," he said. "But I only eat what I pick myself."

Some foragers go out before dawn with miner’s lamps on their foreheads because mushrooms - especially cèpes - shine in the light. But Mr. Villiere prefers the daytime, and spends a few early hours each morning alone, hunting for champignons sylvestre.

He keeps enough to eat and sells the rest to a local depot, where they are sorted by size and sent by truck through the night to Rungis, the sprawling, fresh-produce clearinghouse outside of Paris.

Local laws limit mushroom hunters from gathering more than a few quarts a day, and fungus wardens patrol some of France’s most popular foraging spots. One person in southern France’s Cévennes National Park was recently fined for having picked 150 quarts of mushrooms in a day.

But mushroom hunting is, by nature, a clandestine affair and the rules are regularly broken.

"We all have secret places," Mr. Villiere said. "If you see someone, you don’t go directly to your best spot. You walk around until they’re gone."

There is usually one big growth in June and another in September, and everyone knows that cèpes will "push" a week or so after a soaking rain. At those times, the woods quickly fill with foragers creeping quietly among the trees like deer.

There are hundreds of wild mushroom varieties, but only a dozen or so that are commonly eaten and just a handful that are collected for commercial sale. Mr. Villiere paused to pluck a reddish-brown fungus from the shadows of the forest floor.

"Ah, a gourmelle rose, this is the most beautiful one," Mr. Villiere said, peeling back the cap’s skin to reveal a whitish meat beneath. "It’s very fine, better than cèpes. This melts in your mouth."

His favorite fungus, he said, is the "gris de sapin," which comes only with the first frost, when the other mushrooms die.

With his basket nearly full, Mr. Villiere returned to his car and drove to the home of Daniel Vujeic, 50, who runs a network of depots that buy mushrooms from foragers across the Vosges region. The foragers are responsible for cleaning the mushrooms. Mr. Vujeic’s 18 depots deliver the goods to him in the early evening and he and a handful of workers sort them by size and ship them to Paris the same night. His trucks arrive in Rungis at around 4 a.m. Within hours, the mushrooms are sold to buyers for markets and restaurants across northern France. By nightfall, many will be gracing a plate.

Mr. Vujeic, the son of a woodcutter who grew up picking girolles while his father was working, says he moves about 150 tons a month during the June to November season, though the quantity doubles when the mushrooms are pushing. Prices fluctuate wildly, but cèpes in some areas at certain times retail for more than $25 a pound.

Still, pollution and an increasing number of mushroom hunters have taken their toll on France’s mushrooms. Most girolles, the first mushrooms to be commercialized half a century ago, now come from Russia, Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine.

"They are beautiful, and they are cheaper," sighed Mr. Vujeic.

 

Searchers find man by his iPod’s glow

Corvallis Gazette-Times

A lost mushroom picker was spotted and rescued after search teams saw the glow of his iPod early Friday morning.

Cold, tired and complaining of aching feet, 25-year-old Pini Nou of Vancouver, Wash., was spotted by a member of a Benton County Search and Rescue unit in the deep woods of southwestern Benton County at 1:12 a.m., according to acting Benton County Emergency Management Coordinator Peggy Peirson. Nou was lost in the Dawson Creek and Oliver Creek roads area.

The underbrush was so thick, it took the searchers a full 22 minutes to reach Nou, who, lacking a flashlight, had been trying to use the faint glow of his iPod Nano display as a light source. It took several more hours to get him safely out of the woods, and searchers didn’t get back home until around 6 a.m.

"And wouldn’t you know, this was on my first day as acting program manager," Peirson added.

Nou had joined his mother, an experienced outdoorswoman, for a mushroom hunt.

"She comes down here regularly, and she likes to pick mushrooms," said Peirson. "Her son has never done this before, and she said, ‘He’s a city boy.’"

After he got separated from her, she spent a couple hours searching for him, then enlisted the help of employees at the nearby Hull-Oaks lumber mill. After they were unable to find him, with nightfall coming, they called for help.

Peirson called up about 20 members of local search-and-rescue units, including Marys Peak Search and Rescue, Benton County Amateur Radio Emergency Services, Benton County Sheriff‘s Mounted Posse and Corvallis Mountain Rescue at around 7 p.m., and they raced to the scene— Nou was lightly dressed and had very little equipment, and the night was getting cold.

Nou, however, helped searchers by making calls from his cell phone when he could find a signal, describing his surroundings as best he was able.

"We worked with the Hull-Oaks people, who were wonderful," Peirson said. "Very knowledgeable about the area." We had little bits of information "it was like a detective case."

In the end, Peirson said the happy ending was something the searchers would treasure - a needed morale booster after the lingering disappointment of the huge and unsuccessful effort to find Brooke Wilburger two years before.

But she added that it’s important not to wait until nightfall to call for help when someone is lost - and to never worry about "bothering" the searchers.

"People tend to wait to call us - by the time they call it in, it’s dark and you’re really under the gun, and it can be dangerous for search teams to be out there at night as well," she said. "We don’t in the least mind getting in our cars and going like mad just to turn around and go home (because a lost person has been found). That’s a good outcome for us."

 

What’s Cooking

Fungi As Food

While visiting relatives over the holidays, I had an opportunity to come up with something interesting for dinner out of whatever was on hand. We had two big meaty lamb shoulder chops, a package of fresh shiitakes and a couple of portobellos.  Rummaging in my sisters pantry produced some onions, garlic, herbs, and a container of mushroom broth.  The resulting stew was excellent, so I will share it with you.

Quantities are approximate, and you can be flexible depending on what you have at hand and how many people you need to feed.

 

Per serving

1 lamb shoulder chop (½ pound)

1 large clove garlic, cut in half

½  Tbsp Herbs De Provence

½ Cup red wine

½ Cup coarsely chopped onion

1 cup mushroom broth

½ pound mixed mushrooms (shiitake, portobello, or whatever)

 

Trim any excess fat from the chops.  Put it in a heavy-bottomed pan over low heat until rendered.  Use a pan large enough to hold the chops in one layer if possible, like a deep skillet or a dutch oven.

When the fat has rendered, drain the crispy bits on a paper towel and eat them as a snack with a taste or two of the wine.

Pour off most of the fat and reserve for later, leaving enough to coat the pan.

Over medium-high heat, brown the chops on both sides.  If they will not all fit in one layer, cook in batches.

Reduce the heat, and add the wine and broth.  Use just enough to cover the chops.

Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a gentle simmer.

Add the herbs, garlic cloves, and onion.

Simmer for at least an hour

 

Meanwhile, cut the mushrooms into thick slices, or halves if small.  We used shiitake and portobello, but any robust-flavored mushroom would work as well.

In a separate sauté pan, cook the mushrooms over medium-high heat in a little oil or butter, or a little of the lamb fat if you have plenty.  If desired, add chopped shallots or a pressed clove of garlic.  Cook until the mushrooms are nicely browned and the liquid has been evaporated.

Add the cooked mushrooms to the stew.  Remove from heat. 

Using a soup ladle, dip out as much of the liquid as you can (or pour it off very carefully into a large heat-proof measuring cup.

Put some of the reserved lamb fat into the sauté pan you used for the mushrooms, about 1 Tbsp per cup of liquid.  Add an equal amount of flour, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the flour browns.  Carefully but quickly pour the liquid into the sauté pan, stirring constantly, and cook until it thickens.

Pour the gravy back over the stew, and bring back to a simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors.

Serve with mashed potatoes, rice, or noodles to soak up the gravy.  We had ours with mashed potatoes, and a side dish of Brussels sprouts and pearl onions braised in cream.

 

Variation

To make this into a one-pot meal, after about an hour of cooking, add carrots, celery, pearl onions, potatoes, or other veggies cut bite-size and continue cooking until veggies are tender, then continue as above.

 

A note on Herbs De Provence

This is a handy blend of herbs available in most markets.  The mixture traditionally includes thyme, rosemary, marjoram, basil, and savory. Some blends include one or more additional herbs, usually fennel seed, bay leaf, sage, and lavender buds or flowers.  It should be added early in the cooking process to extract the most from the herbs.

Mushroom Events

SDMS Events

January, 6 2007

LAMS/SDMS Foray

El Cariso

See page 1 for details.

 

January, 8 2007

SDMS Meeting

One week later than normal.

 

February, 5 2007

SDMS Meeting

 

February, 18 2007

Mushroom Fair

10:30 am to 3:30 pm

Casa Del Prado

 

Other Events

January 13 & 14, 2007

FFSC Fungus Fair

Louden Nelson Center

Santa Cruz, CA

www.fungusfed.org

 

January 13 to 15, 2007

SOMA Mushroom Camp

Occidental, CA

www.mssf.org

 

January, 15 2007

LAMS Meeting

LA Natural History Museum

 

January 20, 2007

Point Reyes Mycoblitz

Point Reyes National Seashore

www.bayareamushrooms.org

 

January 26 to 28, 2007

All-California Foray

Albion Field Station

Mendocino, CA

www.bayareamushrooms.org

 

February, 10 & 11 2007

LAMS Mushroom Fair

LA County Arboretum

Arcadia, CA

 

Marin Mushroom Mania

On Saturday, January 27th from 9am-1pm, the Marin Art and Garden Center will host "Marin Mushroom Mania.”  MSSF will coordinate and staff the event, at which we plan to feature mushroom identification displays, cooking demonstrations, food and wine pairings, 2 talks, one covering Mushrooms in their Native Habitats, the other on Mushrooms in the Garden. There will also be cultivation and composting demonstrations, garden tour, book, poster and T-shirt sales, and more. On Friday, January 26, from 9am to 1pm, we will conduct collecting forays in various Marin locations, to be announced. Friday afternoon and evening will be for identification and setup, with a volunteer dinner Friday evening.

 

33rd Annual Santa Cruz Fungus Fair

Saturday - Sunday, January 13-14

The Fungus Fair is held each year in January in Santa Cruz at the Louden Nelson Community Center. The Fair is sponsored in association with the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. The weekend-long event features hundreds of species of local fungi presented in a unique fashion, and draws 2000 plus visitors each year. The Fair showcases speakers, cooking demonstrations, a special Kids' Room, and a taxonomy panel for identification of fungi. Many books and mushroom-related items are available for sale, as are wild mushroom delicacies.

The next Fungus Fair will be held January 13 - 14, 2007! A private reception for members of the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz Natural History Museum Association members will be held on the evening of Friday, January 12th.

See www.fungusfed.org for more information

Foray Report – Dec 15, 2006 - Felicita Park

    Five fearless foragers flocked to Felicita for the first foray of the season.  Braving a few sprinkles, we were well-rewarded for our efforts.  Honey mushrooms were fruiting abundantly along the stream, and scattered specimens of Lepiota Rachodes helped fill the baskets.  We all took home enough mushrooms for a tasty dish to start off the season.

    Species found included:
Agaricus sp (probably xanthodermus)
Armillariella mellea
Collybia dryophila
Coprinus sp (probably plicatilis)
Geastrum sp
Laetiporus gilbertsonii
Lycoperdon sp (or Bovista sp?)
Macrolepiota rachodes
Omphalotus olivascens
Several unidentified fungal objects.

The puffball had been stepped on, so it was not readily identifiable.

Collection Voucher Form

Below is a voucher form used by the FFSC when they collect specimens for their fair.  We might want to make a similar form, adapted to local conditions, to use for our fair collections.  If we ask our collectors to complete the form and bring it with their specimen, it would help the identification team.

Would someone like to work on a local version?  The FFSC version is designed to be printed four to a page.  I would suggest setting it up for Avery 3263 postcards, and printing them on card stock for ease of use in the field.

Printable version (pdf)

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SDMS Information