Meeting October 4

Talk: Introduction to Mushrooms

Welcome back! The first meeting of the new season will be on Monday, October 4 in the usual location, Room 101 at the Casa Del Prado in Balboa Park.

Our president Sam Andrasko will be giving an introductory talk on where mushrooms come from and how they grow. He will introduce us to some of our local fungi and provide some terminology to help us understand and better communicate with other fellow mycophiles. We will get a chance to gather information that will help us on our way to better understanding the mushrooms in our area and hear what fun things we will be able to experience in our up and coming meetings and workshops. Yes, we will be having workshops this coming year on subjects such as identification, growing shiitake on logs and myco-culinary arts.

Please join us as we kick off our first meeting for the 2010/2011 myco-season.

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All-California Club Foray - Jan 2011

Albion, California - January 28–30, 2011
Join mushroomers from all over the state for the fourth biannual All California Club Foray, to be held at the recently-renovated Albion Field Station. We will collect fungi in the fabulous Jackson State Forest, near Mendocino.

Foray Mycologist is Oluna Ceska, a botanist/talented amateur mycologist from Victoria, BC. Fortunately, if your travel budget is short this year, you can meet Oluna and work with her right here in CA, at the All CA Club Foray. Oluna will present her "Little Brown Mushrooms DeMystified" lecture on Saturday night, as well as assist us both in the field and the lab.

But of course, all mushrooms, brown, white and multi-colored, big and small, will be given equal weight in the lab! With luck, we'll even have Dimi and Doug along for the ride, as well as many of the other talented, local and long-distance taxo-geeks that pepper our state and country.

Registration is now open. The cost is $175 per person. All meals Friday dinner through Sunday breakfast are included. Pre-registration is required. Contact Debbie Viess for more information: amanitarita at yahoo dot com or 510-430-9353.
To learn more about this foray, visit: http://bayareamushrooms.org/forays/accf_2011.html

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Mushroom Views

• Check out this collection of time lapse fungus videos from Cornell.
• Taylor Lockwood - Mushroom Fever
• Big mushrooms down under, and more of them
• Scroll down the page to the red link to the morel sporulation movie.

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Mushroom News

• Mushroom Riches
• Mushroom Medicine
• Mushroom Poison
• More Poison (pay-per-view article in Science)
• Antidote
• Measuring Trees

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Bolete Book

North American Boletes - A Color Guide to the Fleshy Pored Mushrooms

Alan E. Bessette, William C. Roody, and Arleen R. Bessette
Paper $45.00s 978-0-8156-3244-3

Reviews
“The first comprehensive guide to a major group of wild mushrooms, the boletes, in North America. . . . Amateurs and professionals concerned with boletes will consider this book a standard reference.”—Choice
“A must for bolete lovers of all persuasions.”—Plant Science Bulletin
Description
North American Boletes is the first comprehensive guide to an extraordinary and highly prized group of mushrooms known for their beautiful colors, distinctive features, relative abundance, and edibility. The scope of this work goes beyond the identification of species. The authors consider the symbiotic relationship that boletes share with higher plants and trees, their geographical distribution, and new information regarding the macrochemical test reactions of the boletes; they also describe several new species. The book’s combination of aesthetically appealing and scientifically accurate color photographs and extensive descriptions makes it a standard reference work for bolete identification in North America. 396 pages, 2 black-and-white and 454 color illustrations, appendixes, glossary, references, indexes
Authors
Alan E. Bessette is a mycologist and professor emeritus of biology at Utica College and is the author of numerous books, including Mushrooms of the Southeastern United States and Milk Mushrooms of North America: A Field Identification Guide to the Genus Lactarius, both published by Syracuse University Press.
William C. Roody is the author of numerous books, including Mushrooms of the Southeastern United States.
Arleen R. Bessette is a mycologist and botanical photographer. She is the author of eleven books, including The Rainbow Beneath My Feet: A Mushroom Dyer’s Field Guide, also published by Syracuse University Press.
Website: www.SyracuseUniversityPress.syr.edu

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What’s Cooking!

Fungi As Food

As the end of the local corn season approaches, you may be able to find fresh Huitlacoche in some markets. I have found it at Chino Farms in past years.

IRAPUATO, Mexico — It's now an established scientific fact: Smut is GOOD for you. Corn smut, that is.

For years, scientists have assumed that huitlacoche (WEET-LA-KO-CHEE) – a gnarly, gray-black corn fungus long-savored in Mexico – had nutritional values similar to those of the corn on which it grew. But test results just published in the journal Food Chemistry reveal that an infection that U.S. farmers and crop scientists have spent millions trying to eradicate, is packed with unique proteins, minerals and other nutritional goodies.

And here's a bonus: agro-economists have found it can sell for more than the corn it ruins.

"We had no idea huitlacoche could actually synthesize significant nutrients that don't even exist in corn," says Octavio Paredes-Lopez, one of Mexico's leading food scientists.

"Who cares about the nutritional value? The flavors are amazing!" said Steve Sando, a grinning Napa Valley epicurean whose booming Rancho Gordo speciality food company grows and sells heirloom beans, corn and other indigenous "New World" ingredients.

(Read the full article here)

More information on Huitlacoche from the Cornell Mushroom Blog.

Sample it at Ortega's, a Mexican Bistro located in Hillcrest on the corner of Third and University.

Huitlacoche and Portabello Taco Trio
the huitlacoche (pronounced weet-lah-KOH-che), a mexican delicacy, is sautéed with portabellini mushrooms and topped with cabbage, avocado, fresh pico de gallo and a drizzle of medican crema. served with vegetarian black beans - 15.95

And A Recipe

Rice with Huitlacoche: Arroz con Huitlacoche by Karen Hursh Graber

Also known as arroz negro, or "black rice", this is one of the easiest ways to start cooking with huitlacoche. It is prepared like the traditional Mexican red rice, which needs to be soaked in hot water, rinsed of its starch in a colander until the water runs clear, and left to dry before cooking. It makes a nice vegetarian meal served with a vegetable sauté of the season's bright green zucchini squash, tomatoes, onions and garlic cooked in a little olive oil.

Ingredients:
1 cup rice, soaked 15 minutes in hot water, rinsed and allowed to dry
1/2 medium white onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1/2 can huitlacoche, or chopped, fresh-cut huitlacoche from two ears of corn
2 cups hot chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup fresh corn kernels (optional)
salt to taste

Preparation:
Sauté the rice, onion and garlic in the hot oil until the rice is golden.
Add the huitlacoche and cook until the juices that run out evaporate.
Stir in the hot broth and the corn, if using, plus salt to taste, lower heat and cook, covered, until the liquid is absorbed.

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Recipes of the Month

Two sources for a "Recipe of the Month".
BAMS, and MAMS

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Fungi of the Month

Now there are two "Fungus of the Month" sites:
Tom Volk's long-running series at : http://tomvolkfungi.net/.
And a new one at: http://www.bayareamushrooms.org/mushroommonth/index.html.

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Liability Waiver Forms

Participation in SDMS Forays requires a signed liability waiver. To save time at the start of forays, you can download a form here, sign it, and turn it in with your membership renewal.

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SDMS Information