Jon and I have been hunting for edibles all season and just yesterday we were alerted to some blewits under the cedar lined parking lots of a nearby school. I didn’t enjoy that foray, there was too much trash, and signs of disturbance, which is exactly why blewits are popping up, because they can, because it has been cleared and is free of duff.It occurred to me today that on a recent foray I had been hunting, in a foggy forest, with strangers. Hunting with no target, nothing goal driven, and as Terry S. (the trip leader from the Mushroom Society of San Francisco, MSSF) who posts weekly trips claimed, no promises. The mushroom hunt was more of a rambling. For me it was pure freedom. We set off of the path to wander under the fir, and madrone and like neon road signs in a unlit forest we noticed polypores galore, and just past the firs we discovered an edge habitat with shrimp Russulas in distinct stages of maturity.
Each fungi offered an opportunity for Terry to unearth the Latin name, the meaning behind the names and reasons to look for a stiff chalk like stem or a staining red or yellow mark. After investigating you soon realize that you don’t do ALL the tests for all the species, just the ones you may confuse with look alikes, or in the case of edibles, the undesirables. So the Cortinarius were out, the Suillus slimy, the Polypores were trailing on the logs; some cedar, some pine, and we sat in the sun drenched meadow in Marin for my first picnic of the year, albeit, minus mushrooms, with a few strangers.
I recommend hunting with strangers. There is no commitment, no race for the prize, and most importantly, no cleaning and cooking necessary.
