This past weekend I did something that I've wanted to do for quite a long time, I learned how to mushroom forage and identify. While this is strange to most people, it is amazing to me. The forests around our world have prizes, like an easter egg hunt, for us to explore and find.
We arrived on Friday at Evans Lake Camp in Squamish and settled in to our cabin. On Saturday morning we met the rest of our group that made up 25 in total. We spent the morning doing class time (so thankful for handouts to refer to!!) and then we headed out for a gorgeous hike in the woods in the afternoon to collect Golden Chanterelles, Winter Chanterelles, Angels Wings and Elfin Saddles. We learned so many great ID procedures and checked our books and programs for our others mushrooms we'd picked for those purposes. On Sunday, we picked more Winter Chanterelles and pickled them to take home.
We were also fortunate enough to find an AMAZING Lobster Mushroom. This is a crazy non-mushroom actually. It starts as an inedible white mushroom called Russula Brevipes and then this mushroom is infected with a mold that turns it into an edible Lobster Mushroom. It's got a slight lobster smell and flavour and when it's cut it looks like lobster meat. Very cool!! We also found numerous Matsutake Mushrooms (Pine Mushroom) on our way out of camp.
Needless to say, dinner last night was steak and mushrooms!! All sorts of great mushrooms, sauteed only with butter so that their flavours could be tasted fully. I LOVE MUSHROOMS!
I'm headed out today to our forest behind our home to see what I can find. I'm sure there are some great prizes. Now I know how to do some ID and what could be deadly or inedible, I'll be sure to be careful.
My friend and I sure had a great time! Our adventures are going to continue!
Love to all!
Di
xo
:)
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