Don’t you just love mushrooms? I have always been fascinated by them. They are like little gems that pop up in the woods and fields, lasting just a few days before they are gone again. So many shapes and colors and patterns, and a touch of mystery and danger. Their intriguing common names show we have a different, more informal relationship with them than we do with other things in the field and forest: Chicken Fat Suillus. Corpse Finder. Stinky Squid. Deadly Amanita virosa glows so translucently white it almost hurts to look at it. The name Destroying Angel is simply perfect.
Well, recently I was on the web looking for another foraging walk with Russ Cohen. All his tours were either full or a long drive away, then I saw his link to the Boston Mycological Club.
The BMC, whose website states is “The oldest surviving amateur mycology club of its kind in the United States” is running a series of fall lectures on mushrooms at the Harvard Herbaria in Cambridge. I missed the first one but I was glad to see I could make it to the second - “Identifying Boletes.” Our lecture was led by Noah Siegel, who is an award winning photographer and mushroom hunter. His grasp of the topic was impressive and comprehensive. This guy knows his stuff.
The Boletes are really common mushrooms in North America and contain some of the best edibles out there (the famous Porcini is one of them) They are fairly easy to identify, and there are no deadly ones. So, they’re a good place to start learning if you are interested in foraging. If that’s you, get yourself to a mushroom club and get some guides before you start chowing down.
There is still time to check out some great mushrooms in the Boston area before winter comes!
There are three more lectures in the series this fall - their schedule is here.
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