The Great Mushroom Hunt

The Great Mushroom Hunt did not begin in a forest. Like many excellent plans this one was laid while consuming some form of alcoholic beverage. In this instance the stage was set while wine tasting at the beautiful Leroux Creek Inn near Hotchkiss. The vitner, Yvon, let it slip that he had the previous day collected over 60 pounds of mushrooms in the surrounding mountains which he accessed via helicopter!

The mushrooms were beautiful especially the chanterelles, a pretty golden color, and according to Yvon the most delicious to eat (he's a french chef so I wasn't about to argue). 

Immediately inspired I snapped photos and took mental notes of his descriptions of the chanterelle and cep (or bolete) as he said they were fairly easy to distinguish. I was determined that I too would become a successful shroomer with or without a helicopter. 

And with that the Great Mushroom Hunt was born.

The very next day saw my father and I hiking up a trail through pine forests on a steep, wet north hillside which we had decided would be a good location to start. We were accompanied by Tikka the official truffle hound of the expedition who seemed greatly more interested in chasing down chipmunks than snouting out fungi. In the end she was off the hook for all around us where mushrooms. Big ones, small ones, chunky, willowy, slimey, chalky, orange, yellow, white, brown, red, spotty, with gills and without gills, there were a gazillion different kind of mushrooms and none of them looked much like the chanterelles or cep.

In fact it was rather overwhelming and worried we would poison ourselves by picking the wrong ones, we returned shroomless.

Day Two: We went to the booksellers in Aspen and bought "Mushrooming Without Fear: A Beginner's Guide to Collecting Safe and Delicious Mushrooms". Perfect, a simple checklist that would help us positively identify some good mushrooms.

Day Three: On the hunt again, this time with the book in my pack, we foraged through forests and meadows. With the knowledge that we were now almost pro's we collected several bags of mushrooms that we identified as larch boletes. However upon returning, Chad, the plant expert, explained that no larches grow in Colorado and since the larch boletes 'always' grow under larch trees we decided not to risk it and disappointedly threw them out.

Day Four: Finally the Great Mushroom Hunt meets with success!! Stalking through the forests we turned up numerous King Ceps and Red Cracked Boletes which also passed additional and heavy scrutiny in the kitchen. 

That evening we dined on huge mounds of mushrooms sauted with fresh butter, garlic and herbs from my vegetable garden. Delish!

The Great Mushroom Hunt continues every day I am out hiking in appropriate terrain. Now I always carry with me a supply of bags, a sharp knife and the knowledge that I can at least identify a cep. The chanterelles remain in hiding, the little nuggets of gold slow to reveal themselves despite my stalking. 

This past weekend I harvested another bounty of ceps.

Again sauted in butter, garlic and rosemary I served them over roast chicken breast and paired them with a tasty red cabbage slaw with cilantro and basil dressing, all grown in my vegetable garden. Yummy!

In other news the summer is winding down. The mountains have seen snow above 13,000 feet last week and frost lower down. The skunk cabbage, or california corn lilies, are succumbing to the pull of fall.

Even in the desert I have seen some small signs that fall is on it's way. It wont be long now but until then I'm still on the hunt for mushrooms.