Most people when walking through the forest appreciate the quiet serenity, the dew clinging to the light green pine tips, or the light piercing the canopy in swirling golden shafts. These sights and the feelings that they evoke are a big part of mine and anyone else who grew up in the forests life, but the organisms that truly awe and fascinate me lie beneath the duff and decomposing forest debri, pushing their fruiting bodies up into the air, creating small lumps of earth only identifiable by a trained eye. These lumps of needles and leaves, when carefully removed, conceal delicious, aromatic fungal growths: mushrooms. 

My first experiences with mushroom hunting were with my dad and sister. He would show us the spots in the forest where he has been finding chanterelles, hedgehogs, and oyster mushrooms for over 35 years. My dad’s love for the forest combined with the excitement of finding food literally in the dirt, instilled in me a love of mushrooms, and the art of finding them. Like me, Rose Parker also first went mushroom hunting with her family.  “I’ve been mushroom hunting since I was pretty young,” she says. “It’s mostly been a family thing.”

The first mushrooms she and I encountered were amanita muscaria, the stereotypical red and white convex-capped mushrooms. These mushrooms are extremely locally abundant, but are very poisonous if consumed. Although poisonous, amanitas contain ibotenic acid and muscimol, both extremely psychoactive compounds. These properties have been used in remote lithuanian wedding ceremonies, according to Wasson, R. Gordon (1980), and by indigenous siberian people in festivals and rituals(Nyberg H. 1992). These psychoactive properties are only made available through careful preparation though, and for a beginner mushroom hunter, knowing the dangers of amanitas and to avoid them, is a crucial bit of knowledge.This knowledge is crucial because of a very common beginner mistake; mistaking death caps or destroying angels for coccoras. All of these are in the amanita family, but only coccoras(Amanita calyptroderma) are edible. Mistaking these mushrooms would result in a very painful death.

While amanitas are poisonous, there are many delicious edibles mushrooms that grow locally. “I was steered toward black chanterelles(craterellus cornucopioides),” says Rose, a mutual favorite.  The smoky taste and slightly rubbery texture of chanterelles is inimitable, and is exquisite paired with cream sauce and pasta. Among the most tasty are chanterelles, hedgehogs, and oysters. Locally, chanterelles and hedgehogs are most commonly found in areas where oaks, firs, and hemlocks are growing, and oyster mushrooms can be found on decaying logs.

Finding mushrooms is a calming and amazing experience. To witness the small products of massive organisms is humbling, and the ability to eat them is satisfying. To anyone wanting to start mushroom hunting, have a sharp knife, and do not eat a mushroom unless you are one-hundred percent sure of what it is.