Right now I have a large paper bag full of some of the edible beauties awaiting a gourmet recipe. After a long warm summer, fall rains worked their magic, and an abundance of mushrooms grow literally overnight underneath thick underbrush in the wild forests of Cowichan Valley.
Mushroom gatherers are out in force, sneaking to their favourite treasure troves, whose location is kept top secret even from the closest of family and friends. Never mind, that it rains. Overhead branches pour deluges over anyone disturbing their waterlogged branches, and ferns, Salal and a multitude of waist high brush soak pants in minutes. Rain soaked forest floor makes Wellington rubber boots crash into slippery forest floor cavities.
But the rewards...oh, so delicious and fragrant! Fresh, with a woodsy moist scent, firmly textured, they make a meal to die for. And some people actually do just that - hence: beware! Either get your fall mushroom treat from a professional - or really learn the art of identifying the many capped beauties just asking to be picked and eaten.
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| Tomato red caps and very firm flesh, and growing to incredible size, the lobster mushroom has a very distinctive look |
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| Fluffy and creamy white (some or dark reddish blue like red cabbage) these mushrooms lack what is commonly called a cap. One can just fry them up, add them to pesto or soups, or coat them in a tasty batter and deep fry them - any which way, mouth watering. |
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| Even grocery stores stock these in the fall - at outrageous prices. The classic Chanterelle tastes delicious when sauteed in butter and combined with scrambled eggs, in creamy pasta sauces, with paprika schnitzels, added to a roast gravy, or stuffed into a Thanksgiving Turkey. |
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| However, it is 'look but don't touch' with most of the magical mushrooms which look attractive (or not) but are definitely not destined to be ingested by man or beast. |
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| Every self respecting witch of fairy tales keeps a few of there in her deep freeze: guaranteed to offer up an agonizing death. |
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| Medieval architects must have been high on magic mushrooms, to look at them close enough to be inspired to create lofty columns and filigree arches in the European Cathedrals of the High Gothic. |
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| Porcupine any one? A strange looking mushroom surface, almost like thick carpet of needles. |
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| Labyrinthine ribs adorning a mushroom cap |
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| Ochre and cream - soft colour combination |
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| Craters of the forest floor... |
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This specimen looked more like drift wood than a mushroom, but what unusual colours...
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| Convoluted shapes on a mushroom cap |
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| More than magic - in real life: fatal! |
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Once a year one makes the pilgrimage to Lake Cowichan Festival. Good to buy a mess of edible mushrooms, and for the adventurous, and opportunity to traipse 'out into the woods' with mushroom experts to get an introduction to the joy and pain of mushroom gathering.
Bon Appetit. |
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| No mushrooms in the shrubbery of my garden, but a little rabbit is cleaning up the last of the fallen apples from my tree. |
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| With a last look - for today - from my window, I am off to cook myself a mess of fresh mushrooms... |
