Songwriter Junction

In an earlier posting I mentioned mushroom hunting in Alaska. At the end of this article I will add still a few more techniques to assemble these most delectable fungi. First, let me explain to you one special mushroom seeking incident that I neglected to point out in the earlier post of mine. It happened to me as well as my then nearly 80 year old Dad across the banks of the Taku River back in the mid 1970's. My friend, Ron Maas, had invited us to Check it - simply click the following post, out him as well as the wife of his, Kathy, at their then had family business, Taku Glacier Lodge. Supplies often arrived at the lodge by barge or boat, but men and women usually have there by float plane. Not only was this Dad's very first ever flight in a small plane, it had also been one of the few times since arriving in America which he ever before strayed greater than a few miles from his home in San Francisco. His laughable comment to the hosts of ours was, "My son phones me to say that we are being mushroom hunting together, but I've to fly all of the solution to Alaska on a jet and then take a float plane to make it happen - absurd."

Kathy and Ron operated the lodge and the adjacent about twenty acres of heavily forested land as being a tourist attraction, although this particular day the lodge was sealed to the public. And so, the 4 of us were going mushroom hunting. Ron had previously seen some large white puffballs (calvatia gigantea) and he needed us in order to see them and also to assure him that they had been nontoxic It was along a trail barely wide adequate to accommodate Ron's old jeep truck that we rode along searching for the puffballs but secretly hoping to get the elusive, deliciously popular king boletus (boletus edulis). After hours of fruitless tramping in the bear indicator filled woods, I suggested that we have to perhaps give it set up for the morning - the mushrooms simply weren't growing yet. When Ron watched a lot of scat that was currently steaming, he agreed. He got back into the jeep in a rush. The rest individuals were close behind - Dad and I now sitting on the wide open tail gate and operating in reverse but still looking for mushrooms. As we neared the wide open grassy area around the lodge but still to the surrounding forest, Dad yelled out a loud "STOP." Ron did just that, and Dad hurried off back into the woods. When he returned he had in his hands one of the biggest and prettiest king boletus which I've previously seen before or since. How he watched that mushroom with those old spectacled eyes of his is beyond me. Suffice it to say that a single happy old male took that mushroom on the home of the lodge, brushed it clean (you never clean mushrooms), cut off thick slices, dipped them in eggs and melted butter, and after that breaded them. I believe he added some garlic or onion salt for additional flavor. The resulting fried up feast fed all 4 individuals unless we were completely and blissfully sated. Dad departed for all those bountiful mushroom filled forests in Heaven in 1986, but all those sorts of remembrances will remain with me for good.

Now, here are some additional suggestions. They're primarily found by using the online search engine available here on the web. A few are from individual experience:

1. When you are not sure about the specie, don't even try to ingest any of it.

2. If you do not heed the advice in #1 above, taste only a little bit of it. When it seems to be poisonous, you will probably just end up with a poor tummy ache.

3. Read the things you can about the many species - the edible as well as the non-edible. Books with photographs of the various types of mushrooms are very helpful.

4. Stay away from the amanita specie. There is one in that family that is delicious and really recommended. Most of the others of the identical specie typically appear identical, but are possibly non-edible or downright lethal. Even old-timers have made mistakes with that specie - some deadly.

5. Count on brand new texts when reading about mushrooms. Several of the older volumes aren't as encompassing with regards to data on toxicity, etc.

6. Finally, if you are hunting mushrooms in bear country, be alert. Those animals can sometimes do you more harm than the bite of even the most questionable fungi.