Foraging for Midwest Mushrooms
Just about every week of the summer, two of my friends get deep into the woods and forage for wild mushrooms. They have their spots near and far from the city, and I was lucky enough this past Friday to get to venture with one of them and learn about the edible native mushrooms in Midwest.
We drove to a few of their favorite places in Wisconsin, and that’s all I say about the location. To be honest, I wouldn’t be able to find my way back to any of them anyways, I was there more for the hike, experience and hanging with friends. There were a few mushrooms that she was looking for; chicken of the woods, black trumpets, and chanterelles.
The chicken of the woods were the easiest to spot with their bright orange tops. We found a lot of them, but unfortunately some of them were too far gone and completely saturated with water. I didn’t end up taking any of the bounty home with me, but my friend likes to eat them in stews because she says they have a meaty sweet flavor.
We only found a few chanterelles– less than eight, and they were hard to spot. It was sprinkling on and off throughout our hikes, so the water and wet leaves made it harder to spot them. Once we found a few, we kept looking around the same spot since they grow near each other but were unsuccessful. The trumpets were a wash as well, but we had so much fun looking.
I hope to go foraging again one day. I think what I enjoyed about it the most is that it forces you to slow down and look very closely at the ground. I can’t thank Molly enough for taking me out and teaching me about the edible native fungi that grow all around us, it was so much fun!