Mushroom Foraging 101: How to Begin

Are you curious about mushroom foraging, how to begin, or where you might even start? Read on to learn some very basic basics – provided by self-learned amateur Ed Corley.

Forty MPH Mushies

“Stop the car!” my wife, Lori, says.

“What?

“Pull over! Right here.”

“Wilco.” I reply, glancing in the rearview for following vehicles. I reign in Walter, our faithful 2006 Honda Element, and pull to the shoulder and back up. Fortunately, there is no traffic, so reversing the 100 yards or so to Lori’s sighting is no problem. She has, once again I surmise, spotted a cluster of roadside mushies. At 40 mph no less!

One might legitimately conclude that locating mushrooms from a speeding car would be impossible, but if one has their “mushroom eyes” peeled, it is really not that hard. We have spent countless hours scouring beautiful forests in the Sugar River Region and beyond for mushrooms. Being in the New Hampshire wilds is always a special treat. There, we are often rewarded with all kinds of mysterious mycelium, wildlife sightings, and the peace that only nature inspires. The image of a corduroyed hunter armed with basket, knife and staff wandering the woods, may be emblematic but it’s certainly not the only way to forage and find wild edibles such as fruit, vegetables, and mushrooms. We have discovered “tons” of mushies right along the road in forested areas, towns, and even big cities, where old growth oaks have been preserved in parks and green spaces including our own backyard.   

Yellow Mushroom on Moss. Image Credit: Chris G on Pexels.

Mushrooms are all around us, frequently right under our proverbial noses. There are so many of them in fact, that it can seem confusing about what is what. It is true that some mushrooms can be deadly if ingested, and when looking for mushrooms, one must always be circumspect. 

DISCLAIMER

So, this might be a good place to remind the reader that what I have to say here about finding and identifying edible mushrooms is strictly from my own amateur experience and should not, in any way, be taken as advice on how to properly do so. The cultivation of knowledge about this work must be undertaken with caution and deliberate education. What I will share here is our personal practice and understanding of foraging for wild, mushroom table fare. I say practice because, like any worthwhile endeavor, good, thorough practice is necessary for successful mushroom identification. It is not a casual venture.

Foraging Mushrooms – How to Begin

As I mentioned in the previous blog, our first, real success at finding edible mushrooms, and plenty of them, started with narrowing our focus to mushrooms that mainly grew on, or at the base of trees both living and dead, upright and fallen. A short list of those follows.

Mushrooms growing on a tree. Image Credit: KoolShooters on Pexels.

1. Maitake, the dancing mushroom, commonly called hen of the woods. Dancing mushroom because maitake often grows in huge bunches at the base of oak trees. Find one of those bunches and you may be dancing with joy! We found one clump so big we ended up selling ten pounds of it to a chef in a fine dining establishment.
2. Oyster mushrooms are a fine eating mushroom and easily stand out on dark stumps, dying trees or fallen logs. They are saprophytic, meaning they get food from digesting dead, organic matter. The Pearl Oyster is very common in the Sugar River Region and the delicate white flesh looks just like the ones commercially grown. Timing is important to the harvest lest bugs get there first.
3. Dryad Saddle, or Pheasant Back mushrooms are also quite easy to spot and identify. Early spring seems best, but we have occasionally found them through the summer and fall. They are a shelf mushroom and can grow very large shelves on elderly trees like maple. The pattern on the top of the mushroom resembles the feathers on a pheasant. They are delicious sliced thin and pan fried. Yum!
4. Chicken of the Woods, not to be confused with Hen of the Woods are choice. Usually a bright orange to creamy-red, they easily stand out on upright or fallen deciduous and conifer trees and logs. They taste remarkably like white chicken meat and vegetarians and vegans prize them because they can be added to nearly any recipe. For example, we enjoy them in a cream sauce over pasta or rice or a pot pie. 
5. Puffs. Yep, puffs. You’ve probably seen their big sisters growing in pastures and lawns which are giant puffs, bone white and though edible, bland in flavor. They can grow quite large. The choice little ones grow on fallen logs or even on buried dead limbs. These little fellows mature to about the size of the end of my thumb. It’s easy to tell when they are good to harvest because, like their big sis, the flesh inside is only paper white and firm when edible. Their fresh, nutty flavor is delightful in soups and stews. We dehydrate them to add to recipes all year long. 
6. Finally, last but hardly least is Lion’s Mane. This is a highly sought after mushroom both for the table and the medicine chest. It’s a bit more difficult to find but the snow-white tendrils are quite easy to identify. It grows in smallish clumps. We usually find it in the crevices of old fallen logs, and on the ends of logs. You have to search a bit but boy, is it worth it. The tender flesh is delectable added to almost any recipe. Whenever you find a clump, you feel like you’ve discovered gold. Lori and I will cover the medicinal properties of this mighty mushy later on.

So, that’s six mushrooms that grow on trees. Six mushrooms that are usually easy to identify and delicious to eat, both fresh and preserved. You’ll notice that I haven’t gone into much detail about how to specifically identify those mushrooms. I haven’t because it’s best, actually imperative, you learn to do that independently. Here’s how we did it.

Libraries, Bookstores, Computers, Oh My!

We started by doing lots of reading both online and in books. Lots of books with great big, colorful pictures. And, online, of course where you can enlarge a picture for close-ups. If you focus on the big six I’ve mentioned, you’ll quickly see it won’t be that hard. You can find these mushies all around, you just have to be on the lookout. Find and successfully identify even just one of these species and you’ll feel like a regular Indiana Jones. Better yet, you can begin to relate to our Native American brothers and sisters who lived before us on the banks of the Sugar River and foraged the same mushrooms I’ve described here.  

Before I wrap up with references, I’m going to briefly allude to some of the other mushrooms we find that do not grow on trees, mushrooms that have taken us a little longer to identify confidently enough to eat and use for medicines. Some grow out of the ground. Some have look-alikes that require more careful inspection and research. With that properly done, they are now as easy for us to spot and harvest as the tree mushrooms we started with. 

Aborted entoloma, commonly known as shrimp of the woods, honey mushrooms and “stumpers”, boletes, black trumpets, morels, inky caps, chanterelles, coral fungus, bear’s head tooth, and giant puffs are some of the ‘shrooms we find and eat. Chaga and Reishi are medicinal mushrooms we harvest as needed. There will be another post entirely dedicated to the medicinal tinctures Lori makes from foraged berries and mushrooms. 

Flat-lay mushroom and vegetable arrangement. Image Credit: Engin Akyurt on Pexels.

Referential Particulars

A good place to start your quest to identify the tree mushrooms I’ve mentioned is to acquire a good field guide. The best, in my opinion, is The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms. A long name for a concise, compact woods companion I hate to be without when trying to identify any mushroom. Good, though small, color pictures of hundreds of mushrooms, clear written descriptions about season, habitat, range, look-a-likes and more. Listed is each mushroom, often with spore print idents. Gotta love the Audubon guide. Get one if you can.

The Peterson Field Guide to Mushrooms of North America is also a good reference to have. Read a book, any book, by mushroom guru Paul Stamets, a pioneering mycologist with a breathtaking knowledge of everything mycelium.

And finally, if you haven’t already, watch Fantastic Fungi – a fascinating film about the magical world of mycelium, featuring interviews with Paul Stamets and Michael Pollan. If you don’t think mushrooms are important to us, I believe you will after watching it. 

In my next post, I’ll talk about what the heck we do with all the stuff we forage. Lori will chime in with helpful tips about cooking and preserving what we find. In addition to mushrooms, we’ll talk about roots, fruit, and elderberries. And we will offer some of our favorite recipes and recommend a cookbook or two. There is a beautiful, wild world of bounty out there just waiting for your discovery. Now is a great time for mushroom foraging in the beautiful and bountiful Sugar River Region!