It's prime time for flavorful fungi in the North Bay
by George Lauer

To become an accomplished hunter of wild mushrooms, you need a vast new vocabulary of technical terms and precise botanical references.

Technical terms such as "shrump" and botanical terms such as LBM.

"Shrump" is a contraction of mushroom and bump (or hump, if you prefer).  It is a slight rise in the forest floor that indicates fungus may be lurking below at prime eating maturity, just before blooming above ground.  LBM stands for Little Brown Mushroom.  It is the mushroom hunter's catch-all appellation for thousands of not easily identified growths.  Less common but still important are LGM and LWM, for gray and white varieties.

"There are 3,000 to 4,000 species of mushroom in Northern California.  I don't think anyone knows them all by sight," said Charmoon Richardson, who knows a lot more of them than most people.

Richardson, who has been studying, collecting and cooking mushrooms on the North Coast for more than 25 years, offers forays and forest seminars through his company, Wild About Mushrooms, based in Forestville.

This is the height of mushroom season on the North Coast, and Richardson is busy.

Saturday, he'll lead a half-day expedition at Salt Point State Park.  Sunday, he'll teach a mushroom identification course as part of the Point Reyes National Seashore Field Seminar series.

Next weekend, he's one of the organizers of the eighth annual Sonoma Mycological Association's Wild Mushroom Camp near Occidental, a three-day celebration of fungus.

"This is definitely the time, and the North Coast is one of the best places anywhere for mushrooms," Richardson said.  Mushroom hunters on Richardson's forays range from first-timers who don't know a chanterelle from a bolete to veterans who can actually name some LBMs.

"For me, it's a good excuse to go for a walk in the woods," said Kathleen Esra of Elk Grove, near Sacramento.  She and her husband, Jerry, were part of a group of 13 who hiked into the hills above Salt Point with Richardson last month.

"You also learn a lot," Esra added, "and at the end of the day, you get a mushroom feast."

For some people, foraging becomes a habit.

"I heard them calling me," said Ron Lawrence of Lakeport during group introductions.  "I went on one of Charmoon's trips five weeks ago and the mushrooms are calling me back.  I have no choice in the matter.  I have to be here."

Some people bring cameras to document what they find.  Clare Carver, an artist from Napa, brought a sketchbook.  Her pen-and-ink drawings developed quickly and accurately and may eventually be incorporated in some of her finished work shown in galleries in and around San Francisco.

Richardson's standard half-day foray, which costs $25, includes an introduction to the basics of wild mushroom hunting, a running commentary on what he and his students find, and a cookout at the end of the hike when hunters get to taste the fruits of their labor.

"Butter and garlic is a good way to cook almost anything," said Richardson, "but I prefer some of these mushrooms grilled.  We'll experiment."

People pay attention to Richardson's culinary advice almost as closely as his advice on identifying mushrooms.  A former board member of the Sonoma County Culinary Guild, Richardson works with restaurants and wineries to create mushroom-themed dishes and events.  One of his mushroom concoctions won a first prize in an annual recipe contest held by chef John Ash.  Richardson, who worked with food writer M.F.K. Fisher for a number of years, has appeared on national and local television and been the subject of magazine and newspaper articles.

Saturday, Richardson's Salt Point hunters will be looking for hedgehogs, black trumpets, winter chanterelles, maybe some matsutake -- all edible, some more so than others.

"Lots and lots of mushrooms are edible, but just because you can doesn't always mean you want to," Richardson said.  "Tastes differ, of course, so you have to try things yourself before deciding."

Richardson stresses the first rule of mushroom hunting: "If you don't know what it is, find out before you eat it.  It's just common sense, but it needs to be said -- and repeated."

Richardson, as well as the Sonoma County Mycological Association, offers mushroom identification services by phone or on the Internet.  Both also teach you how to make definitive identifications yourself.

"There are toxic and psychotropic mushrooms that look like and sometimes are related to good eating mushrooms, so you have to be careful," Richardson said.  "But it doesn't mean you have to abstain.  If you like mushrooms, you're living in a great place."

Sonoma County in recent years has made its way onto the national mushroom map in part because of the annual Wild Mushroom Camp.  The three-day outing with noted speakers and writers over the Martin Luther King weekend in the mushroom-rich hills of Occidental has gained something of a national reputation.  This year's speakers include Tom Volk, mycologist at the University of Wisconsin; Gary Linkoff, author of the "Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms," and other fungal dignitaries.

Fee for the entire event, which includes cabin lodging and all meals, is $225.  For Sunday only, the fee is $100.

For reservations or more information on the Wild Mushroom Camp, call 773-1011 or go to www.somamushrooms.org.

MORE ON MUSHROOMS

Sonoma County Mycological Association, or SOMA,
 meets at 7 p.m. on third Thursday of the month, September through May
 at the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, 970 Piner Road, Santa Rosa.
SOMA Web site:  www.somamushrooms.org

For mushroom identification:
829-0596 or e-mail photos to:  muscaria@pacbell.net
 

Wild About Mushrooms:
Forestville-based company owned by Charmoon Richardson
Information: 887-1888:  www.wildaboutmushrooms.net