Blog entry by Reece Evans

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by Reece Evans - Saturday, 23 December 2023, 2:10 AM
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In an earlier posting I mentioned mushroom hunting in Alaska.image.php?image=b1goat001.jpg&dl=1 At the conclusion of this article I am going to add still a number of more tips on how to assemble these most delectable fungi. First, let me explain to you one special mushroom seeking event that I neglected to point out in the previous article of mine.image.php?image=b1goat001.jpg&dl=1 It occurred to me and my then nearly eighty year old Dad over the banks of the Taku River back in the mid 1970's. My good friend, Ron Maas, had invited us to go to him as well as his wife, Kathy, at their now owned family business, Taku Glacier Lodge. Supplies usually arrived at the lodge by barge or boat, however, Begin your journey [https://www.thedailyworld.com/] people typically have there by float plane. Not merely was the Dad's very first ever flight in a tiny airplane, it was among the few times since arriving in America that he ever strayed more than a couple of miles from his home in San Francisco. His laughable comment to our hosts was, "My son cell phones me to say that we are living mushroom hunting together, but I've to fly all the way to Alaska on a jet and then take a float plane to get there - absurd."

Kathy and Ron operated the lodge and also the adjacent about 20 acres of highly forested land as a tourist attraction, but this morning the lodge was sealed to the public. So, the 4 of us had been going mushroom hunting. Ron had previously seen some big white-colored puffballs (calvatia gigantea) and he sought us to be able to see them and to ensure him that they were eatable It had been on a trail hardly wide adequate to accommodate Ron's old jeep pickup truck that we rode along looking for the puffballs but secretly hoping to find the elusive, deliciously popular king boletus (boletus edulis). After hours of fruitless tramping in the bear indicator loaded woods, I suggested that we have to maybe give it up for the day - the mushrooms simply weren't growing yet. When Ron saw a lot of scat that was currently steaming, he agreed. He got back into the jeep in a hurry. The majority people had been close behind - Dad and I now flooring the wide open tail gate and operating in reverse however looking for mushrooms. As we neared the open grassy area around the lodge however within 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'd in his hands one of the prettiest and biggest king boletus that I have already seen before and since. How he saw that mushroom with those outdated spectacled eyes of his is beyond me. Do it to say that one happy old male took that mushroom towards the home of the lodge, brushed it clean (you never clean mushrooms), cut off of thick slices, dipped them in eggs and melted butter, and after that breaded them. If you ask me he added some onion or garlic salt for added flavor. The resulting fried up feast fed almost all 4 of us unless we had been blissfully and completely sated. Dad departed for all those bountiful mushroom filled forests in Heaven in 1986, but all those sorts of remembrances will stay with me for good.

Now, the following are some additional suggestions. They're mostly found by using the search engines available here on the web. A few are from personal experience:

1. If you are unclear about the specie, don't actually try to consume any of it.

2. In case you do not heed the advice in #1 earlier, taste only a small bit of it. When it turns out to be poisonous, you'll probably only end up having a poor tummy ache.

3. Read all you can about the different species - the edible and the non-edible. Books with pictures of the numerous kinds of mushrooms are very helpful.

4. Avoid the amanita specie. There's one in that family that is delicious and hugely recommended. Many of the others of the identical specie typically look identical, but are both non edible or downright lethal. Even old timers have made mistakes with that specie - some deadly.

5. Depend on brand new texts when reading about mushrooms. Some of the older volumes are not as encompassing when it comes to data on toxicity, etc.

6. Finally, in case you are hunting mushrooms in bear country, be aware. Those animals can sometimes do you more damage than the bite of even the most suspect fungi.