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Spore to Spoon: Mushrooms in Oregon
In the 1990s, a pound of matsutake mushrooms harvested in Oregon fetched hundreds of dollars on the international market. This season, a pound of top-quality matsutakes went for as little as a dollar or two. As increased availability and a bountiful harvest have driven prices down, how has the mushroom industry in Oregon changed?
Vitaley Paley, owner and Executive Chef of Paley’s Place Restaurant in Portland, and Eric Bechard, owner and chef at Thistle Restaurant in McMinnville, have benefited from the fall in prices. They include mushrooms in many of their dishes, like one including big porcini mushrooms grilled whole with fried onions and sauce. It’s a completely vegan dish, but according to Paley, “it feels like you’re eating a hunk of meat.”
On this show we'll also speak with Bruce Newhouse, the co-founder of the Cascade Mycological Society. He started the Mt. Pisgah Arboretum Mushroom Festival, which showcases one of the largest collections of mushrooms on the West Coast. His favorite part about mushrooms?
Their invisibility. They’re in bread and beer and wine. We’re spectators just scratching the surface.
They're even in fancy desserts! Have you ever gone mushroom hunting? What was your experience like? What did you find? (If you want to try your luck without actually leaving your computer, check out this online forest products search from OPB's Oregon Story.) Do you have a favorite mushroom recipe? Care to share?
Tagged as: cooking · dining · economy · mushrooms
Photo credit: Telepathic George / Creative Commons
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Lots of great foraging happening on the coast this fall. This weekend, Chef Lee Gray led a group down the Drift Creek Falls Trail. Earlier, Chef Rob Pounding was featured in the TODAY taking a hike to a secret spot on the Siletz River. http://www.oregoncoasttoday.com/mushroomhunting.html
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Here's some more info and photos:
http://www.mycology.cornell.edu/
and here's some info and products for folks who want to grow their own:
http://www.fungi.com/
I believe that those of you on the West side can grow some of your own a lot easier than those of us out on the desert.
And if you're just starting out in mushroom hunting, please learn from someone knowledgeable or at least check what you gathered with them, because if you're wrong you could be dead wrong.
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found a really big mushroom at the end of October
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richdurant/sets/72157625150847153/with/5129484039/
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Six of us go mushroom gathering (my son insists you do not 'hunt' a mushroom) each fall. We have done so for four years. One year Vicki hurt her foot and stayed back at our beautiful spot and prepared a picnic. We've been picnicking and mushroom gathering every since.
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How did mushrooms decline in value from $200/ lb to $20/lb in the last 20 years? The answer is both mysterious and obvious.
It is the same reason why electronics, flat screen tvs, computers, clothing, DVDs, and cell phones have become surprisingly affordable. It is Globalization.
Most gourmet dried mushrooms like Sh*takes, Matsutakes, Morels and Chantrelles are imported from large commercial mushroom growing farms in China. These are monoculture facilities which are probably safer than risking toxic wild mushroom consumption.
Epicurean, Hedonistic, Food-Channel Network Obese Americans seek the delicacies of fine wine, fine cheese and fine mushrooms. And who would rather pay $20 per pound for imported mushrooms instead of $200 per pound for a local wild harvested product?
Our best intentions for local foods may be stymied by powerful market forces and our natural thrift.
**NOTE THIS BLOG AUTO EDITOR WILL NOT PERMIT THE MENTION OF WILD SH*TAKE MUSHROOMS BECAUSE IT INVOLVES THE SYLLABLE SH*T. MAYBE TECHNOLOGY SHOULD GROW UP?
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I am an avid picker. Chanterelle, Matsutake, and Morels all grow in very specific environments in combination with unique tree species. I can not believe anyone has devised a way to grow them on a large scale. However, Sh*take are commercially grown in the Pacific Northwest. I don't think anyone imports the other species from China.
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jacob, technology just grew up. Shitake away!
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Jacob, because of your complaint over on the Turnidge Trial page, I went back and searched for who called President Lincoln a Communist and you are right, it was not you, it was a fellow named Todd Wynn, from Cascade Policy Institute on 24 July 2008.
So I apologize to you for my mistake.
I probably confused you two over the last two years because he and you share the habit of calling democrats and liberals "communists".
Here's the URL of what I was griping about, if you're interested, it's about halfway down:
http://www.opb.org/thinkoutloud/shows/capping-carbon-in-the-northwest/
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"MAYBE TECHNOLOGY SHOULD GROW UP?"
Sorry Jacob, but I have to call you out on a spell-check technology fail. Shiitake has two 'i's in it. Google - it's your friend!
As pointed out by cfbednarek, Chanterelles, Matsutakes, and Morels are not grown at commercial scale. While there has been limited success in cultivating morels (patented process) and chanterelles (research trials), the mycorhizal relationship some mushrooms have with plant host species makes commercial cultivation somewhat problematic.
"These are monoculture facilities which are probably safer than risking toxic wild mushroom consumption."
Yes... if you want to live in a world made completely safe for you, be my guest and eat commercial mushrooms exclusively. To offer an analogy, it would certainly be safer to eat factory-farmed beef than to risk acute lead poisoning due to gunshot while hunting wild game. The rate of mushroom poisonings and hunting accidents are both quite low. We live in a world where we have to accept a certain amount of risk in the activities we engage in.
I will continue to forage and consume both wild mushrooms and venison with gusto, thank you very much! Foraging wild mushrooms is only dangerous to those who don't take the time to learn the craft from others with experience.
Incidentally, after collecting over 15 pounds of Chanterelles (cantharellus formosus), Yellowfoot Chanterelles (cantharellus infundibuliformis), and Hedgehogs (hydnum repandum) this weekend, my wife and I made an excellent batch of Wild Mushroom Soup. She referred to it as her "$60 Soup".
I love this time of year.
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thanks, mechanoid - it was a short run, but we will no longer permit the mention of sh*take.
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the mushrooms you say are farmed are "wild" designated for a reason. not everything can be mass produced. THINK BEFOR YOU WRITE
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There is a one-gallon per day picking limit for personal use.
mechanoid, I am sure you will never overpick again now that you know.
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@trametes - I'm well aware of what the limits are on Federal and State lands, but some of us have access to private lands.
If you've spent any time in the woods, and have seen the tremendous amount of biomass available, it's clear that arbitrary notions of "overpicking" have little meaning at the scale of personal harvest.
Overpicking - IMHO - really has meaning in the context of organized commercial picking, buyers, and distribution for market. Focusing on micro-scale personal harvest for table seems a bit myopic.
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Oh, mechanoid, I should have written SARCASM all over my post since I was well aware that you could care less. We get you.
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@trametes - I'm not sure what the source of your assumptions are, but you sure seem to think you've got me pegged. True, sarcasm and/or dry delivery aren't always clear online.
C'est la vie.
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I love hunting for chantrelles or boletes (I generally just stick to those two types as I feel comfortable that I won't mistake them for poisonous varieties). But prices this year have been so low that it would cost more for the gas to go out to the coast range or the Gorge for a hunt. New Seasons had Chantrelles for $5.99/lb the other day, for example. Still, 'shroom hunting is a heck of a lot of fun - a treasure hunt.
Oh, and where are those hedgehog 'shrooms? I'd really like to find some of those and never have in all my hunting.
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I got into the Hedgehogs last Monday. I was almost up to the Ripplebrook Ranger Station outside of Estecada on the way up Mt. Hood. Look for mature stands of Douglas Fir, little to no underbrush (salal and ferns), and moss covered ground.
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I wonder if pickers use GPS when they find good fungi to locate them again for next year?
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As a beginner hunter, I have used my GPS to mark spots, as well as to get an idea of topographical relationships between different areas.
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Yes, we do use GPS for the mushroom species that appear in the same spot year after year.
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I am wondering why we do not eat any of the bracket fungi, as they do in say, Italy? These are delicious, have tremendous texture, even "toughness' to them. Maybe in some of the casas de haute cuisine one might find them here, but there they are on the regular menu. Are we phobic, or just uninformed?
Personally, I am waiting for jalapeño ice cream.
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Given their texture and toughness, I always thought that eating bracket fungi would be like eating wood.
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then you have eaten those prepared by an oaf. so sorry that happened for you.
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many eat the "beef steak" I personally have not confidently identified any, so I would say phobia
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I eat them. Chicken of the Woods is delicious.
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For those mushroom hunters in Central Oregon, visit:
http://www.mushroomsinbend.org/
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Thanks for posting that.
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Hi Emily! Your friends at Travel Oregon here.
Did you know it's Oregon Bounty Mushroom Week?
If your listeners are inspired to forage, or just taste the fabulous fungi, they might like to check out all the mushroomy stuff going on around the state this season. We've got it mapped out on TravelOregon.com.
For instance, we followed chef Leather Storrs from Noble Rot on a forage for chanterelles and learned how he finds them, harvests them and makes them delicious. See what he had to say here: http://food.traveloregon.com/
Yum. See you out there! -Michelle G.
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Mushroom picking in the national forest is a travesty against nature that must be stopped. It is also a taxpayer subsidized abuse of our community owned natural resources. The US Forest Service has not done any environmental impact analysis on mushroom picking. The commercial rape of our forests by 1000s of mushroom pickers is removing nutritional material needed by our forest animals. They trash the forest, leave garbage, trample wildlife and fauna, defecate everywhere and threaten other forest users. 100s of them illegally picked mushrooms in the John Day Wilderness all summer and left tons of trash everywhere. I talked to the fish and game and the USFS and they said they ticketed them all summer and tried to get them to leave but they just don’t have enough personnel to handle them. We can’t ride OHV in the forests anymore, get hassled for camping more than 14 days but we as taxpayers build them a huge camp near Chemult, provide them with porta-potties, and garbage service. Enough already!
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The mushroom is actually the fruit of the organism which lies underneath the surface. By the way, the rest of nature defecates in the woods too! Such a "travesty."
Also, only a small selection of mushrooms are edible (and pickable) so that leaves plenty of other nutritious mushrooms for the rest of nature to enjoy.
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koo coo koo coo
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I am actually a mushroom picker from CHEMULT. Just wanted to clarify a few items. These pickers pay $200 per year for a permit (in other districts it is much cheaper) to pick matsutake's. It is illegal for pickers to camp in the woods, they must camp in a designated mushroom camp (or internment camp as we like to say). The federal camp charges $400 per season for a camp and each camp is allowed only 4 people and 1 vehicle. So, most of the pickers do not use the federally owned camp. Instead, they camp at private mushroom camps at about 1/3 of the cost. I can honestly tell you that most pickers are respectable, but as in most cultures, there are a few bad apples. These people are treated terribly by most of the law around here, harrassed, and over charged. You state that they "remove nutritional material needed by our forest animals." Let me ask you a question. Have you ever picked mushrooms? I pick every year, and I have yet to beat a deer or elk to a mushroom patch. We pickers get what the animal leaves us! As to "defecating everywhere." I am pretty sure that my stuff is biodegradable, and tell me that you have never gone in the woods? Lastly, I want to know what you mean when you state that they "threaten other forest users." Why would you or anyone feel threatened. I feel like that is rather racist and ignorant. You are obviously uninformed.
I am a white picker who lives in the community year round and would also like to add that this community would lose businesses if we did not have the yearly pickers. They bring more revenue here in 2 months than most businesses make during the summer months. And that is a fact. Have a good day!
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Oregon has some of the world's most cherished and valued mushrooms, culinary truffles. James Beard felt our truffles - most particularly the Oregon winter whites and the Oregon black - were as good as their European cousins, and Oregon is becoming an international destination for all things truffle in large part because of the Oregon Truffle Festival, created in part to promote the burgeoning Oregon truffle industry.
Unlike other wild harvested mushrooms, their value is totally dependent on ripeness, and the reputation of Oregon's truffles has suffered from poor harvesting practices. Now that we are harvesting almost all the truffles for the festival with dogs, their reputation is improving and their price is rising at the same time habitat is being protected.
There's a very big story here, still waiting to be told, that Oregon should be very excited about.
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Ask Vitaly about his participation in the Oregon Truffle Festival
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Your guests can say that commercial mushroom picking doesn’t impact the forest all they want but I’ve seen it. I packed a pack full of trash out of the John Day Wilderness every day during bow season and saw a dumpster size pile of trash left behind by irresponsible commercial pickers. Human waste all over the forest. The reality is, again, they have done no environmental impact analysis on the activity. I have no problem with private individuals picking a few mushrooms for personal use, but that’s not what were talking about here.
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MyUsername, I think you are "picking" on one group of people for the proliferate problem of trash in our society. No group seems immune to this problem. Drive down any highway and you'll see plenty of trash on the side of the road. Commercial mushroom pickers are no exception.
In the caving world, plenty of popular caves get trashed by the general public. Who is the regular public? Take a look in the mirror.
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Hmm leitmotiv, since caves and highway get trashed it’s ok to trash the forest too, interesting argument. I’ve spent a lifetime in the forests of Oregon and I’ve never seen any other user group as inconsiderate and filthy as commercial mushroom pickers.
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I see you miss my point!
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i think your point, lite motif, is that you mistake apologism for clear-sightedness
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and lolo too!
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you take the last word then, lite motive, my pleasure
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lots of forest users litter. to see a can of bud light and say "PICKER TRASH" is dumb. I pick morels and there is trash I camp in the summer and there is trash I bow hunt in the fall and there is trash. winter snows on top of the trash and guess what I see on top of the snow. Blaming a group is pointless.
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I got in the habit of taking a small garbage bag with me when I go fishing and the first thing I do is clean up the area where I fish so that I can enjoy a clean fishing area for the day and not have the trash bother me.
I encourage that, it's simple thing to do and it gives me a good feeling about myself, and where I am, and how I live in the world. I don't have to clean up everything everywhere, just a little bit at a time and haul it out.
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I see Tom gets my point, and so does corypoff. Stop blaming people and become the solution. Set an example.
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As an avid amateur I'm concerned about the recent requirement to have a license to gather mushrooms. Every forest area seems to have a different license that you have to buy and they all have different rules. It's really ridiculous and I just ignore it. I'm just gathering for fun and my own table.
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A person needs to call the office of each specific national or state forest.If you pick on the weekends, most likely you will never see a government employee. They rarely work the weekends. At least deep in the forests. In over 20 years of picking I have never been checked for a permit.
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I like the idea of having a license. It makes us responsible for our actions. In my area, a license is free for picking for personal use.
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The free permit for personal use in the National Forests is worth obtaining just for the superb map that they give you. This also allows the forest managers to understand usage of the forest and plan accordingly. If mushroomers are under represented, the forests could turn into one big off-road play area. Do we really want that?
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I feel as though mushrooms have some kind of bad-ass cachet, like they are the tattoos of produce, but at the same time they manage to maintain what seems to be a highbrow appeal. Of course I am perhaps not objective, because I personally can’t stand them. And, as stupid as this sounds, mushrooms seem to be cliche, although, unfairly, I do sometimes like the flavor of truffles. Not liking mushrooms is a bad proposition for a vegetarian, because every restaurant seems to feel like you will be so excited for their one vegetarian option to be a dish based around mushrooms. Marrow, oh, the new-old cliche of the food world, yikes. Is marrow at Burgerville yet? Is this supposed to be creativity? Sounds more like the Charles Bukowski approach to food.
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Everybody knows that chanterelles don't rehydrate! to preserve, saute in butter and freeze!
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Another option to save mushrooms:
They can be dry sauteed and frozen. I've saved Chanterelles for nearly a year this way and they stay tender!
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My fave recipe, enjoyed on a Middle Fork Salmon river trip in Idaho many years ago:
1 quart nalgene bottle filled with dried morels
1 pint heavy cream
1 bottle decent port wine
Add wine to Nalgene bottle to rehydrate morels.
Simmer the wine soaked morels gently with cream, serve over pasta.
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Ravioli with sauted Abietis Hericium is an excellent dish that I make out in the field.
Hungarian mushroom soup can be made with any edibles. I've used boletus mirabulis, chanterelles, matsutake, boletus zelleri and hydnum repandum.
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Hericium is my favorite
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Still waiting for someone to mention "magic" mushrooms, a truly valuable part of Oregon's economy...
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underground economy... pun intended
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Were can I get some?
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AnnTane, you have to be careful with magic mushrooms... they have lots of look a likes that are very poisionous.
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It's a shame that they were made illegal. I tried some before that and they were some of the most fun of any of the psychedelics.
And a recent British study of all drugs, published in The Lancet, found that they are the least harmful of all drugs. The Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs set up the criteria.
They were made illegal because of too many people going into farmers fields without permission, even sneaking in at night with flashlights.
I think that they ought to be made legal again.
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I lived in New England for 5 years in the early eighties and was intrigued by the culture surrounding mushroom gathering. Most prized was a mushroom called pinale, which grew around stumps of oak trees and came in many colors. People were very secretive about where they were gathering these mushrooms and even used the locations as gambling stakes.
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My favorite mushroom recies are both medieval!
First, from Libro del Coch, a cookbook by Rupert de Nola, in 1529:
"Most perfect and good mushroom tart"
If you want to make a strained mushroom tart, take whole peeled mushrooms which have been washed well, cut them into large pieces and squeeze out the water. Take salted lard, which has been melted and strained and put the mushrooms to fry in it, add enough water that they don't scortch. When they are just cooked take them out of the pan and put into a basin and mix them with a quantity of cheese and eggs.
My redaction: I use dried mushrooms (available in the produce dept of Safeway), soak to reconstitute them. Drain (keep the water- really good for rice dishes or to boil needles!), chop them up, and lightly sautee. Then I mix them with 3 eggs and two cups of grated white cheese (I usually cheat and use the pre-grated 'Four Italian cheese blend'), and put into a 9" pie shell. Bake at 350 for about half an hour, until browned. The it cool before cutting.
Second, from the 14th c. English text "Forme of of Cury":
"Funges"
Take funges and pare hem clene and dyce hem. Take leke and shred hym small and do hym to seethe in gode broth. Color it with safron and do therinne powdre fort.
It is a leek and mushroom dish that can be done a a soup, or simply as boild vegetables. I clean my mushrooms (usually the little brown ones) and slice them up (1/4" slices); then take 2 leeks, cut them open and clean them (thoroughly!) and cut them into shreds (again about 1/4" slices). I boil them in beef broth, vegetable broth will do for vegetarians. Add a pinch of saffron. 'Powdre fort is a spice blend. It might be available at Penzey's, I forget. But a quick and dirty substitute can be made with equal parts black pepper, ginger, and cinnamon. About 1/2 tsp will do. Cook until the mushrooms are cooked. If you serve as soup, French bread is excellent alongside.
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Hi! This is Liz MacGahan from DiscoverYamhillValley.com. I spotted an error -- noticed it because it's on my beat. You all have linked to a Thistles Restaurant on the wrong coast. Eric Bechard's place in McMinnville is at http://thistlerestaurant.com/
Thanks!
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can anyone tell me where to find diffinitive evidence on the "soaking morels makes them poisinous" comment made by one of the chefs.
thanks
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Soaking morels does not make them poisonous; however, it could make them tasteless if the soaking water is discarded instead of used for cooking.
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Mmm, good.