Join Sinclair Philip and his knowledgable friends in an educational and fun wild mushroom foray focusing on local, wild, edible mushrooms. This foray is for the beginner mushroom hunter. You will learn about several edible mushrooms and visit our beautiful forests. Upon return to Sooke Harbour House that afternoon, Sinclair Philip will show a Power Point Presentation on edible mushrooms. The event will conclude with a 4 course “All Mushroom Dinner”. Dinner will start at 7pm in the Garden room at Sooke Harbour House.
- Mushroom Foray – 10am (no charge)
- 4 Course Mushroom Dinner – 7pm, $50.00 for Slow Food members and $60.00 for non-members Please RSVP by Friday, Oct 21st
- Special room rates available for the participants and Slow Food members, please inquire
Explore, Experience, Enjoy!
Please watch this short video on what to bring along on a mushroom foray:
A short list of what to bring:
- Comfortable and water proof foot ware, preferably non slip soles
- Rain gear or weather resistant pants and a jacket
- Hat
- A folding knife
- Basket or a bag, plastic bags not recommended
- Your own lunch
George Butcher found the Prince mushroom, Agaricus augustus in his yard this weekend and shared some with me. They were at the button stage. This is one of the very best edible mushrooms there is. This mushroom is meaty, on the sweetish side and is almondy at this stage in development. This is one of the easier agaricus to identify because of its big permanent ring, large size, shaggy stem and almond scent. It usually grows in the open and, in this case, grew near flowerbeds on George’s lawn.
The best time to harvest this mushroom is when the partial veil breaks and the flavour is at its best. The sweetness declines as the mushroom matures. This mushroom goes well with many different preparations but its powerful flavour will overcome some dishes.
Photograph by George Butcher
I found about 6 of these mushrooms last week and Oluna Ceska was kind enough to identify them for me. They were growing in a mixed conifer, west facing, sloping forest which was made up largely of western hemlock near the beaches north of Jordan River. There was a lot of rotting wood on the ground. Although Trudell and Ammirati (pg 219) identify the flavour as mild, several of us found this mushroom to be an excellent edible! As you can see from these photographs, my specimens were much pinker in colour than the ones in the Trudell- Ammirati book and by Beug on eflora. If you don’t want to eat yours, please give them to me.
Today, Friday , October 1st, I went out and found quite a few mushrooms in the Sooke area including these, Armillaria ostoyae. These are a type of Honey mushroom and they are best when young and should be well cooked to bring out the flavour. There are occasional reports of allergic reactions to these mushrooms and sometimes this includes honey mushrooms growing on hemlock trees. Some suggest disgarding the stems although I think they are palateble. They are tough. Michael Kuo, 100 Edible Mushrooms, pg 246, suggests parboiling them for 1 minute before slicing and cooking. This removes the bitterness of some species and may also remove gastrointestinal irritants.
I also found some Winter Chanterelles, Craterellus tubaeformis, along with a number of different boletes. The Winter Chanterelle, formally called Cantharellus infundibuliformis, is another edible mushroom and though it is considered by some to be inferior to other chanterelles because it is small and thin fleshed, there are many who relish this mushroom and, in Finland, it is harvested commercially. I personally really enjoy this mushroom and, although I found some very beautiful specimens today, it is not uncommon to find this mushroom in December or January, when most other mushrooms, other than hedgehogs, have disappeared here. Raymond McNeil rates this as an excellent edible mushroom, Le Grand Livre des Champignons, pg 392.
I found this Boletus coniferarum, Conifer Boletus, on Tuesday, September 28th. It is an edible bolete but it’s flavour is bitter and it is definitely considered to be inferior to many other boletes.
I found this mushroom in a predominantly western hemlock forest by the ocean near Sooke. We found four types of boletus including lots of King Boletus mushrooms.
