BULLETIN OF THE PUGET SOUND MYCOLOGICALSOCIETY
Number 335, October 1997
Electronic Edition is published monthly, September through Juneby the
Puget Sound Mycological Society
Center for Urban Horticulture, Box 354115
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
(206) 522-6031
Agnes A. Sieger, Editor
Dick Sieger, HTML Editor
MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Tuesday, October 14th, at 7:30 PM at the Center for UrbanHorticulture, 3501 NE 41st Street, Seattle
Two big events of Autumn, the fall fruiting and the WildMushroom Exhibit are upon us. The October meeting will have a panelof resident experts who will share their years of experience on howto find various choice mushrooms and will field questions from thegroup. (Warning: inquiries as to specific locations may be met withlies!). Afterwards, there will be an update on the Annual Exhibitpreparations and which opportunities are still open for members newor old to share in the fun.
If your last name begins with the letters S–Z, please bringa plate of refreshments for the social hour.
CALENDAR
Oct. 11 Field trip
Oct. 11 Mountaieers/PSMS field trip
Oct. 14 Membership Meeting, 7:30 PM, CUH
Oct. 18 PSMS Annual Exhibit, 12:00–8:00 PM
Oct. 19 PSMS Annual Exhibit, 10:00–6:00 PM
Oct. 20 PSMS Board meeting
Oct. 21 Susan Libonati-Barnes, “Mushrooms and TheirPoisonous Look-Alikes,” 7:00–9:00 PM, Burke Museum, UWcampus
Oct. 23–26 Oregon Mycological Society Foray, CampTapawingo, Oregon
Oct. 24 Spore Prints deadline
Oct. 26 Deception Pass Field Trip
Nov. 1,2 Lake Quinault Foray
QUINAULT—MORE THAN A STATE OF MIND Dan Corey
After much heated debate and great deliberation by the Board,last year’s foray site camp on Lake Quinault hasbeen selected for the 1997 PSMS Fall Foray on November 1–2.Those who attended last year will remember a convivial time of goodfood, conversation, and, for a few, good chanterelle hunting. Thisyear is expected to be even better. $30 will reserve Saturdaydinner, Sunday breakfast, and a sack lunch besides a room with aview (of course the room is shared with 6 to 10 other people, butthey are such interesting people). Do bring your own sleeping bag,pad, toothbrush, pictures of the family, whatever will make it feellike home. Ear plugs, wine, and after dinner board games areoptional, though recommended. Last year all 45 places went quickly,so reserve your place now by calling Doug Ward. Registration formswill also be available at the October membership meeting. Three RVspots are available at ! this same low, low price.
SEPTEMBER 13th FIELD TRIP Brian S. Luther
September 13, 1997, was a beautiful sunny morning, and a greatday to start off the Fall season with our first fall fieldtrip to the old CCC camp. The original log shelter iscurrently off-limits for public use because it’s beingrenovated. I brought a whole carload of wood, hoping to have aroaring fire in the shelter’s fireplace, but upon arrivalfound that the entire chimney and fireplace had been removed, andthe huge solid picnic tables pulled outside under the trees. Soinstead, we used a campfire pit near the ID table, and kept itgoing all day.
We had a pretty good turn-out of people, but no one wanted tostay for potluck, so we called it quits at about 3:00 PM. A nicevariety of fungi was found during the day, with 52 speciesidentified and displayed. Several people found small collections ofimmature Cantharellus cibarius, and a group that went outwith Mike Lovelady found a very nice cluster of the tasty and rareBlack Chanterelle, Polyozellus multiplex. In addition, sixdifferent edible species of boletes were found. Unusual findsincluded an extraordinarily large specimen of Leucopaxillusamarus that was about 14 inches across, and an exceptionallynice collection of Gomphus kauffmanii. The diversity offungi brought in, and their condition, indicated to me thatit’s going be a very good mushroom season.
COOKING AND TASTING AT THE EXHIBIT Patrice Benson
When collecting mushrooms for the exhibit, please remember tocollect the edible fungi also for the cooking and tasting event. Wedepend on the generosity of our members to provide this sensoryexperience for the uninitiated. We need both fresh and driedmushrooms of all kinds with which to perform our culinary magic. Ifyou can provide fresh specimens for cooking, please bring them inon Friday when the other specimens are delivered or on Saturday orSunday during the event. No good fresh mushrooms of known edibilitywill be refused. Please sign up at the next membership meeting ifyou wish to help or cook and have not already done so.
NEW PHONE SYSTEM Dan Corey
As many of you heard at the fine September membership meeting,the Society is presently testing a US West voice mail system, withan initial greeting and two options, the first for informationabout joining the club and ID classes, and the second for publicevents.
Check out the system this month at (206) 522-6031, listen to someof the messages, and let us know what you think.
NAMA FORAY—A BOLETE HUNT Kern Hendricks
At 11,500 feet the view of the farms and towns along the SnakeRiver in southern Idaho a mile or so below was spectacular in themid-morning light. Elizabeth and I had left our Sunriver, Oregon,home only 90 minutes before and were rapidly approaching thehalfway point in our journey. Such are the joys of flying your ownairplane to a NAMA Foray. As we began our descent into Twin Fallsfor refueling and a rest, the thought occurred that within 24 hourswe would be standing on the ground at 11,000 feet looking formushrooms. Awesome!
Our plan was to fly into Grand Junction in western Colorado,rent a car, and drive the 165 miles east to the Copper MountainResort for the Foray. We had never traveled in Colorado before andhadn’t had much of a chance to tune into the grapevine and seewhat other PSMS members might be attending. We imagined that wewould stop a number of times on the trip across Colorado picking
As anyone who has ever traveled can tell you, reality andimagination are often at odds. In this case we really didn’tsee much forest until we were approaching Vail, Colorado, just20 miles west of Copper Mountain. The forests around Vaildidn’t look a whole lot better for boletes than the highdesert a few miles to the west. Such are the surprises of mushroomhunting.
Upon arrival and registration at the Foray, we were pleasedto learn that Ben Woo, Patrice Benson, Lynn Phillips, Joanne Young,Frances Ikeda, and Joe Ammirati along with his grad studentsMichelle Seidl and Sharmin Gamiet planned to attend. It is always agood thing when arriving in strange territory to seek out a fewnatives and try to acquire a few tidbits of local knowledge. As theplace was overrun with members of the Colorado Mycological Society,this was not a difficult task, and we quickly learned that ourprized boletes were awaiting in the spruce forests at about 11,000feet. So now we only had two problems remaining: Where to find thespruce forests and how to breathe once we got there. We werealready gasping for oxygen at Copper Mountain and had to go another1,500 feet higher to get into the right forests. Such are thechallenges facing a lowland PSMS member in the high ColoradoRockies.
Finding the spruce forests proved to be the easy part. Wehooked up with PSMS member Mick Mueller from Wenachee, who hadworked for the Forest Service in Vail a few years before. So thenext morning Patrice, Lynn, Joanne, Frances, Mick, Elizabeth, and Ihopped into a couple of cars to head off to the high country insearch of the bolete. Ben, Joe, Michelle, and Sharmin planned tostay in the “low country” for identification and otherNAMA Foray duties. For us, the hunt was on. For them,identification.
Before the cars came to a complete stop, we could see thatthe woods were filled with white speckled, red capped mushrooms.Amanita muscaria, of course. A good sign as these popped up at thetime the elusive bolete fruited. Or so we were told by our newfound CMS friends. They were right! Before long the first boletefell to our trusty pocket knives. Then another, and another still.We were in luck.
After showing us several of the more scenic mountain ranges,Mick led us up a steep, rutted dirt road to Ptarmigan Pass. Over wewent at 11,600 feet into a beautiful area of spruce groves andmeadow—breathtaking in more than one way! Elizabeth and Joannefound the first patch of small buttons around an old camp site.Patrice, Lynn, and I dropped down the hill to a creek to work ourway back up. What a mistake! Five steps up, stop and breathe.Repeat again and again. But wait! Isn’t that a big boletesitting there in the grass next to the spruce grove? It is! Andover there; is that another? Who needs air when the hunting is thisgood! Button, button, look at all the buttons.
We came back to Foray headquarters lugging full baskets ofboletes. PSMS had established itself as the King Bolete Chapter.Even the CMS members were impressed. Mycophagy was happy. Therewould be a tasting feast the next day with the PSMS boletedonations. Finally, we were all happy because now our baskets wereempty and we’d have to go bolete hunting again tomorrow.
BOLETUS MUSHROOM RISOTTO Jerry Traunfeld of TheHerbfarm, as demonstrated at PSMS, 9/9/97
Stock:
1½ cups hot water
1 oz. dried Boletus edulis
3½ cups unsalted chicken or vegetable stock, preferablyhomemade
Mushrooms:
2 TBs olive oil
½ lb fresh Boletus edulis, cleaned and diced
Salt
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup Madeira
2 TBs butter
½ onion, finely diced
1½ cups arboriorice
½ cup dry white wine
3 TBs chopped fresh marjoram
½ cup chopped Italian parsley
¾ cup grated Reggiano parmesan cheese
Black pepper
Stock—Pour the hot water over the dried mushrooms.Let them soak for 15 minutes, then lift them out of the water andchop them. Pour the soaking liquid through a fine strainer, leavingany dirt that sank to the bottom behind. Add the liquid to thestock and bring it to a simmer in a saucepan. Set aside.
Mushrooms—Heat the oil in a large saucepan over highheat. Add the fresh mushrooms and ½ tsp salt and cook,stirring, for several minutes. Lower the heat to medium and add theshallots, garlic, Madeira, and reconstituted mushrooms. Cook untilall the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the heat and setaside.
Risotto—Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add theonion and cook, stirring often until softened, about6 minutes. Add the rice and stir and cook for 1 minute. Add 1cup of hot stock, the wine, and 1 tsp salt. Reduce the heat to lowand stir the rice with a large wooden spoon until most of theliquid is absorbed. You don’t have to stir it constantlythrough the cooking process, as is sometimes stipulated in risottorecipes, just very often—about ½ the time. Youcan’t walk away and do the laundry, but you can chop herbs orgrate cheese in between stirs. When the first cup of stock isabsorbed, add another cup of stock and keep stirring. Add 1 cup ofstock at time, waiting until the rice is almost dry before addingmore. After 3 cups of stock are added, stir in the cookedmushrooms. Continue adding stock and cooking until the mixture iscreamy and the rice is tender on the outside but still has a thefaintest hint of a bite when you! chew it. It will take about25–35 minutes from the time you first add liquid, depending onthe type of rice and the level of heat.
When the rice is done stir in the herbs and cheese. Add a littlemore stock if necessary to keep the risotto moist. Two moretablespoons of buffer can be stirred in for a richer dish. Seasonwith black pepper and additional salt if necessary. Spoon therisotto into heated bowls and serve.
Serves four as a main course or six as a first course.
CHANTERELLE & CORN CHOWDER WITH BASIL JerryTraunfeld, The Herbfarm as demonstrated at PSMS, 9/9/97
2 TBs olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2· cloves garlic, minced
3 cups chopped chanterelle mushrooms, about 12 oz.
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup white wine
2 TBs dry sherry
3 cups unsalted chicken or vegetable stock, preferably homemade
2 cups fresh sweet corn kernels, about 3 ears
1 cup heavy cream
1 TBs chopped fresh marjoram
½ cup coarsely chopped basil leaves
Black pepper
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add theonion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until it softens andbegins to turn a light caramel color, about 8 minutes. Add themushrooms and the salt and cook for 5 minutes, or until all themoisture is released and then evaporates. Pour in the wine andsherry and continue to cook until almost dry.
Add the stock and corn and bring the soup to a boil. Lower theheat and simmer, uncovered for 15 minutes. Stir in the cream andwait until the soup simmers once again. Add the marjoram, basil,pepper, and additional salt if needed. Serves 6
ARTICLES OF POSSIBLE INTEREST
“Renal failure caused by mushroom poisoning,”Anne M. Leathern, Roy A. Purssell, Victor R. Chan, and PaulKroeger, Clinical Toxicology, 35(1), 67–75,1997.
This article describes four cases of probable Amanita smithianapoisoning in the Pacific Northwest. This fall-fruiting mushroomcaused vomiting within 1–6 hours in all cases followed bykidney failure within 1–5 days. It was probably mistaken forthe choice edible, the pine mushroom (Tricholomamagnivelare). With haemodialysis and supportive care, allfour patients recovered.
Haploporus odorus: “A sacred fungus in traditionalnative American culture of the northern plains,” R.A.Blanchette, Mycologia, 89, 233–240, 1997.
The Indigenous Peoples of the northern American plains usedHaploporus odorus to ornament sacred robes, human scalpnecklaces, and other cultural properties. The fungus was also acomponent of medicine bundles and used for protection againstillness. Numerous collections, some dating to the early 1800s, fromthe Blackfoot, Blood, Cree, and other northern plains tribesindicate this fungus was used as a symbol of spiritual power. Theexceedingly fragrant anise-like scent of H. odorussporophores appears to be the reason this fungus was selected andrevered. Collection notes and historic photographs provideadditional evidence for the importance of this fungus intraditional Native American culture. The significance of thisfungus has remained obscure due to misidentification of the fungusas carved cottonwood roots, loss of information on traditionalNative American culture over the last century, and lack of previousethnomycological investigation.
BOARD NEWS Agnes Sieger
The book sales chair will be directed to report to the board atthe November meeting and quarterly thereafter. The number of peoplesigning up at the membership meeting to work on Exhibit committeeswas discouraging, and Exhibit Chair Charles Pregaldin was wonderingabout holding the exhibit every other year. Frances Ikeda has founda Boy Scout troop to help with the exhibit parking. Wayne Elstonwill be the chef at the Lake Quinault Foray; Joanne Young willarrange for speakers and I.D. Patrice Benson is still working onthe roster, which will not be ready until January or February. Amotion was carried to cosponsor the Stuntz Memorial Lecture in1998. Marilyn Droege reported that the Snohomish MycologicalSociety wants to sell our T-shirts at their show and maybe ourcards.
CLASSES AND FORAYS
Michelle Seidl’s November seminar has beencanceled.
Oregon Mycological Society Fall Mushroom Study Foray:October 23–26 at Camp Tapawingo. Dorm lodging $77/$61 andtent/campers $61/$51 for all meals Thurs/Sunday or Fri/Sunday.Foray registration only, $25. Call Jim Kennedy, Foray Chair, at(503) 692-3159. Registration deadline is October 10.
We need you!
Call an Exhibit Chair now and volunteer to help at theAnnual Exhibit!