Each summer growing up, my Polish parents would pick mushrooms growing in the shady grass alongside our downtown Winnipeg house and turn them into a delicious creamy mushroom soup. I always wondered how my mom and dad knew the mushrooms weren’t poisonous, but my hunger pushed me forward, and I supposed we could all die together while slurping down the hot, mushroomy goodness. It ended well – we all survived. But how do mushroom-lovers and pickers know the difference when they come across them?
St. Albert resident Eric Whitehead, co-owner of Untamed Feast, picks, dries and sells mushrooms that he and staff collect in B.C. and Alberta for sale at the farmers’ market, in The Enjoy Centre and many Edmonton stores, or through mail order. The self-taught mushroom expert says Canada, with its abundant boreal forest and accessible rural land, is a great place to forage – even in and around St. Albert. While May/June is the time to find morels and varieties such as Laccinum Boreale – Alberta’s provincial ‘red top’ mushroom – fall takes Whitehead to B.C. to pick porcini, morels and chanterelles – a forest blend he calls bear’s tooth.
Whitehead said people could forage for their own fresh mushrooms in the spring in central Alberta, though his packages of dried mixes are also a big hit. They just need re-hydration of the concentrated flavour before use in cooking. Whitehead is holding a foraging workshop again at this year’s Dig In Festival in early October at The Enjoy Centre, where he will educate people on which edible finds are growing in the bush in and around our city. He’s also on hand at the summertime St. Albert Farmers’ Market to sell his dried products and help people identify mushrooms they bring by hand or photo. He is a great resource to tell you which varieties are poisonous or not.
“That’s the best way to be sure – send me a cell photo or bring it to the market,” said Whitehead, whose website untamedfeast.com offers recipes with video and loads of information about mushrooms.
The Edmonton chapter of the provincial mycological society is also a great way to de-mystify the mushroom. In fact, the book Mushrooms Demystified is recognized as the bible for mushroom pickers. Local representative Martin Osis does a walk each week in summer through the city’s river valley to “find out the stuff that’s free for you to pick.” Mushrooms are healthy and low-calorie, with enough protein that they should be in the meat section of the grocery, not the vegetable aisle.”
Osis said mushrooms found in the river valley are sometimes used by the indigenous population for smudges – to drive away mosquitoes and evil spirits alike – but most people just want them for cooking in a stew or sauce.
“Each culture seems to have a favourite mushroom. Asians use shitake, which is better in broths; while Europeans love porcini because it’s best in cream sauce,” he said.
“Mushrooms also have an expensive, exotic taste that is simple to chop up, fry and add to a butter sauce,” said Whitehead.
This month, all Sorrentino’s restaurant locations celebrate the mushroom harvest with a special menu – if you’re only used to the ubiquitous white button mushroom, this is a great introduction to a variety of mushrooms prepared in gourmet fashion. There’s cream of wild mushroom soup, a goat cheese pesto, pine nut and honey balsamic stuffed portabella, lobster mushroom risotto or ravioli. There are even sautĂ©ed chanterelles with the fish catch of the month.
“You can even have mushroom in a dessert,” said Osis, whose nycological society joins with the restaurant Sept. 13 and Sept. 20 for a mushroom walk, cook and eat event.
Other mushroom harvest events run throughout September. See sorrentinos.com for details.
