Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/724773
6 | t h e c l e v e r r o o t D G THIS Dylan Taube, like many mushroom foragers, grew up in a mushroom hunting family. Living in Mendocino County in California, his father hunted for mushrooms, which led Taube to begin foraging for them as a career in 2007, with some help from well-known mycologist David Arora. His brother, a chef in the community, knew other chefs looking for wild mushrooms, so Taube had a readymade market for his foraged bounty. Taube traveled to the chanterelle patches he had visited as a child, and soon found his own patches to forage from, which is harder than it sounds. Taube acknowledges, "Wild is hard to cultivate. Mushrooms tend to migrate, and also don't fruit every year. Mush- rooms aren't your typical seasonal crop; mushrooms like chanterelles will only appear every four or five years. I've spent years trying to find patches I've visited before." While different varieties of mushrooms grow year-round (Taube disputes the myth that the best mushrooms are winter mushrooms, advocating instead for spring and summer growths), the scarcity and migration of mushrooms patches mean that there's some competition within the mushroom foraging community. "It can be a bit like the Wild West," Taube admits. On top of dealing with other foragers, mushrooms' habit of growing in forests means there are also bears, wolves, coyotes and mountain lions to contend with. Most national parks allow mushroom hunting on their land as long as the proper permits are obtained, although the practice is banned in state parks. Taube will hunt year-round, from Arizona to the Canadian border, for mushrooms. He usually goes with a partner, typically a field guide or fellow mycologist, and can forage anywhere from 20 to 60 pounds of mushrooms a day. Taube adds new varieties to his inventory every year, although hedgehog, oyster, lobster, morels and chanterelles remain his most popular varieties. He uses specific methods for harvesting and storing the mushrooms, preferring to cut the stems rather than pull them, explaining, "Mushrooms are the fruity body of the mycelium and are fruited by the rain, and most of the network of mycelium is underground. It's actually preferable to harvest mushrooms by cutting, as cutting the base spreads the mycelium in the forest and aids in growth. However, it is important to leave ground cover and to not disturb the environment around the mushrooms." As for why you see some mushrooms available for retail sale that still have soil on them: "It depends on the mushrooms. Some we clean immediately, but with mushrooms like Matsutakes it's traditional to keep dirt on the bottom. It actually keeps them alive and helps them last longer. Any purchaser of Matsutakes will want to see dirt on their mushrooms." Dried Matsutakes, porcini and morels.