A dearth of fungi is part of the life of a forager. In terms of the shere amount of mushrooms to forage, process and eat, this summer was the opposite of last summer. Last summer the forests here were simply blanketed with black trumpets. They showed up everywhere with the wet soggy summer, in places I’d been for years and never seen them. They showed us that their mycelium is always there, just waiting for the rare perfect conditions.
Last year, In October, every other old oak wore a wreath of Maitake at its base. Zoe and I went out with our ponies, backpacks and saddle bags and found so many that we had to leave some behind. We are still eating our dried Maitake from last year. But this summer has been sad, at least to the extent that happiness depends on finding mushrooms. This fall, all through October I rode out to check the oaks that gave us last year’s abundance and didn’t find a single flowering hen. The black trumpets only showed up in the small reliable areas we keep secret.
Until this past week! Oh my. I’ve been out for hours this past week collecting both angle wing oysters and blue winter oysters. The blue oysters grow especially well on old logs over water. With the recent rain and cold weather, they are popping out all over. After so many treks that offered-up close nothing in terms of edible fungi, this sudden flush has been a joy.
The blue winter oysters are a meaty, moist mushroom that can survive and thrive in bitter cold weather. If you find them frozen, you can still cut them off and they are wonderfully fresh after thawing. Because of this quality, I decided to simply freeze the 30 plus pounds I’ve harvested so far. I put them in ziplock bags so we can simply pull a bag from the freezer when we want to cook with them.
The angle wing oysters are more delicate so I sautéed them in butter. They released their delicate yet earthy aroma as well as the water they held within them, making a thick buttery broth. We ate a big pot of this amazing mushroom soup last night with friends for Shabbat dinner and I froze the other 30 plus pounds of concentrated mushroom broth to use through the winter, spring and early summer. This, along with what I find in the next month, will last until we see what next season offers.
So, for now, I’m off on my pony with my dogs to see what I can find today!