The 2008 Helen Miknis Memorial Foray is scheduled for the weekend of September 26^th-28th this year.  Included in this mailing is a registration form.  Deadline for registration is August 30^th.  Note that there are accommodations for 30 at the envrinmental center, so register early.  A copy is also available on the clubs website.  <www.epennmushroomers.org>

Annual Picnic & Tasting is planned for July 19.

John Dawson has shared the link to the following web site as a source for the purchase of Cut Rite and Waxtex waxed paper sandwich bags.  http://mybrands.com/Browse.aspx?cid=131   The price is right!  To meet the minimum order requirement you can team up with other club members to place an order.

23^rd Annual Mushroom Festival in Kennett Square, PA is planned for September 6 & 7.  Many events are planned including cooking demonstrations, a 5K run, mushroom farm tours and a mushroom parade.  For those of you who have that special touch in the kitchen there contest searching for the BEST Mushroom Soup by an amateur cook.  All proceeds go to support regional charities.

http://www.mushroomfestival.org/

Chanterelle season will soon be upon us.  The Mycoweb site has a link to Wild About Mushrooms; The Cookbook of the Mycological Society of San Francisco compiled by Louise Freedman.  The chanterelle section talks about the chanterelle mushroom shining like an exotic golden flower.  This is a vision that many of us have seen for ourselves.  For those who have not, your opportunity is approaching.  The Wild about Mushrooms site includes several chanterelle recipes from simple baked chanterelles to a more involved Chicken and Chanterelle Marsala.  http://www.mykoweb.com/cookbook/index.html

Mushroom Biscuits:  Makes 12 biscuits

This quick biscuit recipe is especially good when fresh chanterelles are in season. Other mushrooms can be substituted.

·   1 small onion, minced

·   4 tablespoons butter

·   1/2 pound chanterelles, chopped into small pieces

·   2 teaspoons baking powder

·   1/2 teaspoon baking soda

·   1-1/2 teaspoons salt

·   2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

·   1 cup milk

Sauté the onion in the butter for 2 minutes.  Add the mushrooms to the pan, cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated.  Set aside to cool.  In a mixing bowl, sift the baking powder, baking soda, and salt with the flour.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and slowly pour in the milk, blending the mixture into a sticky dough. Quickly mix the mushroom mixture into the dough. Do not overmix.

Drop the dough by tablespoons onto a buttered baking sheet or fill buttered muffin pans two-thirds full. Bake 15 to 20 minutes in a preheated 400º oven, or until the biscuits are golden brown.  Alternate mushrooms include white button, hedgehog or any other mushroom you desire.

Summer 2008 President’s Message

After several disappointing years, this was a morel season to remember! Nearly everyone who attended the forays this spring found some, and a few diligent hunters collected in excess of 1000 specimens during the season. Some good oyster mushrooms and wine-cap Stropharias were also collected and enjoyed.  Let us hope the rest of 2008 proves equally productive for chanterelles, blewits, and other tasties.

The question remains: What was responsible for this year’s plentiful morels?  Those prone to theorizing, should consult Micheal Kuo’s new book Morels, mentioned earlier in this column; it contains much food for thought on that and other questions pertaining to morels and the mania for collecting them.

Two news items to report, one good and one tragic:

The good news is that the first issue of a new journal, Fungi, has just appeared, and it is impressive. Edited by Britt Bunyard, and with an editorial board including such well-known mycologists as Scott Redhead, John Plischke, Micheal Beug and Nicholas Money, it promises to provide serious competition for Mushroom the Journal.  The first issue includes an article on morels, tips on using umbrellas when photographing fungi, an account of the vicissitudes of the anti-cancer drug Irofulven (derived from the jack-o’-lantern mushroom Omphalotus illudens), and a lengthy and very interesting article on slime molds (where to find them and how to culture them). The color photos throughout the issue are outstanding, and the subscription price is $35.00 for five issues (four seasonal issues plus an annual special issue) — about what it costs to join NAMA, and, to judge from my own experience, much more worthwhile. (Indeed, I was told that Fungi  was founded by a group of NAMA members upset by that organization’s recent moribund condition.) The address for subscriptions is FUNGI, P.O. Box 8, 1925 Hwy 175, Richfield, WI  53076-0008, or by email to bbunyard@wi.rr.com.  The journal also has a web site at www.fungimag.com .

The tragic news is the death in British Columbia of three puppies who died after consuming a species of Amanita growing in the yard near their kennel. The owner sought immediate veterinary attention, but knew next to nothing about mushrooms (as was apparent from the rather garbled and somewhat hysterical account that she subsequently posted to various on-line canine rescue sites). Initially identified by a local “expert” (otherwise unidentified) as Amanita phalloides, the mushrooms were later determined to be Amanita “pantherina”. I forwarded the report to Michael Beug, the chairman of NAMA’s toxicology committee, who replied as follows:

“I heard from the owner of the dogs two days ago and  have  written to her asking her to spread the correct word. The mushrooms were Amanita "pantherina" (we don't actually have A. pantherina in North America, just a look-alike with the same toxins). The vet followed textbook treatment procedures, but the textbooks in this case are wrong. Treatment with atropine probably intensified the symptoms and the vet and owner mistook the subsequent deep coma-like sleep for dying dogs and had them euthanized.  Without the atropine and/or waiting out the coma-like deep sleep would most likely have lead to survival of the dogs.”

This case argues once again for the need to disseminate accurate information about toxic mushrooms both to the general public and to medical professionals.

                                                                                                            John Dawson

RULES FOR MUSHROOM DISHES

SUBMITTED FOR TASTING

at EPM events.

1.                   Mushrooms that are accepted for consumption:

a.    Meadow Mushrooms (agaricus campestris complex, no specimens that bruise yellow)

b.    Blewits(Clitocybe nuda)

c.    Morels (Morchella species)

d.    Oysters (pleurotus ostreatus)

e.    Chanterelles (cantharellus cibarius or cinnabarinus, craterellis fallax)

f.    Giant Puffballs (Calvatia species; gleba must be pure white)

g.    Hen of the Woods (grifola frondosa)

h.    Cauliflower mushrooms (Sparassis species)

i.      Bear’s Head and related tooth fungi (Herecium species)

j.     Brick Caps (Naematoloma sublateritium)

k.    Honey mushrooms(Armilliaria mellea and tabescens)

l.      Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphereus complex)

2.          No mushrooms are to be served raw.

3.          No alcohol is permitted in the dishes.

4.          To ensure fresh new and correct identification, all specimens will be examined by members or the organizing committee prior to cooking; any questionable specimens will be discarded.  Dried mushrooms should be re-hydrated prior to their examination.  Recipes can be pre-prepared and the mushrooms added after identification.  If you want to prepare ahead and need your mushrooms identified you can contact John Dawson in the York Area, Bill Miknis, Jim Knoll, Paul Good in the Lancaster Area, or Gary Emberger in the Mechanicsburg area.

5.        To avoid problems with food allergies, please provide list of all ingredients, not just the mushrooms.

Participants are encouraged to share recipes and to bring along any wild mushroom cookbooks for review and discussion.