Expand your palate and entice your tastebuds with tasty fungi
Becoming a first generation farmer and learning to live off the land has been quite a struggle. As my culinary skills rank up there with my agricultural ability, I have killed several cactuses and burned hard boiled eggs on more than one occasion.
If a legume is strong enough to survive my touch and grow to make it to the cutting board, it may most likely be last seen as something horribly inedible. So you have to share in my excitement when I recently discovered that mushrooms are abundantly local and easy to cook. I thought having an opportunity to be in the woods was enough to brighten my day, but then add finding free table fare makes it even better.
Let’s just put this warning out there before you continue to read on: Do not start licking or ingesting wild mushrooms after reading this article. Just don’t.
Wild In The Woods
Once on the scent, I asked my multi-talented friend Matt “Shiggy” Shigekawa if he would be open to lend his mushroom expertise and take me for a foraging walk through the woods on my property.
“I’m more of a drive-by shroomer,” he replied as this isn’t one of his services he provides and, after some hesitation and a few cups of coffee, we were in my untapped thicket.
As he does have several secret spots of successful foraging, that he would absolutely not share, he says he commonly knocks on doors or leaves notes asking for permission and sometimes leaves checks paying his scavenging score forward.
“I’ve only had one person not happy about my approach,” he smiles as he goes on to describe a phone conversation between he and a receiver of one of his notes. “Let’s just say we amicably agreed that I would not go back on his property.”
Matt does have a page called “Matt’s Foraging Adventures” to share his love of the search but mushrooms rank third for him in priorities. His 10-year-old son Kashi comes first then his music and, with his female-fronted rock n’ roll band Ashley and The X’s just releasing their second album, the mushrooms can wait.
Although the wild forager scene seems to be growing in the area, Matt does hunt for some commercial purpose as he sells to restaurants like Easy Bistro, Main Street Meats, St. John’s and The Feed.
Whilst Matt has not had specific education regarding wild mushrooms, he continuously studies, cross references and meets with like-minded mushroom men like wildlife photographer Jim Pfitzer and Crabtree Greenhouse Manager Mike Barron.
“There are a lot of us (wild foragers) around,” he says while crouching down and smelling a mushroom. “And it’s great that there are people connecting more with nature and wanting to explore their surroundings.”
He recommended the Facebook group ChattaFungi Hunting and ID for anyone looking to get help in identifying wild mushrooms. Started by Theo Sitzberger to help beginners become more conscious and less scared of wild mushrooms, there is a bit of scientific jargon but lots of pictures and engaging posts.
Theo does professional private property assessments to let land owners know what they can and will find. He is also going to be available this Saturday during a group Wild Mushroom Hike at Enterprise South Nature Park from 2-4 p.m.
Hen of the woods, lion’s mane, chanterelles, morels, and fingerlings are just a few edible species found around the scenic city. Honey mushrooms are another common discovery and although edible, can cause an upset stomach, so be cautious.
Food For Thought
Caution. That is the main theme with wild foraging—to take caution. Also do research and, according to UTC Biology, Geology and Environmental Science Professor Dr. Craddock, “never eat a mushroom until it has been positively identified as a universally accepted edible.” He repeated that sentence with an emphasis on never.
Dr. Craddock, well-known for his study of the American Chestnut tree, started teaching Mycology (scientific study of fungi) while researching the blight that is attacking his beloved tree. He explained to me the correlation between the mushroom and the chestnut tree and that there is an ectomycorrhizal (ecto-my-co-rye-zal) fungi at the root of some plants that form a symbiotic relationship. In the case of the chestnut, the fungi nestled at the trunk is not creating a harmonious habitat and is therefore causing disease.
To be honest, Dr. Craddock did lose me a few times with his scientific terms but I stayed focused, asked him to repeat himself and spell some things out. I couldn’t help but be captivated by his passion behind the cause and I wanted to sign up right there for his course Kingdom Fungi: Mushrooms, Molds and Yeasts.
He currently teaches the Mycology class at UTC. however it is a senior level curriculum and therefore he does not recommend it for novice mushroom hunters. “National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms”, “Mushrooms Demystified”, “A Field Guide to Southern Mushrooms”, “Mushrooms of the Southeastern United States”, and “North American Mushrooms” are several books he suggests for every mushroom forager to study identification.
Continuously training to identify and taking an expert on your explorations are a few bits of advice Dr. Craddock gives to anyone interested in pursuing the fungi quest. He light-heartedly says that he will be more than happy to identify your harvest if you stop by his office but he will charge you half of your find, especially if they’re chanterelles.
When Fungi Take Flight
“Elm oyster and lion’s mane are some of my favorites,” said John Lawton, owner and head mushroom man at Possum Bottom Farms who sells gourmet and medicinal mushrooms year round to restaurants and at the Main Street Farmers Market.
Again, as I thought I was a lover of all things mushrooms, my mind was blown at the beauties locally available. With a vast array on his table, shiitake was the only one that was familiar to me so I went out of my comfort zone and chose the mushroom that had more cowbell, the blue oyster.
“We have recipes to help you be more comfortable,” John’s wife, Susan said as she handed me a card. “I put our mushroom powders on everything except peppers or tomatoes or onions.” Susan chuckled as she admittedly fessed up that she does not like mushrooms either. But she shows that you can still experiment with the fungi family in other ways than simply straight off the stove top.
John said the first year they started growing mushrooms, they had so much shiitake and oyster that they had to figure out something to do with it and thus began the powders. Before attempting to farm the fungi, they dabbled in hay and tomatoes but they wanted a crop that no one else was really producing. Today, they cultivate almost forty species of mushrooms.
“I’ve been growing organic on my mom’s farm in Georgia since I was 10 years old,” he added as we toured their growing rooms. “A greenhouse doesn’t work as the temperatures have to be closely monitored and so we are expanding our indoor grow rooms within our hanger.”
That’s right, an airplane hangar redesigned to house multiple grow rooms as well as their rare Aeromot “Super Ximango” launching glider plane. Possum Bottom Farms in Whitwell is technically still a licensed airport and both John and Susan are licensed pilots who actively get air time.
Their mushrooms are picked and delivered the same day (not by plane) in one of their stunning silver Subarus, which average about 200,000 miles and they are looking forward to adding more. Bread & Butter, St. John’s, Kenny’s Southside Sandwiches, Hummingbird Pastaria and Pruett’s Market are consistent carriers of Possum Bottom’s fresh fungi.
“We have the capacity to pick 700 pounds a week and would love to deliver to more grocery stores and restaurants,” he said. As long as they are given ten to twelve days’ notice, they can meet most requests. “Our future goals include expanding our availability as well as our product line to include mushroom compost as well.” They will soon have fruiting kits for sale which is like a mushroom log but John has found these get better results.
Declared as a full circle farm, John and Susan are eager to educate their consumers about their process and always willing to talk mushrooms at the Main Street Farmers Market on Wednesdays.
That’s A Cap
Considered neither a fruit or vegetable, these beneficial fungi are delicious and a healthy way to lower calories and sodium in cooking. Even if you don’t like mushrooms, like Susan from Possum Bottoms Farms, you can find ways to ingest them and still reap the benefits.
According to Nutrition Today, there are over 2000 kinds of edible mushrooms so it saddens me to think that, before this article, all I knew was the button, portobello and shiitake.
Reishi, also known as the “mushroom of immortality” and turkey tail are two medicinal varieties that are immune boosters.
Both are usually boiled then their essence is used in teas or oils. Lion’s Mane can help neuro disorders such as dementia, Alzheimer’s or multiple sclerosis. Any of the oyster varieties are linked to decreasing cholesterol and the shiitakes help with anti-inflammatory.
Any way you slice it, although there is a cap, there seems to be no end to the local availability and growing interest to the mysterious mushroom.
Dreaming of wanting to be a writer since she could remember, Jessie Gantt-Temple moved here three years ago from the Carolinas with her husband, and has found roots on her farm in Soddy Daisy.