We spent Sunday in the woods at Salt Point State Park, north of Jenner and Fort Ross on the Sonoma County coast, participating in a mushroom foraging class led by experts. I had never gone mushroom hunting before. That is, my experience with mushrooms has been finding them while birding and my pleasure has always been simply in observing them, photographing them, and identifying them.
Like many of my generation, I was taught as a child never even to touch a wild mushroom. Surely any mushroom not sold in a grocery store will kill you, it was implied. I imagine parents thought it prudent to instill a healthy fear of mushrooms in their children – just in case. The truth is, most mushrooms are not deadly. While only some are edible, most that aren't edible will simply make you sick for a while or they just aren't tasty enough to bother with. That said, the most poisonous varieties are so deadly that a little bit of mycophobia is probably not a bad idea.
Among edibles, we found mostly Hedgehog Mushrooms and Yellow Foot Chantarelles, which, despite their name, are now considered closely related to Black Trumpet Mushrooms rather than actual Chantarelles, although I noticed that they have the same pseudo-gills that Chantarelles have. Otherwise, they are skinny yellow hollow tubes that are easy to recognize once you’ve seen them.
I really enjoyed the day. It was fun to have experts on hand who could make IDs immediately on the fly, but I wish I’d brought a notebook, as it’s difficult to remember all the names.
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