Group Hunting

admin October 15, 2019October 14, 2019 lobsters, mushrooms, tour

I have been mostly going solo into the woods for mushroom hunting expeditions, but recently I had the opportunity to guide two couples into the forest to seek out the golden Chanterelles.

I had warned the group ahead of time that there are terrain issues if one isn’t prepared for the adventure. Sturdy, waterproof shoes, lightweight clothing (because it is work both going uphill and down), baseball caps to protect faces from vine maple, twigs and brush, and reflective vests being that we are currently in hunting season. The vest surprised my visitors since they believed that we would be on my own private property. I agreed that we would only be hunting on our farm but it is also rifle deer season and private property signs on the edges of the place to not assure that hunters would not wander in.

It was a beautiful, sunny yet cool morning as we trooped over the bridge, across the field and began the climb up into the woods. We trekked through some of the mushroom growing spots on the side hill that I had not yet picked on my own hikes. We were able to identify Chanterelles, White Chanterelles, Boletes, Lobster Mushrooms. Lots and lots of Lobster mushrooms were found. When asked if they are edible I replied yes they are and described the interesting fact that they are not one mushroom but the Lobster is a mushroom growing on the surface of another mushroom like Russula. The Russula is not a good variety to eat until the Lobster takes over the original mushroom and is in the process of using the Russula as a host. The bright orange color of the Lobster is unique in the forest and the group was able to find them easily.

One of the visitors was hesitant about the edible quality until I told him that I would happy to prepare some for our meal when we got back to the house.

At the end of the hunt, we had all our buckets filled and the whole group was willing to sit a spell while we cleaned the mushrooms we wanted to add to the crock pot of soup that was cooking while we were gathering. It was the same soup that I had made a couple of days earlier and wrote the story about, Mushroom Coconut Curry.

Lobster mushroom peeking out of the duff of the forest floor For the Lobster, I cleaned it well and trimmed off the bottom of the large stock. Then diced the whole thing and placed in a non-stick fry pan. With the heat on high for a quick saute, along with a sprinkle of seasoning and a Tablespoon of nutritional yeast, the side dish of Lobster Mushroom fit the bill for vegans. For those in the group that like butter, I added a pat after the dish was plated.

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