Cookaholics Bulletin Board
http://www.cookaholics.org/

Mushroom season!
http://www.cookaholics.org/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1605
Page 1 of 3

Author:  Amy [ Wed Aug 03, 2011 1:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Mushroom season!

While this isn't really gardening, it's the closest forum I thought would fit.

Monsoon season came early to the mountains of SW Colorado, and while it's frustrating as a summer-loving local, it's exciting as a mushroom-picking chef. My EC has gone out a couple of times already, and come back with about a few pounds of chanterelles and porcinis. (A pittance for what's to come.)

The rains have been good, so I'm going out this weekend on my first forage. With luck I should be able to find around 5-10 lbs. of porcinis. This will increase dramatically in the next few weeks. Gotta love the mountains.

Amy

Author:  MiGirl [ Wed Aug 03, 2011 4:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mushroom season!

That is great Amy! We get Morel's in May here in Michigan. Lost of festivals and such go on around Mothers Day. They go for between $18.00 and $25.00 a lb. Happy hunting, I'm a little envious.

Laurie

Author:  TheFuzzy [ Wed Aug 03, 2011 9:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mushroom season!

Amy,

There's no worries about picking some wrong mushrooms?

I've had one horrible experience with foraged mushrooms in a Russian restaurant ...

Author:  Amy [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 3:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mushroom season!

Josh,

Not really. Porcinis (boletes) and chanterelles are both pretty distinctive. And, if you ever have any question, John Sir Jesse (yup, that's his real name) is a local mushroom certifier.

Amy

Author:  Amy [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 7:08 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mushroom season!

I want to buy a dehydrator for drying my mushrooms. (Actually, I'd just rather buy a new convection oven, which works equally as well for this purpose, but alas, it's not in the cards right now.)

I found one on Craigslist quasi-locally that is $50, including four trays. It's a Harvest Maid Garden Master. Anyone have experience with this?

Amy

Author:  Darcie [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 7:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mushroom season!

Amy, that looks quite similar to mine (mine's Mr. Coffee brand - WTF?), and it works fine. I think this is one of those items where you don't have to have the fancypants model (or at least that is what I tell myself so I don't run off and buy this one).

Author:  Amy [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 7:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mushroom season!

Darcie,

There's also one of those on Craigslist for $100 obo. Hmmmm...

Amy

Author:  Darcie [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 8:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mushroom season!

The supposed advantage of the Excalibur (and the less expensive STX Dehydra) is that they have horizontal drying so it dries more evenly. With the vertical models like mine, you have to rotate the trays because the stuff on the bottom gets done faster. Also, the horizontal fan models have temperature controls which most of the updraft models lack. Maybe I should check out Craigslist here in MN for one...

Author:  Kathy's Pete [ Thu Aug 04, 2011 6:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mushroom season!

Looks like Harvest Maid is synonymous with American Harvest. I've had an A.H. forever (mine has a temperature dial). Rotating trays ain't all that hard. IIRC the Ronco/Popiel model doesn't actually have a fan...

Author:  Amy [ Sat Aug 06, 2011 3:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mushroom season!

So we went foraging for chantarelles today. The area we went to isn't really known for porcinis, but I think we might go out tomorrow to an area that is.

Here's today's booty. Could have gotten more, but I had a massive allergy attack, and no Benedryl with me.

Image

Guess what's for dinner? ;)

Amy

Page 1 of 3 All times are UTC - 7 hours [ DST ]
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
http://www.phpbb.com/