Have mushrooms started popping up their little umbrellas all over your soggy autumn garden? We’ve seen a few, but are leaving these tiny and more importantly unidentified offerings for the fairies.

On the weekend we decided to take a treasure hunt. Not for buried gold, but something more ancient and fascinating. Mushrooms! The secret underground lives of fungi are incredible, their elusive above ground form being only the tiniest hint of their immense underground network. 

The pine forest we visited in Macedon Regional Park would not even be there without a scoop full of soil from their native forest floor in the Northern Hemisphere. Even before their symbiotic partnership between trees and their particular fungi friends was understood by scientists, foresters  saw that their exotic imports languished in this foreign soil without a little something from home. A mutually beneficial nutrient exchange necessary for survival, could you get more permaculture?

As we descended into the misty pine forest we were engulfed in memories of our San Francisco adventures. Mornings where the world was just a few metres of clarity and the rest all foggy shapes and shadows. 

Ember, our baby stowaway, delighted our fellow foragers by disguising herself as a heavy backpack. It was pure joy to confirm that the adventure doesn’t end with kids, in fact it becomes even better. 

We took the flat option whilst the others scampered down the steep slope despite no evidence steepness results in a better harvest or reduced competition.  As autumn turns to winter these pine forest are descended upon by mushroom foragers and some even sell their finds at farmers’ markets! The forest is immense though so there are still mushroom to go around. Most mushroom foragers stick to the European species of mushroom because there is little documentation on Australian natives.

Dylan found our best edible mushroom closest to the car park! It’s a beautiful saffron milkcap (Lactarius deliciosus). We had always called these pine mushrooms when purchasing from the farmers’ market, but I guess there are lots of different pine mushrooms! I love these ones not only for their wonderful taste, but because they are so easy to identify. Food goes down much easier when there is no fear of poisoning! Aside from the orange colour the stalk snaps like chalk.

Next we found parasol mushrooms which look more like deathcaps than I feel comfortable. According, to our mushroom guide, Jim, deathcaps like to hang out with oaks so he has never seen one in these forests. Once Jim IDed these two shrooms the hunt was on!

The forest was gorgeously creepy in typical pine forest fashion. Pine mushrooms love to hide under the pine needles, cheeky things!

The big parasol was a bit past its prime, but all these mushrooms are edible.

Ember enjoyed herself so much she fell asleep!

Another forager’s haul. But watch our some of these aren’t edible. The red amanita is the most obvious.

Some mushrooms that others collected can make you vomit. I overhead Jim telling someone if a mushroom smells like marzipan they are good to eat, but if they smell like phenol they make you sick. They couldn’t get a clear read on that one, so best to chuck it.

Back at the Sanatorium Lake Picnic Ground, Jim, who was a chef in a past life cooked lunch with a mixture of farmed and foraged mushrooms.

Jim’s cooking tips

• To stop the enzymatic browning cook the mushrooms as soon as possible. Jim explained the difference between enzymatic browning (like an old banana) and non-enzymatic browning (like caramelisation of onions). Reminding us how much of a science cooking is.
• Mushrooms pretty much can’t be overcooked as long as they don’t burn because their proteins are heat stable.
• Cook mushrooms without fats first to remove the water from the mushrooms. If fats are added at the beginning then the mushroom absorb large amounts as it replaces all its moisture with the fat.
• It is also okay to wash mushrooms before cooking despite what people say, but cook straight after washing.
• Add a little water to the pan so mushrooms don’t burn before they release their own juices. Jim washes down the sides of the pan with some extra water after they have cooked for a while to make sure he captures all the mushroom flavour stuck to the sides.
• Once the cellulose has broken down in the mushrooms they are ready for the fat to be added. Only a small amount is required. Jim cooked one batch with olive oil, one with butter and one with cream. All were delicious.
• The left over mushroom liquid can be drained off to be used later as a kind of gelatinous stock or left in for extra flavour.

After a delicious lunch of mushrooms and vegetable soup Jim checked our baskets for edibility.

Ember tasted her first mushroom and judged it to be acceptable. She tried a buttered one. Then she flicked off her sock-gloves for a spot of crawling practice.

Tour details

To book a mushroom tour of Mt Macedon contact:

Jan Claire – tour operator
0430 507019
www.cthemarket.com.au
www.facebook.com/cthemarket