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veggie

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The thrill of mushrooming [PA]

#10561457 - 06/23/09 10:48 PM (3 years, 10 months ago)

An interesting article about a 15 year old mushroom club from Pennsylvania, the Eastern Penn Mushroomers ...

The thrill of mushrooming
June 23, 2009 - LancasterOnline.com

On the surface, there's something decidedly lifeless about the Eastern Penn Mushroomers.

I mean the object of their fascination mostly live on dead, rotting things, for heaven's sake.

On a recent club foray in the woods of Gifford Pinchot State Park in York County, Cathy Cholmeley-Jones of Lancaster pulled these long, gray spines out of her collecting basket and pronounced proudly, "dead man's fingers."

Then there's the Hebeloma syriense, also called the corpse finder mushroom because it is often found growing near, yes, corpses.

Supposedly, it once led crime investigators to where human remains were found.

"After all," says club member Carol Watkins, referring to mushrooms, "things have to die for them to come up."

How delightful.

I think of birdwatchers and a nomenclature that features nothing more dispiriting than a yellow-bellied sapsucker.

But then, birders have long since discovered the birds they seek. Mycologists, on the other hand, have only identified an estimated 10 percent of the fungi in the world.

Granted, many are microscopic. Still, the next rotting log an Eastern Penn Mushroomer inspects might contain a heralded discovery.

Since the club formed 15 years ago, members have found and identified more than 700 species of mushrooms in this part of the state.

Fifteen members of the club have gathered at the state park this sparkling Sunday morning for the foray. They have sprayed themselves for ticks and have medicine for poison ivy, two hazards of their hobby.

Another is getting lost. They spend so much time staring at the forest floor and not paying attention to landmarks that they sometimes lose their bearings.

Each mushroomer is carrying some kind of basket that Alice in Wonderland might tote.

Speaking of Alice in Wonderland and magic mushrooms, when people come across these mushroomers with baskets roaming through the woods, they usually think they are in search of psychedelic mushrooms.

"I say, 'Do I look like a hippie?'" laughs Cheryl Dawson, of York.

Others tell them about childhood memories of older relatives hunting for honey mushrooms to eat .

The club was formed in 1994 by a retired chemist from the Ephrata area, Jim Knoll, who was looking for a stress-relieving hobby. He eliminated wildflowers because he figured he'd never learn them all. He considered birdwatching but the subjects would not stay still long enough.

He turned to mushrooming. Knoll, now 85, still shows up at some forays.

The current president is John Dawson, a slightly-built 65-year-old dynamo from York who rattles off the names of mushrooms he finds by their Latin name, only giving the common name if asked.

The club has about 100 members, says Dawson, a retired mathematics professor from Penn State-York who can identify up to 200 species of mushrooms by sight and rattle off both Latin and common names.

Lancaster County has the most members with others from York and Dauphin counties, and a smattering from Philadelphia and New Jersey.

They are bonded by their quest to search for and admiration of fungi.

Some like to photograph the mushrooms. Others are driven by a culinary affinity for edible mushrooms (about 10 percent of all mushrooms). Some use certain fungi to dye paper and wool and others just get off on the thrill of the hunt.

Skill levels vary from those just getting into the hobby to plant pathologists.

"There are so many thousands of mushrooms. Eventually people will specialize in certain areas because there is so much to know even in individual families," observes Cheryl Dawson.

Anyone with an interest is welcome in the club. "The best way to increase one's knowledge in mushrooms is a group like this," says Dawson, who met his wife and fellow mushroomer, Cheryl, when both were playing flute in the concert band at MIT.

In the spring, summer and fall, the club holds forays, mostly in state parks, state forests and state game lands where they are allowed to collect fungi. Since the above-ground parts of mushrooms are only the fruit, snipping them off doesn't kill the fungi.

As the recent foray begins, 'shroomers spread out in all directions. Some disappear right into the woods. Others follow trails and peer at the surrounding damp forest floor.

I come across Cholmeley-Jones and her boyfriend, Shawn Marzan of New Providence, scouring the forest floor. Cholmeley-Jones joined the club about seven years ago.

The taste and texture of different mushrooms hooked her. She drafted Marzan. With her knowledge and his eyes, they bring home their share of edible treats, such as hen of the woods, chicken mushroom, morels and chanterelles.

"The more you learn about them, the more fascinating they are," says Cholmeley-Jones.

At the end of forays, edible mushrooms are divvied up. So far this year, about 40 pounds of edible fungi have been found.

Eating mushrooms is a matter that should be left to experts. Sickness and even death are possible from eating the wrong ones, some of which very closely resemble edible varieties.

Because of this, the club doesn't eat mushrooms at the end of forays. But they do have occasional mushroom tastings. A rule of thumb is that you cook everything before you eat it.

But last December, four club officers gathered to decide on recipes for an upcoming truffle tasting for the club. Since it was out of season locally, mushrooms had been ordered from Oregon. One recipe called for a chilled soup.

The group tried it without cooking the mushrooms. Within 15 minutes they were ill. I'll spare you the details, but the group was seriously ill for two days.

Because of the incident, the club is purchasing a new liability insurance policy.

"We knew better," says Chris Snyder, 55, of Narvon, the club's co-culinary coordinator and one of the poisoning victims.

After two hours of mushroom hunting at the Gifford Pinchot foray, club members gather in the shade and spread their finds on a picnic table covered with a tablecloth.

At least 30 different kinds are displayed. Guidebooks are produced and there is some debate over a few mushrooms. As is sometimes the case, there is a mushroom or two that eludes positive identification.

The find of the day is a dainty mushroom with pink caps suspended on slight stems. "Wow, look at that. That's fabulous, isn't it?" coos John Dawson who has mushroom illustrations on his T-shirt and baseball cap.

After some discussion, the mushroom is identified as a shaggy scarlet cup. "It's not very often found and it's a lovely thing," says Dawson.

For more information on the club and twice-a-month forays, all of which are open to the public, go to www.epennmushroomers.org. The Web site is being rebuilt and should be up shortly.

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