MUSHROOMING is a Fun Day Out

Mushrooming season starts on Easter Sunday. Or in other words, it starts on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the equinox. But if you’re like me, you follow veteran forager Diego Bonetto on Instagram to find out when the mushrooms are starting to fruit. And then you join his workshop.

Diego Bonetto’s Mushrooming Workshop

Last year I joined one of Diego Bonetto’s mushrooming workshops in a State Forest outside Lithgow, a couple of hours drive from Sydney.  Diego has been foraging since he was a young boy. What he doesn’t know about foraging isn’t worth knowing.  

Our group of nineteen has rugged up against the cold. Some of us stamp our feet to keep warm, pleased to be wearing gloves and beanies. A cool breeze whispers through the pine trees that surround us, piercing the clear blue sky above.

The right Place, at the right time with the right weather

Diego explains that we’re in the right place, at the right time with the right weather for mushrooming. Easter has just passed, and the temperature last night was in single digits. Lower than zero degrees is too cold. There was some humidity – moisture is necessary for mushrooms to grow – but, importantly, no rain.

This State Forest is perfect for mushrooming for a few reasons. It is a monocultural pine plantation. Only pine trees grow here. That’s important as the mushrooms we’ll be harvesting live in a symbiotic relationship with pine trees. And the forest is open to the public. Mushrooming in NSW State forests is legal “for now” says Diego. Commercial operators need a licence. 

Each year people return with family and friends to go mushrooming as a yearly event. Fortunately, it’s mid-week and today we’re the only people here.  

What we’ll get from the workshop

The aim of the workshop is to walk away with confidence, knowing what to look for and how to harvest and transport our basket of mushrooms. We will also have a brief lesson in how to cook and preserve the mushrooms.

Mushrooms are the fruiting body of a complex network of fibres living below the surface of the ground. These fibres or, mycaelia, break down organic material and provide water and nutrients to the tree roots.

How many different mushrooms can I find?

We’re soon set loose with instructions to find as many different mushrooms as we can. “Be careful,” warns Diego, “Wherever you walk there are mushrooms and you’ll be stepping on food.” Holding a short-bladed kitchen knife in my right hand and a basket in the other, I walk deeper into the forest, heeding the warning about uneven ground and hidden wombat holes.

A small bright red cap dotted with little white spots catches my eye. It’s a toadstool in my language. Using my knife, I divide the stalk as instructed and place the mushroom in my basket. I later learn that this type of mushroom is like a beacon. Seeing it from the road indicates that edible mushrooms are nearby.

As I cut the stem of a mushroom with a leathery cap larger than the palm of my hand, an orange milk oozes out. Concentric circles of light orange brown decorate the surface.

Arranging the mushrooms we’ve found on a table covered with a dark cloth, Diego explains the basics of mushroom identification. Amongst those we’ve foraged, “a tiny amount are edible, a tiny amount are poisonous and huge range are disgusting.”

What characteristics are we looking for in a mushroom?

We’re looking for size, colour and shape. Are there gills or is the underside more like a sponge? Most of what we’ve brought to the table aren’t suitable for eating. Some are poisonous. I’m relieved to learn that touching a poisonous mushroom won’t kill me.  

Picking up the large leathery mushroom that I brought to the table, Diego points to the gills. He then cuts the stalk and draws it across his cheek leaving a bright orange stripe. Even urine will turn orange after eating saffron milk caps. We’ll soon be foraging for more of these edible fungi.  

Another mushroom we’ll be looking for is the slippery jack. It has a spongy underside a decidedly sticky top. Pine needles and dirt stick to the surface. Apparently, they can fetch a price of $40 kilo at the market.

If in doubt leave it out

With the warning “if in doubt leave it out,” we head off to fill our baskets or cardboard boxes. There’s an art to packing wild mushrooms. They should be placed in single layers with pine fronds in between each layer. Plastic is a no-no. It causes the fungi to sweat and turn to mush.

In no time at all, we return, our sticky hands stained yellow. Diego’s partner Marny demonstrates different ways to prepare, cook and preserve the mushrooms. Each box will take an hour of work to process. And it will need to be done tonight, or the produce won’t last.

What to do with my mushrooms

At home, the saffron milk caps already show signs of green-blue bruising. They haven’t transported well. I spend the evening cleaning and preparing them for cooking, discarding the flavourless, woody and slicing what’s left. They are delicious fried with onions in olive oil and seasoned with salt and a little lime juice.

There’s not much left of the slippery jacks once the stem and sponge removed, and the sticky skin peeled off. While they are apparently great sliced into a soup or a stir fry. What seems like hours later I have very little to show for my efforts.

Well, that was fun.

Today wasn’t just about harvesting wild mushrooms. It was invigorating being rugged up against the cold in a quiet State Forest. Surrounded by pine trees with only our small group of fellow foragers, I went home full of energy, ready for the week ahead.

If I’m ever in a pine forest around Easter time, I’ll show off my newfound knowledge. That saffron milk caps have gills and ooze orange milk when cut. That slippery jacks have spongy undersides are impossibly sticky. But I’ll be happy to leave them in the ground.

NOTE: I went mushrooming with Diego at my own expense. You can find out more about his workshops here.