A field guide to foraging for Vermont mushrooms

STOWE - What type of food and medicine can you find for free in Vermont's woods? Mushrooms. The Burlington Free Press was given a tour of the mushrooms of Stowe's Cady Hill Forest by fungi fanatic Sam Rogers, mycologist at the Forager's Supply Company.

"Mushrooms drive you to be more curious," Rogers said. "They are miraculous little pieces of evolution. It's crazy what they have done over millions of years to just be these amazing little spore-spreaders."

Our mid-October foray yielded a bounty of fungal finds, ranging from tiny witches' butter to massive reishi. Consider this a field guide to some of our top finds, how to identify them, and their quirky characteristics.

Yellowfoot chanterelle (craterellus ignicolor)

When stomping around the forest in the fall, you might notice something that looks like an orange leaf, but upon further inspection is actually a small mushroom known as the yellowfoot chantrelle.

True to its scientific name of craterellus, there is a small "crater" or hole on the cap of the mushroom. Below the cap you will find wrinkles known as false gills.

"This mushroom is one of my favorite edibles," Rogers said. "If you think pulled pork texture, this is that. Barbecued, on a pizza, oh it's so good."

To reap their full flavor, Rogers recommends dehydrating the mushroom prior to cooking.

Birch polypore (fomitopsis betulina)

The birch polypore is a mushroom with a storied history.

When a 5,300 year old natural mummy of the human named "Ötzi the Iceman" was found in the Italian Alps in 1991, his leather pouch of possessions included the Birch Polypore, according to the University of Wisconsin's website.

"This mushroom is anti-fungal, anti-microbial, it's also a coagulant," Rogers said. "Strips of this used to be cut and used as bandages. So this is, in essence, the first Band-Aid that humans ever used."

The mushroom grows in a fairly large kidney shape, and can be found on birch trees.

Artist's conk (ganoderma applanatum)

The artist's conk gets its name from its soft underside, which is well-suited for artists to etch illustrations into.

On the other side of the mushroom are rings that look like layers of sediment. The number of rings the mushroom has denotes the number of years it has been growing, Rogers said.

"I've come across some of these, especially out west in old-growth forests, that are 40, 50 years old," Rogers said. "They're stacked a foot-and-a-half high with the layers."

Artist's conk is among the types of mushrooms that excretes excess liquid through a process called guttation. Guttation is essentially "mushroom pee," Rogers said, and it can be filled with nutrient compounds. Liquid from artist's conk is often used to create medicinal tinctures, Rogers said.

Alder scalycap (pholiota alnicola)

Alder scalycaps are small, yellow-tinted mushrooms that grow mostly in groups on alder trees.

They have a distinctive white rim around the margin of their cap, which attaches to the stipe (stem) of the mushroom during development, holding the spores in place until the mushroom is fully mature, Rogers said.

In the dark, alder scalycaps glow a greenish color, which attracts insects. The mushroom's spores cling to insects, who spread the spores around the forest when they crawl away, Rogers said.

Cup fungi (pezizaceae)

Cup fungi are small mushrooms with a concave, cup-like shape.

When activated by an animal, water droplet, or strong gust of wind, cup fungi can dramatically release a burst spores at the "strongest force in nature," Rogers said.

To demonstrate, Rogers blew on the mushroom like it was a birthday cake, and a visible cluster of spores shot out of the mushroom in a steam-like cloud.

Hemlock varnish shelf (ganoderma tsugae)

The hemlock varnish shelf is a shiny, reddish-brown mushroom that grows on hemlock trees. It is known as reishi in Japan and ling chih in China.

"This mushroom is one of the oldest-consumed mushrooms by humans," Rogers said. "In China, it's called 'The Mushroom of Immortality.'"

The specimen we found was massive — one of the largest that Rogers has ever come across. Its cap typically grows about 2-12 inches wide, according to Cornell University's mushroom blog.

The mushroom has "very, very beneficial medicinal compounds in it," Rogers said. "Good for stress reduction, sleep aid, anti-fungal, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, all sorts of good things for you."

To consume reishi, Rogers dehydrates the mushroom, blends it into a powder, and then adds it to smoothies, tea, or tinctures.

Contact April Fisher at amfisher@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AMFisherMedia

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont mushroom foraging: an essential guide