by Mackensy Lunsford
photos by Glenn Esterson

Our mountains are a great source for wild comestibles. We have ramps, wild berries and—most importantly, if you ask Theresa Oursler, one of the founders of the Asheville Mushroom Club—a wide variety of edible wild mushrooms. The drought of 2007 and 2008, one of the worst on record in WNC, led to all sorts of horticultural and agricultural calamities. That drought was declared officially over in mid-May, and then, it seemed it just wouldn’t stop raining. That’s excellent news for mushroom hunters, who have had a bumper crop of ‘shrooms to choose from, even if the wild swings in the weather have made things a bit unpredictable. Technically, mushroom-hunting season starts at the beginning of July. But Alan Muskat, a.k.a. the Mushroom Man, one of Asheville’s more renowned wild mushroom experts, says he’s seen wild mushrooms this year sprouting up in the wrong season. In June, he spotted two mushrooms—a shaggy parasol and an uncommon psychedelic type—that normally wouldn’t show up until the fall.

Oursler, who grew up in Nyack, New York, and spent summers in the ‘60s gathering mushrooms in the Vermont woods, says she’s noticed the same thing in WNC this year—earlier-than-usual chanterelles, amanitas and russulas—which could bode well for a bounteous summer mushroom crop.

Gathering mushrooms and eating them is not for the novice, Oursler warns. Gaining knowledge solely from books simply won’t do. For example, even though several varieties of amanitas are edible, some are deadly. When it comes to foraging, the only way to learn is by doing it, and the only way to do that is to have someone teach you. If you’re planning to head out to pick mushrooms for a meal, take an expert—or at least someone who’s done it before. “You can learn a certain amount from field guides,” she says.

In 1982, Oursler found a mentor in fellow mushroom enthusiast Dan Lazar, who taught a mushroom identification class at Asheville’s Nature Center. She dove into the class, and shortly thereafter, she, Lazar and two others began the Asheville Mushroom Club, which now has more than 100 members. In its 17th year, the club hosts classes that cater to the novice and expert alike, along with forays into the woods to search for fungi of all stripes.

In WNC, that means morels and shaggy manes, lobsters and lactarius, mushrooms that leak a milky substance when you break them open. Chanterelles, often orangey or yellow and known for their fruity smell, can be reddish in some spots in the mountains. Chefs at fancy restaurants often pair them with seafood (though they can be used as anything from a salad ingredient to a pizza topping), and they can fetch up to $30 per pound. Oursler likes to roast red-orange lobster mushrooms, and she believes the crumbly texture of the milky mushrooms is improved by baking. You can do just about anything with morels, which she usually just sautés in butter. She gives black trumpet chantarelle mushrooms similar treatment, cooking them up with broth, onions and butter and serving them on crackers with goat cheese. Her favorite? It’s hard to say. “My favorite mushroom is whatever’s in season,” she answers coyly. “The edible ones are so good that I can’t discriminate. I love them all.”  

To learn more about the Asheville Mushroom Club, visit ashevillemushroomclub.com. To learn about the North Carolina Mountain Mushroom Cooperative in Madison County, go to NCmountainMushroom.com. Find funny mushroom facts and photos at www.alanmuskat.com.