Mushroom Foraging with the River Cottage

By Fat Loss Chef • November 3rd, 2009

Mushrooms are a really important component of many recipes that I use for Fat Loss Cookery, they are composed of nearly all water and don’t have many carbs associated with them and perhaps more importantly I think they are really yummy.
.
I’ve watched and enjoyed a few River Cottage TV programs with Hugh Fearnly -Whitingsdale but would not put myself in the raving fan club, I’m edging that way after my day spent Mushroom Foraging with John Wright UK Mushroom expert and Steve Lamb from the River Cottage.
.
There were about 15 of us who spent the day hunting and learning about the different species of mushrooms that are to be found in our wood and pasture land. Like 50% of the people we were given this as a gift by a loved one, or maybe someone hoping to poision us as we joked in the car park!
.
We were met in the car park of Home Farm by Steve at 8.30 with tea and coffee and a ‘foragers nip; some locally produced apple brandy. It wasn’t really cold enough to warrant having a nip but it seemed like a tradition that needed upholding.
.
At about 9.00 when every one had arrived we ventured into the woods just across the road. The idea was to wander around and when you found something interesting shout out to John who would then come over and talk about what was found and it either went into the edible or poisonous basket.
.
After about 2 and a half hours of wandering through what John described later in the day as one of the most ‘ fungus free zones’ he had ever been in.
.
	Here is the meager haul form the mornings efforts, the edible basket is the one on the left yes you can just about see 3 tiny samples of the edible Hedge Hog fungus.
.
	We then broke for refreshments a huge Cornish pasty ( I saved half for the journey home), I know it does not fit on any fat loss plan but you’re allowed to take a day off from time to time. We then moved into some pasture land to try a different habitat and we were met with immeadiate success as we found the huge edible Parasol fungus I think John was praying to the mushroom God’s for sending this mushroom as it nearly filled our basket just about by itself.
.
	Here’s a close up of the edible basket at the end of the afternoon, I think that is a Yellow wax Cap I am holding.
.
	The next session after lunch was fantastic as we found loads more edible mushrooms including, Puff Balls, Yellow Wax Cap (delicious), Jelly Ear and even some Magic Mushrooms!, I steered clear of those
.
	And here’s the display when we got back to Home Farm all labeled up, we found 41 different species in total.
.
	When we got back to Home Farm we had tea and coffee in the Yurt and dried our socks and boots by the open fire and prepared ourselves for the cookery demonstration, which I’ll talk about in another post. Here’s my arty shot of some of the edible mushrooms we found