The story of professional foragers on mushroom trail

Book Reviewed: The Mushroom Hunters: On the Trail of an Underground America by Langdon Cook

This book is about the mushroom pickers in the wild and it does not focus on cooking mushrooms. In fact much of the book describes the experiences of professional pickers known to the author. The interesting fact is that in the deep forest and steep mountains along Oregon, Washington and the West coast of Canada have naturally built an eco-system that is conducive for the growth of colorful parade of mushrooms. The heat, rain and humidity in this region have resulted in a fungal trail that has helped a strong commercial market, for wild mushrooms, to grow, and at the same time attracting more professional foragers. There is a large group of consumers willing to pay a pretty penny for these delicacies. The undocumented business in the Pacific Northwest has become a booming business. The pickers spend months at a time in timber communities with base camp ion Washington State's Olympic Peninsula and parts of Central Oregon and sell it to brokers, wholesalers and some restaurants. The buyers also put up their buying stands close to these bases. Exotic mushrooms are a great appeal for innovative chefs at well-known restaurants so that they can have shiny new product on their menu.

Lobster mushroom is an orange delicacy. It is meaty and silky in texture when sautéed slowly and tastes like lobster meat. In fact it has become a staple in high-end restaurants. Most pickers operate illegally unseen by the forest rangers. A single forager can pick up to 200 pounds of mushrooms. Some pickers operate legally with a single permit that would be good at all national forests. Chanterelle with its signature egg yolk color is abundant. The global market for the mushrooms is more than a billion dollars.

This is an interesting book to read, but this is not for cooking enthusiasts. You don't find any recipe or even a picture of the mushroom discussed in this book.