May 10 Meeting

The first meeting of spring on May 10 was of course devoted to Morels. There was some lively discussion between the old pros and novice morel hunters about when and where to stalk elusive quarry, the various species of morels, and favorite ways to cook them. The meeting was concluded with a showing of the Larry Lonick video, “Motherlode”.

Larry Lonick billed himself as “the world’s foremost authority on Morels”. Tragically, he died last year in a freak accident, but he was doing what loved when he left us— looking for mushrooms. The video was remarkable in a number of respects. It begins (prophetically?) with Larry arising from burial under a mountain of morels, that completely filled the bed of a pick up truck . Larry and friends then do a docu-drama of the confessions of Morel addict, complete with Mushroomers Anonymous and therapy sessions. I must confess that the level of acting in the video was on par with porno flicks, but it was fun anyway, and by the end we had OD’d on Morel images. Some of the video was taped out West, and it was interesting (and a little distressing) to observe commercial morel harvesting out there. Whole armies of pickers descended on the woods and burn sites. Morel brokers were camped on the perimeters ready to buy and process tons of morels on the spot. Some were packing guns.

So, how was the 2004 Morel season for Minnesota? By all accounts, excellent! Everyone who joined the MMS forays at Louisville Swamp, Elba, and Lake Maria State Park bagged a bunch of morels, and some found them in abundance—I wish I had been one of them.

May 24 Meeting

All that the rain promised was fulfilled—the tables of Hodson Hall were covered with a wonderful variety of mushrooms. We reviewed some of the common species for newcomers, emphasizing the key features to look at for mushroom identification, and then talked about a few of the more exotic species. There were various inky caps present, and a mushroom that at first glance appeared to be an inky cap, but it showed no sign of deliquescence (auto-digestion to a inky goo characteristic of the genus). My guess was that it was a Psathyrella, but I decided to take it home and do a spore print. The print was pitch black, which suggested a species of Paneolus. It was much larger than the common P. foenisecii (lawn mower’s mushroom) and also had a quite strong medicinal odor. Could it be the hallucinogenic Panaeolus papilionaceus? I decided against testing it.

June 14 Meeting

The tables were filled again with many species, including some from the recent BioBlitz. The focus of the meeting was on Mushroom identification. Anyone who wanted help with ID was paired up with a mentor, and the fun began. As usual we had our Audubon field Guides available for use and in addition some laminated copies of Pat Leacocks Guide to Minnesota mushrooms. Pat has been a major contributor to MMS in years past. He is a talented artist as well as a mushroom expert. He received his PhD from University of Minnesota, studying with Dave McLaughlin, and he is now on the staff of the Field Museum in Chicago. As mushrooms were identified ID cards with printed info on key features were placed with each species. We are indebted to Erma Lechko, who put in a lot of work to create those cards.

Many of the newer members were interested learning which species are good edibles. Thanks to Maxine Bethke, there were plenty to be seen. She came in with bags full of wine caps, “fried chicken mushroom” (Lyophyllum decastes), oyster mushrooms, and some dryad’s saddles (Polyporus squamosus). Maxine always comes to meetings with huge quantities of mushrooms (and has been known to bring her frying pan to meetings and cook up mushrooms right on the spot). She must have some fantastic collecting sites. All we know is that they are somewhere in Oakdale.

The question always comes up when talking about Lyophyllum decastes , “Do they really taste like fried chicken?”. Maxine was generous and gave me some to take home for a taste. I sautéed some in butter until a little crispy and really paid attention to the flavor. I could swear that I could taste a little Colonel Sanders.