Special Issue, September 22, 2004
Foraging for Wild Mushrooms
in Bay Area Stores
Published about twice a year from Greenville, California
by Herman Brown
herman@fungi-zette.com
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In late August, I had sent out the following to my own personal mushroomers mailing list:

Has anyone taken any digital pictures of the "wild" mushrooms sold at the Berkeley Bowl, or any other place in the Bay Area, that sells them?

I would love to see pictures taken of the displays for "wild" mushrooms, and maybe even do a special issue for my online newsletter, using the pictures.

Thanks, Herman

I had thought it would be a good follow-up for my previous article about stores in the SF Bay Area that sold wild mushrooms, mush11.htm#stores.

And I got this from Debbie Viess:

I will attempt a photo safari for you on Friday. Hopefully, I won't be trampled by herds of irate Bowl shoppers while setting up my shot; they are particularly vicious as the weekend approaches.

Hey, nobody said that mushrooming (even the indoor variety) was risk-free! I will also check out Monterey Market for you.

Debbie

And this final note from Debbie:  

Hi Herman,

Both the Berkeley Bowl and Monterey Market also sell a wide array of cultivated mushrooms: numerous Asian varieties (maitake, enoki, nameko, wood ears) and the many faces of the cultivated oyster (Trumpet Royale, Blue oyster, Abalone Cap, etc.), in addition to the lowly white and brown button, and its high-fallutin' brother, the Portobello.

Wild mushrooms vary with the season, and come from both near (N. CA) and far (Europe).

Often featured: golden chanterelles (sp. vary depending on locality of origin); white chanterelles (Cantharellus subalbidus), black trumpets (Craterellus cornucopioides), Lobster mushrooms (Hypomyces lactifluorum), matsutake (Tricholoma magnivelare), and "Chicken of the Woods" or Sulphur Shelf (Laetiporous gilbertsonii). I have also "collected" hedgehog mushrooms (Hydnum umbilicatum) and yellowfeet (Cantharellus tubaeformis and relatives), bluefeet (a cultivated blewit), pom-poms (Hericium erinacium) and Sparassis from these two fine produce markets. Did I mention the many morels and boletes (king, queen and butter)? BTW, note the valiant attempt by MM to list the scientific names of the chanterelle and matsutake! It's an epicurean education.

Happy foraging, inside or out.

Debbie Viess

In our little town, the only mushrooms we can usually buy fresh are the white button mushrooms and three sizes of the Italian Brown mushrooms.

It looks like it would be worth the trip just to go foraging for mushrooms in these two stores.

The following are the pictures that she sent me:

Photographs (from Debbie Viess)

From Debbie:  The first three photos are from the Monterey Market (note the Arora posters in the background; the owner is a friend of David's), the rest are from the Bowl.  D. Click on any picture to see a larger image and use the Back Button to return to this page.

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