Leaf, Root Fungi, Fruit

Unlike the deliciously exaggerated sugar-and starch-filled produce of today, wild foods are often tough, bitter, astringent, or intensely vegetal, including many prized plants in older …

A couple thousand species of mushroom inhabit our region, quickly perplexing the budding enthusiast. Most people give up once familiar with chanterelles, morels, and shaggy …

Finding and picking fruit is instinctively rewarding, even intoxicating. Like foraging for mushrooms or hunting for Easter eggs, collecting berries triggers our ancient endorphin dropper, …

The Blackfeet said they were fallen stars. In Western ethno botanical literature, puffballs are referenced far more than other fungi. Nowadays people tend to overlook …

Spring’s anticipation leads to delusional expectations of woodland bounty before the ground has thawed. Foragers and chefs start calling in March inquiring about items for …

There aren’t many wild foods to collect in the dead of winter and virtually none that are fresh. The velvet foot, flammulina velutipes, is a …

The Muppet mushroom is my name for Albatrellus ellisii, officially called greening goat’s foot. A title that would drive off all but the most daring …

Cocktails are the new wine, a culinary vehicle to experience the complexity of our planet. Their ingredients are often derived from potent botanicals, thus a …

May is for morels, mycophiles say. But at “Out There Monthly,” May is for corals! No scuba gear required because the forest corals are terrestrial …