How to Go Mushroom Hunting: A Beginners Guide

One of the best things about fall is mushroom hunting! I love walking around in the woods and looking for mushrooms. Mushrooms are a great hobby to have, but they can also be quite confusing. There are so many different types of mushrooms that it's hard to know what you're even looking for. In this blog post, we'll go over some basics on how to find and harvest your own mushrooms at home without having any prior knowledge or experience!

Step One: Find a good location to mushroom hunt. If you don't have any specific area in mind, I would recommend looking for an open field or forested areas near your home. Keep in mind that there may be animals around, so make sure to wear the appropriate clothing and shoes before venturing out!

Step Two: You will need to equip yourself with the proper mushroom hunting gear. This includes an ID card, a basket for carrying your mushrooms in, and some kind of container or bag that you can put them in after picking them. You'll also need food and water because it's very important not to get lost while mushroom hunting!

Step Three: Mushroom identification is key to your successful mushroom hunt. Make sure that you are able to identify edible mushrooms from poisonous ones so that you know what not to pick!

Step Four: Once you have found a good location and some time has passed, it's finally time for the big event - actually picking the mushrooms! Be careful while doing this because there may be animals around or plants you will be picking near that are poisonous.

Step Five: Once you have picked your mushrooms, it is time to put them in a container or bag and carry them back home with the proper mushroom hunting gear! Be careful not to trip over any prickly plants on your way out of the forest because they may hurt you.

Step Six: When you get home, you can either eat them fresh or dry them for later use.

Step Seven: You can store them in your fridge or just place them on a piece of paper and put them out in the sun to dry.

Step Eight: If you choose to eat them fresh, make sure that they are from an edible mushroom before you do so!

Step Nine: Keep in mind that some mushrooms are not just edible, they also have many medicinal properties. Some medicines you can use them to make are a tincture and an infusion.

Step Ten: When you are done with your mushroom hunting trip, make sure to clean up any trash in the forest so that it doesn't become a hazard for other people!

Step Eleven: You can even make tea or coffee from them! To make tea, just boil some water and steep the mushrooms for about five minutes.

Step Twelve: To make coffee, you will need a special mushroom filter to get rid of all the fungus from your drink!

Step Thirteen: You can also use them in soups or as an addition to sauces. Some people might even start eating raw mushrooms every day!

A few common types of mushroom to keep in mind when you're hunting for these delicious fungi are chanterelles, hen-of-the woods, and porcini. Chanterell is a use mushroom that is very common and easy to identify. It has a fruity, apricot aroma with white gills on the underside of its cap. The color ranges from yellow-brown to black depending on where it lives in the forest's environment! Hen-of-the woods mushrooms are often also called "hen of the wood". These are one of the easiest mushrooms to identify because they are so large and have a rounded, umbrella-shaped cap. Hen-ofs also grow in clusters on stumps or logs.

Porcini mushroom is another type that can be found pretty easily! They resemble chanterelles with their long stems, but porcinis will stay white when cut and they will quickly turn brown when exposed to air. This mushroom is common in the Pacific Northwest and can be found growing near old-growth trees such as Douglas fir, hemlock, or redwoods. Porcini mushrooms are also larger than chanterelles and hen of the woods so that's why they're easy to identify!

Mushrooms have always fascinated me. Growing up in a small town, I would often go mushroom hunting with my dad. He always had the best stories about his days of mushroom-hunting and it was so much fun to see what he brought home for dinner!

Be sure to identify the time of year that is most appropriate for mushroom hunting. For me, this would be the fall because I am not a big fan of cold weather, and mushrooms are only found during certain seasons.

Check out this link for help with your mushroom hunting if you want more assistance.