Mushroom Hunting in Colorado

Our first mushroom hunting adventure with Pat and Mike Bowline was very successful. The beginning of August is the time to go foraging for mushrooms. The down side was that we had to clean all of these. We fried some in butter and also deep fried them. We knocked on camper doors and shared our cooked mushrooms. Mmmmm good!

The first mushroom we found was a King Bolete. It is dark maroon. A Bolete is a lighter color. They were plentiful, but we found out that if you pick them when they are too big, they are spongy and had bugs. The smaller boletes before they are fanned out are bug free and delicious.

Astrid came back to Colorado with Michelle and got to go mushroom hunting with us. She is a natural mushroom hunter. We sent her down or up the mountain to get the mushrooms on the steep slopes. She had to help me back up and tell me where to step for support.

Shaggy Mane mushrooms grow mainly close to the roadway. Mike liked these mushrooms best. They are extremely delicate. When fried, they melt in your mouth.

Mike Bowline and Mike Day disappeared in to the Aspens for quite awhile. They treked out carrying their hats full of Chanterelle mushrooms. They were my favorite mushrooms. They have a light buttery taste. The most amazing aspect of learning new things out in the road is that we see them mentioned in our every day lives. The TV show, Iron Chef, had Chanterelles as part or their secret ingredients. One of the magazines we receive featured "Shroomin Cascade Range, Oregon. They wrote, "Thousands of foragers descend on the Crater Lake area with dreams of plucking prized chanterelles, which they can later sell for up to $300 per pound." WOW had we know that, we would of searched harder for Chanterelles.

Mike and Astrid found the biggest mushroom of the day. Hawks Wings are very had to find. As you can see by the pictures below, that they are do look like a hawk's wing. They are meaty and remind us of a portabella. We sauted them in wine and butter and added them to brown gravy baked with New York strip steak. The bigger mushroom is bigger than my hand. The underneath side is very soft and silky.