Home improvement projects get me thinking about mushrooms.  Sitting in my new living room surrounded by boxes we haven’t unpacked so we can shove them and our furniture into our bedrooms while our living room floors are refinished this weekend, I’m reminded of Richard (pronounced “Reechad.”) 

Richard is a handyman from our past who scheduled our projects around his mushroom hunting schedule.  A native of Poland, he was determined to carry on his family’s foraging tradition in the Rocky Mountains.  He wouldn’t tell us where he was going, only that our concrete counter tops were ready to be installed, but would have to wait until he got back.

My most memorable childhood mushrooms were on my Dad’s favorite pizza: pepperoni, mushroom, and onion.  They were much better on pizza than raw in an iceburg lettuce salad.  I didn’t know there was anything other than button mushrooms until I tried Hot and Sour soup at our local Chinese restaurant.  And I surely didn’t know that Porcini’s grew in the wild and were so huge!  I’m used to seeing them cut in smaller pieces and dried.  I couldn’t get over this basket of mushrooms.

Richard may have been looking for chanterelles, oysters, or the boletus edulis otherwise known as the Porcini mushroom, on his August hunt many years ago.  August is the best month for wild mushroom foraging in Colorado.  I found these Porcini’s at the Hillsdale Farmers’ Market in November while still in Oregon. 

If you’re lucky enough to find them in the wild, or at your local farmers’ market, you can preserve them yourself.  Eugenia Bone offers tips for putting up mushrooms here.

We call the boletus edulis by the Italian name for piglet, given to it either because pigs like it or because the young fruiting bodies of the mushrooms look like piglets.  Famous Italian chef Antonio Carluccio calls the Porcini “the wild mushroom par excellence.”  Great for soups and stews, and especially well-suited for risotto.  Porcini’s are known for retaining their rich, complex flavor after being dried.

Here’s Mario Batali’s Porcini Risotto recipe, made with dried porcini’s: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mario-batali/risotto-al-porcini-porcini-risotto-recipe/index.html

Technically, a mushroom is not a vegetable.  It’s from a Kingdom all its own, the Fungi Kingdom.  But hopefully you’ll agree that when your Mom told you to eat your vegetables, she meant the mushrooms too.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone saying, “I want to see you eat two more bites of fungus, or you’re not leaving this table.”

Look for your local mycological society for mushroom foraging tips for the forests near you.  Here’s a link to the Colorado Mycological Society.  No need to take a trip to the mountains, at the right time of year, the Denver Metro Area is a mushroom goldmine!

Want more veggies?  The Weekly Veggie has a new veggie story every Thursday.  Last week’s veggie story is here: Uchiki Kuri Squash. A Japanese Squash?

Want more Market Photos?  Check  back every Monday for a new Monday Dose of Market.   Last week’s photos are here: Monday Dose of Market: Snow in the Great State of Colorado   

And I am very excited to be attending a Colorado Holiday Farmers’ Market this weekend.  Check back Monday for pictures!