| Mushrooms anyone?

By Mark

Well, it's that time of year
again. Not the time to buckle
down and study, not the time
to crack the books and pick
up what you've already
missed (those days won’t be
here for another month or

referring to is mushroom sea-
son.

| suppose the first order of
business is to apologize for
not having an inside scoop on
a field full of psilocybes. The
mushroom | am discussing
here is, and | say this with a
degree of sadness, not hallu-
cinogenic. Fortunately, as a
connoisseur of free food
sources, | am able to intro-
duce you to the delicious
world of the Shaggy Mane.

It was my first year at UNBC
that ! noticed the various
kinds of fungi growing all
around campus. With some
extra time on my hands anda
hankering for a bit of a nature
walk, | ventured into the for-
est to search for mushrooms

the life threatening sense of
the word, of course.

After picking several speci-
mens with which | had no
familiarity, | walked to the
library to reference my finds.
Having done this before at
UVIC and UBC, | knew that |
would have no trouble finding
a source. [FY], references on
fungi in BC are located in the
QK??? section of the library]

My first specimen, ,a little
brown jobby with a cap

resembling a nipple didn’t
show up anywhere in the
books. Second was a trippy,
looking thing with a fleshy red
cap and a white stem with
streaks of yellow. The cap
was covered with a slimy,
clear mucous; taking a good
look at it, | decided not to eat

it no matter what the book
said, as a result | never
looked it up. My third speci-
men was, in my opinion,
unlikely to be edible [mildly to
non-poisonous]. Deciding to
put away the books and
throw away my small collec-
tion of fungus, | noticed that
on the cover of one of the
books was a picture that
closely resembled specimen
number three. | rifled through
the book until | found a col-

ored slide and sure enough it
was the same mushroom, the
Coprinus comatus.

Coprinus comatus, or the
Shaggy Mane is a tasty and
widely available wild mush-
room. If you’ve ever seen
conical, white mushrooms,
breaking through packed
gravel and concrete, it’s more
than likely they were Shaggy
Manes.

In researching these mush-
rooms, | found out that they
are non-poisonous [damn!]
and very difficult to confuse
with other poisonous species.
If you see these large, white,
shaggy mushrooms growing

‘ in your area | highly recom-

mend picking them.
After three years of testing, |
have found an optimum

‘method of collecting and eat-

ing this fruit of nature’s boun-
ty. Find a nice patch where
the Shaggy Manes are plenti-
ful. Ignore the large mush-
rooms with fully developed
caps and try to find the ones

‘ that have just broken the sur-

face. They will be small, firm

mushrooms, | think the book

called them ‘buttons’. After
collecting a dozen or so of
these compact zoomers,
bring them home and prepare
to eat them right away. | find
a quick rinse is sufficient for
cleaning.

When it comes to looking at
Shaggy Manes, | have found
that they can be substituted
for mushrooms in any variety
of dishes. They can also be
eaten raw, although it takes a
bit of time to get used to their
unique flavor.

For a quick and easy cream

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sauce that is both fun to
make and eat when one is
stoned, try this:

Quarter a dozen or so fresh
Shaggy Manes. Dice up
some onions and garlic and
toss them in a pan of hot but-
ter, once that shit starts to
smell good, toss in your
mushrooms and whatever
else you feel like adding [I
find pre-cooked, sliced chick-
en breast, and some broccoli
go really well]. Even though
the Shaggy Manes are a
thick, fleshy mushroom, be
gentle with them. Until they
are cooked, they will be quite
delicate. When the mush-
rooms and other add-ins are
somewhat browned, add a lit-
tle more than a cup of whip-
ping cream, un-whipped. Stir
the cream into your other
ingredients and add a nice
amount of Parmesan. At this
point, turn down the heat to
let your creation simmer.
Serve with pasia.

| hope you enjoy Shaggy
Manes as much as | have.
Please remember this mush-
room the next time you want
to eat zoomers and not get
high [like that ever happens].
They are free, and although
they contain almost no nutri-
tional value aside from vita-
min B, as Simon tells me,
Shaggy Manes are delicious.
As well, | would like to remind
readers that if they ever find
that elusive patch of psilo-
cybes, sharing means caring.

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