Mushrooms grow in abundance in Washington State nearly year around. Some are poisonous, many of no culinary value, many are edible, and a select group is some of the best food to enjoy. The Pacific Northwest is the region richest in edible mushroom in the Western hemisphere. Our choice edible mushrooms such as morels, chanterelles, hedgehogs, king boletes, conifer's bear head and cauliflower mushroom are fairly easy to identify, a fact that helps overcoming fungophobia and truly appreciate wild mushrooms. In addition, all fungi have an important role in the ecosystem, much of it revcealed in the context of the climate crisis. Myecilia of mushroom store incredibel amounts of carbon underground. In this richly illustrated presentation Daniel will help you to get to know, identify and find these wonderful mushrooms while steering you clear of dangerous look-a-likes. You will be advised how to properly collect, carefully transport, safely prepare and reliably store your mushrooms and how to process for unlocking their medicinal powers. Key in finding prime mushrooms is getting to know their preferred habitat and their seasonality, while appreciating their important ecosystem functions.

Bio

Daniel is the author of field guides to Edible Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest and California (both Harbour Publishing, 2011 and 2012), Amazon Mushrooms (2014, co-authored), "Field guide to Medicinal Mushrooms of North America with Robert Rogers (2018)" and brand new MycoCards "Boletes of Western North America" (co-authored). Daniel grew up collecting and eating wild mushrooms in the Alps and has been foraging for over 20 years in the PNW and beyond, sharing his enthusiasm as a mushroom educator and guide and as past PSMS vice-president. In his presentations he is combining his stunning photography with a blend of entertaining stories and scientific information. Having been in love with mushrooms since early childhood Daniel managed to bend his career as an ecologist and geographer focused on High Asia towards researching rural Tibet's enormous fungal economy. His Cordyceps research has been featured in The Economist, National Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, BBC World Service etc. In the last decade Daniel started exploring neotropical fungi. With his travel agency MushRoaming Daniel is organizing mushroom focused eco-adventures to Bhutan, Tibet, the Amazon, Colombia, the Austrian Alps and the Pacific Northwest since 2007