Mushroom Hunt

July 15 was the long awaited summer mushroom hunt at Mikiyama Forest Park. I say long-awaited because we signed up for the same event last October, but it was cancelled due to rain. Seventy-three percent of Japan is covered by mountains, and the innumerable mountain forests make it an extremely fertile ground for mushrooms. The fall is the best season for mushrooms and extremely ideal locations offer mushroom hunting tourism then. But the humid, post-rainy season climate in July also offers great conditions and many different species of mushrooms from the fall.

We joined 40 or 50 people, along with three guides, and scoured the forest in search of mushrooms. We quickly realized they were everywhere, and every person brought pack at least a handful to the forest education center.

The choice, edible mushrooms were used in a wild mushroom miso soup. The children took charge of mushroom preparation.

Much of the flavor of the mushrooms was overpowered by the miso, but subtle differences were distinguishable. More important than flavor, it was the many different textures that made each mushroom unique.

The end of the event consisted of the experts explaining the many mushrooms we discovered, and making sure we learned which were deadly and which were delicious.

Deadly!

Our mushroom guide was very nice to us throughout the day, and he gave us some mushrooms to take home! We cooked them alongside carrots, asparagus, and onions, put them in a curry sauce, and ate them with a pork chop. Delicious!