MUSHROOMS

FORAGING FOR WILD MUSHROOMS is one of the most exciting adventures in the world of food. However, when I talk about mushrooms in this book, I am generally referring to cultivated mushrooms and not the wild varieties. Let’s be honest: The availability of wild mushrooms is very limited, and picking them safely requires special knowledge. Imported wild mushrooms are wildly expensive, and by the time they arrive here, they have but a shadow of the flavor they possessed where they were grown.

Cultivated mushrooms are now abundant. Their quality is excellent, and the flavor you can coax from them is incredible. So I wholeheartedly favor the consistency and availability of the many cultivated varieties such as oyster, hen-of-the-woods, shiitake, cremini, and even white button mushrooms.