A Quick Guide to Foraging in the Pacific North West
- James
- Mar 28, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 1, 2024
I hope you find this guide useful, I know how hard it can be foraging at first. this post covers seven popular mushrooms found locally. At the end of the post, you can find pictures of trees mentioned here. Feel free to message me with any thing you feel belongs here. Good luck out there!- James
Identification
•From presentation by Central Texas Mycological Society:
•Bring a field guide for the area you are exploring if possible.
•Narrow down groups by morphology, type of tree or log or even other mushrooms growing on (substrate).
•Common and Latin names are found on some forums.
•Start with Genus, then narrow down to species.
Tips and tricks
•Watch out for bugs on mushrooms.
•Please don’t forage near roadways, mushrooms absorb pollutants.
•Prepare for climate, Best time to go is in fall, after a rain!
•Peak season starts in October, lasts til mid to late November.
•1500-3000 ft elevation, moss is a good indicator due to a shared taste for humidity.
•Mt hood, Gifford Pinchot, coast range, Mt St. helens are all great spots to start. Best of luck!
•Don’t forget to wash and dry your mushrooms ( Sorry bugs).
•Let family or friends know where you're headed, have fun, but always be safe!
•It is not recommended to eat mushrooms collected near areas concentrated with pollutions. Mushrooms have been known to soak up these pollutants.
Navigation in forests
•Suns highest point is south in northern hemisphere.
•Use landmarks or distinctive features
•Try to remember general direction your headed and notice when you begin to travel another direction.
Use the Big dipper to find the north star.
Spore Prints
•We never recommend eating a wild mushroom unless it has been 100% identified. Spore prints can help with that process.
•Spore colors and patterns are good indicator of species.
•Take a mushroom of choice, place it on a piece of paper
•Place bowl over mushroom
•Leave for ~ 12 hours
•Behold! Now compare to suspected mushroom spore print
Mushrooms
Oyster Mushrooms
**Due to many lookalikes, be careful when foraging these fungi.**
•Often found on dead or dying trees such as Alders, Oaks, and Beech.
•Tiny cap, distinct gills, comes in many colors, including pink! However, usually whiteish or brownish in color.
•Brown Spore print.
Photo courtesy of Jordan Virgil.
Photo courtesy of Jordan Virgil.
Lions mane
•Found on Oak trees, in wounds of dead or dying trees.
•Has been said to look like, well, a lions mane! Or like icecicles hanging down.
•No poisonous lookalikes.
Chanterelles
•Found under Oaks, Beech, and Maple trees.
•Thick inner mass vs. hollow, peels like string cheese.
•Almost Vase shaped.
•Forked, almost vein like distinct gills.
•Inner stem is white (Jack-O-Lantern, a non-edible lookalike, has orange inner stem).
•Light yellow-orange in color.
•White-light yellow spore print.
Photo courtesy of Jenn Avery.
Boletes
•Grow in soil beneath hardwood trees such as Oaks, Alders, and Birch.
•Generally won't be found by ferns due to difference in soil preferences.
•Yellow brown to reddish brown in color.
•The flesh, or inner mass of the mushroom, is white .
•Some lookalikes appear white as well, fakes will turn blue after a period.
•Spongy, porous underside, no gills.
•Stem starts narrow and widens out.
Photo courtesy of Adam McCrae.
Lobster Mushroom (okay, parasite)
•Lobster mushroom, not actually a mushroom! But oh so yummy.
•As far as we know, this parasite only infects edible species of mushrooms, though be careful, has caused allergic reactions.
•Bright orange or red color.
•Hard, rough exterior.
•No Gills.
•Look under trees such as Conifers, Douglas Firs, or Hemlocks.
•As far as we know, no poisonous lookalikes.
Photo courtesy of Jenn Avery.
Photo courtesy of Adam McCrae.
Photo courtesy of Adam McCrae.
Chaga
•Birch trees.
•Found year round thankfully, they take forever to grow.
•Not to be confused with disease tree growths.
•Black, charred, rough exterior.
•Inside is golden or Amber.
Morel
•Often found near recent burn sites, look up maps of burns for places to start
•Apparently reaalllly delicious, yet elusive.
•Verpa Bohemica, a look alike and not edible is shown in the next slide. Sides hang down, unattached, “like a lampshade”.
•Distinct honeycomb shape, brown caps with a lighter stem.
Morel vs. VerpaBohemica
Trees mentioned
Oaks
Beech Trees
Maple tree
Alder Tree
Birch tree
Sources:
Boletes-
Lobster Mushroom-
Morel-
Chaga-
Lions Mane-
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