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One of the fun outdoor activities goes mushroom foraging, however, mushrooms can be quite dangerous when the wrong ones are collected. There are tours round the country specializing in educating people on how to find the correct mushrooms and forage safely.
One company called Forage in California offers a full-range of foraging classes and tours for wild plants, mushrooms, and seaweed. If in Europe, rather than going mushroom hunting, consider going truffle hunting in Italy or France – that is one of the great pastimes of Europe.
Secrets of the Wood Wide Web (Santa Cruz)
Mushrooms are fungi and they're among the great, normally unseen, organisms on earth. These were mostly hidden from view – in fact, the largest organism in the world is believed to be a fungus dubbed the humongous fungus of Oregon.
Mushrooms are simply the fruiting bodies of these elusive organisms and the “Wood Wide Web” tour is centered on bringing much more of this hidden world to light. The category will go into how fungi help trees within the forest to speak and share nutrients.
The class is Three or four hours and it is taught in the stunning Santa Cruz forests. This class is made to exceed foraging and explore the fantastic realm of fungi inside a deeper way.
- Teacher: Maya Elson
- Location: Within the Santa Cruz Forest
- Cost: $90 per Person, Plus Booking fee
- Duration: 3-4 hours (noon-4pm)
Sonoma Coast Foraging
Go to the coast and participate in their wild mushroom hunt there. This tour is led by expert and chef Patrick Hamilton who boasts over 4 decades of mushroom hunting experience. Not only will he show people how to find and find out the mushrooms, but he'll also teach the participants the best methods for cooking them.
The 3 to 4-hour tour features a class to pay for the basics of untamed mushroom foraging. After foraging, Patrick will help identify one's finds. A few of the mushrooms found in these areas by participants include chanterelles, boletes, black trumpets, morels, hedgehogs, and a lot of other great species of delicious mushrooms.
- Suitable: For Both Beginners and Veteran Foragers
- Location: Meet In Jenner, CA, And then Go Around 15 Miles To The Foraging Location
- Weekday Cost: $90 per person, plus booking fee
- Weekend Cost: $120 per person, plus booking fee
- Duration: 3-4 hours (9:45am-2pm)
Santa Cruz Mountain Foraging
Another experience would be to go mushroom foraging within the Santa Cruz Mountains. This tour is led by Maya Elson and also covers the basics of wild mushroom foraging.
Maya briefly explains the ecology of edible mushrooms and safe and ethical mushroom hunting. Then everyone goes off mushroom foraging and brings back their finds for Maya to recognize.
Like other tours provided by the company, while participants more often than not go back home with mushrooms, they can not guarantee one will find mushrooms. They were would be the whim of nature.
- Location: Within the Santa Cruz Mountains
- Weekday Cost: $90 per person, plus booking fee
- Weekend Cost: $120 per person, plus booking fee
- Duration: 3-4 hours (noon-4pm)
Sierra Morel Hunting
The Sierra Morel Hunting tour can also be provided by expert and chef Patrick Hamilton. The Sierra forays concentrate on morels and spring porcini, as well as other fine edibles many people will never have seen–nor tasted! This is often much more interesting and engaging and help people to push their culinary boundaries even more.
The tour would go to the Eldorado National Forest where Patrick has reconnoitered mushrooms. A few of the elevations that certain may be going around 7,000 feet – to be prepared and produce lots of water, sunscreen, along with a hat.
These forays have a great focus more about teaching about varieties of mushrooms and therefore are about looking for premium morels and porcini.-
- Where: Pollock Pines, CA
- Weekday Cost: $90 per person, plus booking fee
- Weekend Cost: $120 per person, plus booking fee
- When: May – June
- Duration: 3-4 hours (9:45am – 2pm)
West Marin Foraging
Another great foraging tour with Patrick Hamilton is their West Marin Foraging tour – it is great for both the beginner and veteran forager. The location with this tour is within Inverness where there will be some instruction and then it's off foraging again.
- Location: West Marin
- Weekday Cost: $90 per person, plus booking fee
- Weekend Cost: $120 per person, plus booking fee
- Duration: 3-4 hours (9:45am-2pm)
In the first is interested in another foraging tour that they offer, then take a look at their wild plants tours as well as their seaweed tours. One will learn to gather seaweed and prepare it in order that it actually tastes nice. If one lives in another part of the country, then a quick Google search is sure to show tours near you.
