Wild Mushroom Foray & Lunch
with mushroom experts David Campbell & Julie Schreiber
Friday, January 3; Sunday, January 26 & Saturday, February 8 (more dates could be added based on demand)
10:00am - 2:00pm
Foray and lunch on private property near Healdsburg
$225
Sonoma County is one of the best edible wild mushroom regions in the entire world. Join David Campbell and Julie Schreiber of MycoVentures, who between them have over 80 years of wild mushroom experience, on a foray in the hills above Healdsburg.
Participants will learn the fundamentals of edible wild mushroom foraging, including what trees and terrain to look for, the most easily-recognizable edible mushrooms of our region, safety, foraging etiquette, and more. We'll gather all of our found mushrooms, edible or not, to use as examples of identifying characteristics.
After working up an appetite from our tromp in the beautiful woods, we'll gather the wide array of found mushrooms for review and identification, then sit at the long table for a delicious and hearty wild mushroom lunch. Our foraging leader, Julie Schreiber, is also a talented winemaker and chef so she will sauté a variety of fresh mushrooms that will be part of the lunch, including any edibles we find during our hike, and discuss storing, preserving and cooking fresh and dried, wild and cultivated mushrooms. Discussion and Q&A will continue throughout the amazing four-course lunch—there's so much to discuss about the fungi kingdom!
This Relish class includes three glasses (8 - 9 ounces total) of specially selected wine per person served to all participants over 21 years of age. Additional wine is available for purchase by the glass or bottle.
This event focuses on finding, handling, storing, cooking and savoring choice edible mushrooms, including:
- Exploration of local mushroom-friendly habitat with very knowledgeable foragers
- Opportunity to "get your mushroom eyes on" first hand to practice spotting wild mushrooms
- Overview of wild mushroom information, including identifying characteristics and seasonality of commonly found local choice edible varieties
- Delicious and hearty four-course wild mushroom lunch with Notre Vue wine
- Q&A with Chef Julie about mushroom cooking
- Discussion about the important roles of and uses of mushrooms by people and in nature
- Take-home packet of all mushroom recipes, plus a list of favorite wild mushroom resources, books, websites and associations
- A beautiful walk in the woods!
Please know that we will NOT be focused on the taxonomic identification of every mushroom we see; we focus on identifying edibles, using other mushrooms as fascinating examples of characteristics.
Mushroom foraging is like fishing in that we never know what we'll find until we go. We do carefully select our foraging locations to increase our chances, but we cannot guarantee that we will always find edible mushrooms.
WE DO NOT CANCEL OR PROVIDE REFUNDS DUE TO RAIN. We will forage in the rain if it's not miserably torrential and the roads are still passable. If there is a chance of rain on the event date, we will ask for a cell phone number so we can call or text you early that morning about the foraging status. If the weather does not allow, WE WILL STILL HOLD THE LUNCH and you will be invited to forage with us on another class date.
