Tofino mushroom foraging season nears
Mushroom foraging season is just around the corner and Long Beach Lodge Resort Chef Ian Riddick is enthusiastic about the possibilities.After a bountiful fall 2014, Chef Riddick has big plans for fall 2015 and when he will set out in search of some of the most sought after mushrooms in some of the most abundant forests of the world.
While the promise of a meal of yellow and white chanterelles, lobster, matsutake and pine mushroom is reason enough to motivate most foragers, Chef Riddick is equally driven by the chance to spend a morning or afternoon under the canopy and among the undergrowth of a Tofino rainforest. He says many of the Long Beach Lodge Resort guests he has lead on previous foraging expeditions are as enthusiastic about the forests as they are about the fungi.
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Scouring the deadfalls, mossy glades and moist fenlands, Chef Riddick has educated – and celebrated – with his charges of budding mycologists as they learn the subtle-but-skilled art of mushroom identification and harvesting. Chef Riddick’s goal is to return with a large haul, but to also ensure the pickers respect and do not impact or harm the plants and forests. The aim is to locate, identify, protect and return to the most prolific patches he fondly refers to as his “honey holes.”
It was on a rainy, late-fall afternoon in 2014 (and after a particularly generous harvest of chanterelles from one of his honey holes) that Chef Riddick happened upon “the crown jewels”: three perfect King Bolete - AKA porcini mushrooms. Solid, undisturbed by other flora or fauna: the King Boletes were fleshy and fabulous.As in previous years, this fall Chef Riddick will be leading foraging expeditions through Long Beach Lodge Resort and with the Raincoast Education Society.
On a guided mushroom forage with Chef Riddick, guests pay with a mandatory minimum donation of C$20 per person, which goes to the Raincoast Education Society. The Tofino-based group is working to protect, monitor and create an environmentally sustainable future for the Clayoquot and Barkley Sound region through education and community stewardship.
Foragers meet at the Resort’s Surf Club for a 2:00 p.m. departure and are returned to the hotel at around 5:00 p.m.
In October, Chef Riddick will also host “Mushrooms of the West Coast,” a foraging expedition in conjunction with the Raincoast Education Society and Tofino Botanical Gardens. While the date has not yet been set, the itinerary has and it is ambitious:
- Introduction to fungi - what are they and what is their role in our forests?
- Essentials of collecting and identifying fungi in the field
- Edible, medicinal and poisonous fungi
- Cooking with wild mushrooms
