The Peak of the Season

I consider the last week of September to be the peak of the mushroom season here in southwest Pennsylvania. This is when the widest range of mushrooms is mature and when some of the very best species of the season are harvestable. Winter is sparse here, spring offers Morels, Pheasant Back and a few others, summer brings a range from Reishi to Chanterelles and so many more but September is the apex and after the early October hens are done, there’s usually not a lot left that’s especially compelling. (There’s still good stuff out there though.)

This year I actually took most of this pinnacle week off to hunt, for myself, for friends and for my mushroom buyer, John. Unfortunately, John informed me that his stock was pretty full and not because mushrooms hadn’t been selling but because he’d been buying many hundreds of dollars worth lately and selling it too. He ships all over the U.S., supplies restaurants and mans a booth at a few local farmer’s markets. John’s a busy guy but probably never more busy than in September.

So, I couldn’t go crazy. I ended up cutting my hunting days down to just two, timed to fit with his needs. And his needs were a bit specific this year. Instead of a full range of salable ‘shrooms, he needed 3 things: Porcini, Hedgehogs and Maitake. And that was a tall order.

Nevertheless, I got busy trying to find these, seeking out the biggest concentration of spruce trees I knew of in the area, this being the home of the Porcini, something I’d only ever found two of before. I had 0 confidence as I drove north to the sprawling park to start a search.

I began by wasting a couple of hours in a search among the oaks for Hen of the Woods (Maitake). Nothing. Back in the car, I started a drive to a much different part of the park but noticed a tall yellow mushroom under a row of spruces. I stopped at the next lot, loaded up the pack and returned on the off chance that this had been a Porcini.

Porcini is among the world’s most sought-after mushrooms. It may be the very most desirable, in fact, sought in Russia, much of Europe, Canada and in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. It’s a bolete, (a cap-and-stem mushroom with pores under the cap rather than gills) and goes by the moniker “King Bolete” at times. It associates with conifers and especially with the Norway Spruce.

To make this potentially long story short, I went home with about 25 Porcini in various stages from just poking above the soil to eight inches tall and dispersing spores. Then there were the dozens I could only shake my head at as they sagged by my feet. I was perhaps a week late. At least the squirrels, mice, bugs and slugs hadn’t missed out on these. I wonder if any of these creatures have any notion what humans will pay for a few bites of this at fine restaurants the world over.

Anyway, I just now finished some of my share in a rich cheesy butter sauce. The squirrels often like just a taste before moving on to taste another and as long as I was willing to cut out the squirrel bites, there was plenty for me. And John was happy too, we shook hands after a 9:30 PM weigh-in of Chicken of the Woods, Maitake and some really fine Porcini.

Now I know where to find the world’s finest mushroom and I know when. I’ll be more timely next September. Still, I count this year’s 25 King Boletes among my great successes as a mushroomer.