‘It’s like the forest exploded’: Foragers out in force for bumper pine mushroom season
There’s still time to stock up on these “nutty, earthy, umami” mushrooms, if you know where to look.
This weekend several hundred people will wander beneath the tall pines of NSW’s state forests, taking advantage of an unusually long and abundant mushroom foraging season.
At the height of the season, in late April, a group of foragers led by expert Diego Bonetto harvested an estimated 60 kilograms of pine mushrooms within an hour. In Orange, professional forager Robbie Robinson gathered 30 kilograms of mushrooms alone, on a single afternoon. And while on a foraging tour with his colleagues, Applejack Hospitality culinary director Patrick Friesen filled a box full of mushrooms in the walk from his car to the forest’s edge.
“This year it was like the forest exploded,” Friesen says.
Bonetto, who hosts sold-out foraging tours through the pine forests of Lithgow, Oberon and the Southern Highlands, says it’s been a particularly fruitful season, despite early cold fronts sweeping through the state.
“The mushrooms are very happy at the moment,” Bonetto says, explaining how there’s been an ideal balance of rain and humidity.
“This is the third year of big rains and this year’s mushroom season is the culmination of it all.”
In NSW, pine mushrooms typically refer to the edible saffron milk caps and the (slightly more elusive) slippery jacks found sprouting beneath pine trees in autumn. Robinson describes their flavour as “nutty, earthy and umami”.
The foraging season typically runs from mid-March to May, but this year experts predict mushrooms will sprout until mid-June.
“It’s always interesting to see how much energy remains in the forest floor and how long the season will last,” says Robinson.
“At the moment, I can still go out and pick around 10kg of mushrooms, but it might take me longer.”
Since the drought broke three years ago, there have been an increasing number of people signing onto foraging workshops and heading out into the NSW pine forests.
“Local staff have noticed a steady increase in the popularity of mushrooming, with several hundred people foraging in some forests over a normal weekend during mushroom season,” says a spokesperson for Forestry Corporation of NSW.
Bonetto says there were “easily over 1000 people” scrambling through the Southern Highlands collecting mushrooms last weekend.
Robinson, who predominantly works to supply surrounding restaurants, has found it difficult to keep up with demand for private tours.
“It’s increased over the last couple of years to the point where it gets difficult to fit in my schedule,” he says.
“But it’s great to see more people curious about the forest and the wild food within it.”
Bonetto says it’s part of a larger societal trend that is seeing people returning to the practical skills of earlier generations.
“It’s an interest that’s growing across the board around edible food in general,” he says. “In the past three years interest has exploded in foraging, but also in people growing their own food, or cooking staples, like bread, from scratch.
“People are starting to see value in that knowledge again.”
Pine mushroom cooking tips
Mushroom salt
Robinson recommends peeling the skin off slippery jacks before drying them in a dehydrator. Once dry, whiz them through a coffee grinder to create a fine powder. This can be blended with sea salt (at a rough 20:80 ratio of mushroom to salt) for a “very good kitchen salt that adds an earthy, umami flavour”.
Mushroom jerky
Bonetto marinates and slow-cooks saffron milk caps in a blend of worcestershire sauce, miso paste and spices. The mushrooms can then be dried in a dehydrator to create jerky, which will last far longer than fresh mushrooms ever would.
Mushrooms in butter
Friesen preserves his mushrooms by poaching them in butter, herbs and garlic. Stored in an airtight container, the butter blend extends the mushroom’s shelf life by about a week. When ready to eat them, he’ll pan-fry them and have them on toast, or put them in a runny omelette with a strong pecorino cheese.
Going foraging for the first time?
A guided tour is highly recommended for first-time foragers.
“A wide variety of wild mushrooms grow in and around pine plantations, including toxic varieties, so we strongly encourage visitors to follow the advice of the Poisons Information Centre and, if in doubt, throw it out,” says a spokesperson for the Forestry Corporation of NSW.
Diego Bonetto
For group workshops in Lithgow, Oberon and the Southern Highlands
diegobonetto.com
The Market Cat (Robbie Robinson)
For private group tours with a three-course meal in Orange
instagram.com/themarketcat
Moss House
For group tours with preservation workshops at Hampton and Wallerawang
mosshouse.com.au
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