How Do You Identify New England Mushrooms?
Mushroom foraging is so difficult that it could be considered an art. It is also very dangerous, because there are just as many poisonous mushrooms out there as there are edible ones. That being said, New England has an amazing variety of edible wild mushrooms that are in season many months out of the year. If you know where to go, what to look for and how to forage, you can find hidden treasures in the American Northeast. Look in the right place. There are hundreds of thousands of acres of forests in New England, and that is where you want to start your search for New England mushrooms. Mushrooms are one of nature’s many ways of “cleaning up after itself,” using the fungus to help matter decompose. In a forest, there is always a good deal of organic material in all stages of decomposition. Heavily shaded areas are a good place to begin your search. Also, fungus like mushrooms need a host to grow, and that host is often either a live tree or a downed log that is decomposing, or even a
