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Prowling for mushrooms in the high country

For foragers, the high country is calling

The continuing monsoon rains in Southwest Colorado are welcomed by mushroom hunters as well as farmers and firefighters.

“I always get out early,” said Marija Helt, who uses mushrooms in her Osadha Herbal Wellness business as well as in her kitchen. “This year it was in July.”

Helt, who picks her own mushrooms, has favorite picking spots, usually at 9,500 to 10,500 feet elevation.

But like serious mushroom hunters, Helt doesn’t disclose where she harvests her treasures.

Mixed-conifer forests at higher elevations tend to be good locations, Helt said. There is more moisture there than lower down, she said.

But mushrooms can be found in private lawns or city parks, Helt said. In fact, she found lion’s mane and maitake mushrooms in a Philadelphia park recently, she said.

She turned the species, which don’t grow naturally in Southwest Colorado, into extract and brought it home.

Cultivated maitakes can be found in Durango, she said.

Helt also lays away a store of mushrooms for later. She roasts them to reduce the moisture content and then freezes them.

Helt’s professional life will prevent her from visiting the 2014 Mushroom Festival at Durango Mountain Resort on Saturday.

A guided mushroom hunt on the back side of the mountain led by mycology expert Chris Ricci of Majesty Mushrooms is scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. An on-site lunch ends the outing.

In the afternoon, from 3 to 6 p.m., there will be educational seminars by Majesty Mushrooms and San Juan Mycology, cooking demonstrations, mushroom dishes to sample and crafts and activities for kids.

The event is the first festival-format celebration of the mushroom at Durango Mountain Resort, spokeswoman Kim Oyler said. The resort has hosted a mushroom dinner and a mushroom hunt, she said.

Also Saturday, the San Juan/Four Corners Native Plant Society will host a mushroom-hunting hike near Lizard Head Pass.

Helt’s favorite mushrooms are boletes, also known as porcini, and chanterelles. But whatever pleases the palate, there is a cardinal rule, she said.

“It’s absolutely essential to know your mushrooms,” Helt said. “Not all of them are edible and some are toxic.”

The San Juan Mountains are home to several toxic species, Helt said.

The gawdy Amanita muscaria with its bright-red cap with white spots, commonly known as the fly agaric, is one. It is used in some circles for hallucinatory adventures, but otherwise should be left alone.

Another bad actor is the Galerina marginata with a dome-shaped brown or brownish-yellow cap. It is deadly, she said.

Ricci, who will lead the search for mushrooms Saturday, said the season has been very good in some places and not good in others.

“It was a late season,” Ricci said. “We’re only now getting to know how good it is.”

daler@durangoherald.com

If you go

2014 Mushroom Festival at Durango Mountain Resort will be held Saturday. From 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Chris Ricci of Majesty Mushrooms will lead a guided mushroom hunt. The hunt is $40 per person, which includes lunch. From 3 to 6 p.m., there will be educational seminars, cooking demonstrations and live music at DMR. Cost is $40 per person. To attend the hunt and the festival, the cost is $70. For more information, visit www.durangomountainresort.com.

The San Juan/Four Corners Native Plant Society will host “Wild Mushroom Hunting” on Saturday near Lizard Head Pass. John Sir Jesse, organizer of the Telluride Mushroom Festival, will lead the hike and host a dinner afterward. The group will meet at 8:30 a.m. about an hour north of Cortez. For more information and reservations, call (970) 728-0639.



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