Wild. Mushrooms. Finally!

There’s a plenty of lore surrounding Anahata. Carly told me of an Italian man who used to ask her father's permission to take the mushrooms that grew on the trees along the main road. Each year the guy showed up with a ladder and harvested the mushrooms.

I’ve been observing those trees wondering if/when mushrooms would appear and what sort they would be. Carly mentioned that they were large and white.

Lately in the local papers there have been articles about chefs collecting chanterelle and black trumpet mushrooms. (How I would dearly love to find the nooks where those mushrooms thrive!) I think I came across a chanterelle a few weeks back but it’s got a poisonous look-alike so until I go ‘shrooming with a more experienced mushroom hunter, I'm keeping chanterelles pull from the forest floor, or a possible deadly look-alike, off my dinner plate.

About a week or so ago I noticed some large, white mushrooms protruding from the side of one of the old sugar maples along our road. I wondered if this was the type of mushroom the Italian man from days gone by had harvested.

Two days ago I removed one of these shelf-like fungi and consulted the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms. I was pretty sure I had Northern Tooth on my hands. And they were listed as EDIBLE.

Today -- after I cleaned: my car, the bunny cages, and the house -- it was time to stop procrastinating. Time to harvest some Northern Tooth.

Here’s some of what the Audubon Feild Guide has to say on the subject:
Northern Tooth. Climacodon septentrionale. Large, overlapping, yellowish-white caps with toothed undersides; stalkless. Cap: 4 – 6” wide, in clusters 6 – 12” high, 1 – 2” thick near the base, thinning toward margin; shelflike, growing in overlapping, horizontal clusters from solid base, …densely hairy to rough. Flesh 2 – 4 cm thick; white, zoned, fibrous, tough, elastic. Odor mild when fresh, become rank and hamlike on drying, taste mild when fresh, bitter with age…Season: July --- October. Habitat: high up on living sugar maples; also reported on beeches. Range: NE. North America. Comments: This large tooth mushroom looks like a polypore but for its teeth. It grows in the wounds of living deciduous trees and rots the heartwood.


When I pulled the mushroom from the tree I sniffed it and found that it had almost no odor. I thought this was weird as most mushrooms have a somewhat musty smell. Once in my kitchen I removed the obviously tough bits, shook off the bugs, and then cut it into pieces about 1” x 1/2”. As soon as they hit the skillet and started sizzling in the butter -- the familiar aroma of mushrooms filled the kitchen. “Now we’re cooking,” I thought.

One batch was sautéed in butter, the second batch was sautéed in butter and red wine. I thought I’d prefer the mushrooms in wine but it turned out that the plain mushrooms tasted better.

The taste is difficult to describe. Very mild but pleasant. Almost sweet. The “teeth” are soft and that texture off them play off the firmness of the flesh. The next batch is going to be sautéed in butter and then drizzled with fresh lemon juice. Norhtern Tooth would complement a white fish (sole) or chicken.

Now I’ll sit back for a day and see if I get an upset stomach. Or get violently ill. Or slip into a coma and die. (I know! Wild mushrooms can be very scary.)

If all goes well, I’ll be having more sautéed Northern Tooth in the coming weeks. Fingers crossed.