Stepping into nature you’re surrounded by edible wild foods—if you know where to look. Old traditions of foraging have seen a passionate resurgence of interest among midwestern chefs and home cooks intrigued by the vitality of foods growing just footsteps—or a healthy hike—from their doors. But many hesitate over collecting wild mushrooms: How do you know which ones are okay to eat? And once you do, how should you prepare them? Join a certified wild mushroom identification expert and a veteran cook and mycophile for an intelligent hunt for delicious fungi in the local woods. We’ll begin with how to get started and the kinds of natural habitats friendly to fruitings of edible mushrooms, then head out for a full day of exploration, hopefully discovering a basketful of late summer or early autumn species, like lobster, chanterelle, or king boletes. The next morning we’ll gather in the school’s kitchen classroom for a cooking workshop and communal lunch. Be prepared for a healthy hike of more than a mile over uneven ground on Day 1.

Michael and Lisa are the co-authors (along with photographer Dennis Becker) of the newly released Untamed Mushrooms: From Field to Table. A hybrid guidebook/cookbook, it invites readers to get off the couch and into the woods to start their own mushroom stalking adventures. You can become an expert, too, learning a baker’s dozen of edible and delicious wild mushrooms that you can easily identify.

You will need the following tools for this class:

• Comfortable, sturdy hiking shoes
• Lightweight, long pants recommended
• Insect repellent (Deep Woods Off or equivalent)
• Lightweight backpack, water bottle, snacks/bag lunch for Day 1

• Sharp pocket knife
• Basket or covered containers to hold mushrooms