J'AIME NOVEMBER 2020

F E AT U R E
Celebrate the fungus among us
WHETHER YOU BUY THEM FROM A DELI OR GROW YOUR OWN, AUTUMN IS MUSHROOM SEASON.
JENNY AMPHLETT SPOKE TO FORAGING INSTRUCTOR MARLOW RENTON AND FOREST SCHOOL
TRAINING OFFICER DUNCAN COLEMAN FOR SOME EXPERT TIPS
LEWIS CURRENTLY HAS 18 CHICKENS
IN HIS FLOCK AT HOME
If I told you there was a mushroom that costs about
the same as a piece of fillet mignon steak you might
not believe me. But I’d be right.
Chicken of the woods is one of the most prized
cheffy ingredients - a wild mushroom that not
only looks phenomenal in any dish but also tastes
remarkably like poultry.
I’ve never been lucky enough to find or eat one but
Duncan Coleman, forest school training officer with
Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, has not only cooked
chicken of the woods he grows them in his own back
garden.
The 40-year-old, who spends his days out in the
Staffordshire countryside, is no stranger to spotting,
identifying and occasionally eating wild fungus.
“Autumn is typically seen as mushroom season as
many species tend to fruit at this time of the year but
of course mushrooms are around throughout the
year, you just might not be able to see them,” he says.
Duncan explains that when he’s teaching forest
school techniques, whether that’s to children or
adults, his general advice is to not pick mushrooms
and definitely not to destroy them.
“There’s a lot of fear of mushrooms because some
mushrooms are poisonous and some are fatal,” he
says. “But you have to injest them for them to be in
any way dangerous to you. Mushrooms don’t bite
you or hunt you down. If you leave them alone
they’re harmless.
“They make a beautiful autumn setting and we’ve
really only just started to understand the importance
of the symbiotic relationship between fungi and
trees. When you see a mushroom you’re seeing a
flower, the fruit that the fungi sends up. The fungus is
still there even when you can’t see a mushroom, but
it’s under the ground or in dead wood.
“What we’re starting to discover is that a network
of fungi join up lots of different trees. Fungi is
important for various different tree species.”
Duncan gives the example of fairytale red and white
mushrooms (which are really called fly agaric) which
typically grow near silver birch trees.
“If you value the trees in your garden then leave
any mushrooms that you see exactly where they are,
they’re doing a job.
“Similarly if you value your lawn then try to leave
fungus alone. If you’ve got mushrooms in your lawn
it can indicate you have healthy flora, fauna and
aeration.”
Incidentally if you do have mushrooms in your lawn
then the chances are that they’re waxcaps, some of
which are protected.
Many people have reported seeing more mushrooms
this year, but Duncan says there aren’t necessarily
more out there, it could just be that we’re more
attuned to finding them.
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