I was really excited to go to the mushroom festival today. It’s a two day event way up in the White Mountains that is gaining popularity. I found out about it through a FaceBook ad and decided I needed to go wherever my people are. Who are my people? Weird people. People who would find mushrooms far more interesting than flowers. People who would appreciate my favorite punderful T-shirt that reads, “Amateur mycologist with questionable morels” which I had no choice but to wear today.
Unfortunately I don’t live in the area so I missed the Early Bird Mushroom Walk which sounded like fun. However I did manage to get my sorry carcass up there in plenty of time to enjoy some other events and I had a great drive up listening to local artist Holly Brewer’s new album Medicine of Time Travel. As usual it was absolutely beautiful and put me into a spacey sort of mindset – perfect mushroom festival mood music.
When I drove in I was greeted by a young woman who tried to tell me where the parking was in the most alarming way possible, “HEY! So the parking is over there… see that row of cars out in the field? Like there’s tons of parking… but also a lot a holes! But we marked them with red flags so you don’t ruin your car!” Another woman in full steampunk regalia cantered up, “Why are you giving her a full song and dance?! Just go out and park! And avoid the holes!” I immediately regretted taking the Prius. It stands only two inches off the ground and is known for getting stuck in fields. But we did OK! The holes were very well marked!
And then I checked in. The festival is free but for a $10 donation I could get a cute mushroomy lapel pin or $15 I could get a glass and fill it with lemonade. I already have an odd fascination with pins so I figured why not.. and trotted off with something shiny.
I was happily surprised by everything here. The weather was GORGEOUS, there was a food truck and even a bar outside. Bathrooms were in a nearby restaurant. And unlike most of these weird little fairs and festivals I go to there was quite a few vendors and a delightful mix of things being sold – lots of jewelry, grow your own mushroom kits, some amazing sculpted art, incense and hippie things, some clothes, fresh honey, mushroom tea, and even a woman selling Fiore artisan vinegars and olive oils – three of which were mushroom varieties. She let me try them with a little bread. I asked her what her favorite was – she said lemon so I tried that first and I must say it was nice, bouncy, and fresh. Very lemony. But Obviously I was here for mushrooms so when in Rome… I requested the White Truffle because I have never eaten truffles and was curious to know what the fuss was about and HOLY SHIITAKE that was some AMAZING oil! I think I made a face because she gave a bit of a laugh. It was very strong but not at all unpleasant. I’m notoriously stingy when it comes to these things but I forked over $21 for a little bottle without a second thought. AND I WILL DEVOUR IT.
All the vendors here were super sweet and chatted pleasantly with me. They all seemed to be doing well. I learned this was the fifth such festival and it started with only four vendors that first year. It had grown so much that the farthest visitor to come by was from Washington DC! And I thought I drove the farthest! ha!
After this I stopped by the end of a cooking demonstration and was able to try mushroom “bacon bits.” Apparently if you marinate dry mushrooms in something you like, something bacony, you end up with these somewhat crunchy little chunks of flavor. I mean I wouldn’t mistake it for bacon buuuut it was closer than I thought a mushrooms could get and sure as hell beats the slimey canned mushrooms I was used to seeing on pizza – you know those rubbery gray bits that have the texture of a drool sopped dog toy? They were the reason I thought I didn’t like mushrooms all these years!!
But hey, I had an hour to kill before the thing I came for so I decided to get a bite to eat. Today they were serving Black Truffle Bisque, Chicken of the Woods soup, and something else mushroomy I forgot. Seeing as I am really good at finding Chicken of the Woods that got my curiosity first but then the idea of bisque took my imagination… It was $8 a cup and yet another totally worth it thing. I sat at a picnic table in the sun and just enjoyed the day, eating this lovely earthy combination of flavors.
Eventually the mushroom dying demonstration started and that’s what I wanted to see… Here another young woman had an assortment of yarn and wool all dyed with mushrooms she found locally in the woods. She was displaying tie dye silk scarves in yellow, orange, green, and wine. I bought a little silk scarf for $15 so I could try dying one. WELL! This poor woman was having a day. Her entire set up with hot water and several heated dyes went flying over and drained on the ground at the beginning of the demo. And water has to be hot for dyes to take… So she went into the restaurant and hauled out some hot tap water and tried to heat it up further on her burner as quickly as she could. Four of us had scarves and a fistful of rubber bands to make it tie dyed. Two women wanted the wine color, I chose yellow as the orange had dumped on the ground, and the last girl went for the green. Well… it takes 30-45 minutes for the scarves to set and this poor woman did not have nearly enough material to keep us occupied that long and all of us had already visited the vendors and the food station so there was a half an hour awkward wait…
I wandered off to check out their little information station. I flipped through their binders they had there and got to learn quite a bit about what mushrooms are around and what they’re used for. I guess those Chicken of the Woods were good for Cancer and Type 2 Diabetes in some studies. Interesting! And it went on to tell me about how mushrooms often have symbiotic relationships with trees, that they are some of the largest and oldest organisms on land, and that some of them even glow like jelly fish! Also there were recipes, most of which were to be expected, but three others made me really scratch my head: Chocolate and Toasted Shiitake Scones, Pear and Toasted Shiitake Jam, Blueberry and Black Trumpet Crisp.
So after learning all this and talking to more vendors I decided to check back in on the scarves. They weren’t doing too good… Mine, the yellow, was very very faint since the water didn’t start off hot enough and I had only been away 25 or 30 minutes… She actually wrapped up some dried mushrooms and alum to go home with me so I could try it again. And when I do I shall post pix! The women who chose the darkest color seemed to have made out pretty well though…
I had a wonderful day. So many strange and charming people – all super friendly. I’m glad I pushed myself to do it. Granted I was burping up soup for hours and had Black Trumpet flavored heart burn the entire way home. What can I expect with no gall bladder…. And of course my GPS thought it’d be hilarious to make me go on a pointless detour around the police station with a bag of dried mushrooms in my lap… Thank God I wasn’t pulled over. That would have been hard to explain… “No! They’re to die a scarf! I SWEAR!”
All and all I would definitely go again. This was 100% worth making my entire digestive system cry.
