Mushrooming

Today, my professional women's group, "Breakfast Club" (or as our husband's refer to it as "Secret Women's Business") went mushrooming on the Mornington Peninsular. Our guide, Cameron is a real enthusiast. He was quick to caution us all about eating mushrooms where you are not sure of the variety. many of the mushrooms we have in Victoria are poisonous, including some that are lethal!

Despite his intensive knowledge he always carries a reference book to double check on the variety before eating!He recommends:

A Field Guide to Australian Fungi by Bruce Fuhrer Publisher: Bloomings Books Publication date: 2005

Golden rules of mushrooming:

1. never enter someone's property to pick mushrooms without first asking permission
2. always only take what you need for that day
3. always use a knife to cut the mushroom, leaving the "root ball" in the ground to sprout again
4. do not place mushrooms in a plastic bag - they will sweat and turn to mush!

Pine mushrooms I found during our walk.

The day concluded with mushroom soup, mushroom and feta tarts and fresh mushroom pizza - fantastic! Being based at T'Gallant winery, we also explored the marriage of Pinot and mushrooms - definitely a match made in heaven.