From grassland fairy circles to alpine nano-shrooms, the Rocky Mountain region invites mushroom hunters to range though a mycological nirvana. Accessible and scientifically up-to-date, The Essential Guide to Rocky Mountain Mushrooms by Habitat is the definitive reference for uncovering post-rain rarities and kitchen favorites alike. Dazzling full-color photos highlight the beauty of hundreds of species. Easy-to-navigate entries offer essential descriptions and tips for identifying mushrooms, including each species' edibility, odor, taste, and rumored medicinal properties. The authors organize the mushrooms according to habitat zone. This ecology-centered approach places each species among surrounding flora and fauna and provides a trove of fascinating insights on how these charismatic fungi interact with the greater living world.

Recommended as a Great Summer Read by Colorado Public Radio In Mushrooms of the Rocky Mountain Region, Vera Evenson, curator of the Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi at the Denver Botanic Gardens, covers species of mushrooms found in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. This comprehensive guide features introductory chapters on the basics of mushroom structure, life cycles, and habitats. Profiles for 220 mushroom species include color photographs, keys, and diagrams to aid in identification, and tips on how to recognize and avoid poisonous mushrooms.

"Whether you get your mushrooms from the supermarket or the forest floor, a worthy addition to your library." —Star Tribune Get ready to fall in love with wild mushrooms! Absolutely everything you need to know to make mushrooming a lifestyle choice, from finding, storing, preserving, and preparing common and unusual species. Packed with content and lore from more than 20 skilled foragers around the country, Wild Mushrooms will help mushroom hunters successfully utilize their harvest, and includes practical information on transporting, cleaning, and preserving their finds. One of the best things about cooking wild mushrooms is that every time you open your dried caches, their unique aroma recalls your foraging experience creating an immediate and visceral connection back to the forest. There is no finer way to appreciate food. You will not only learn the best ways to locate, clean, collect, and preserve your mushrooms from the experts, the book will also discuss safety and edibility, preservation techniques, mushroom sections and flavor profiles, and more. Recipes will be categorized by mushroom species, with 115 recipes in total. Recipes include:​ Smoked Marinated Wild Mushrooms Black Trumpet, Blood Orange, and Beet Salad Maitake Beef Stew Candy Cap and Walnut Scones Baked Brie with Chanterelle Jam Porcini with Braised Pork Medallions Yellowfoot Mushroom Tart And more! From pickling to rich duxelles, soups, salads, and even mushroom teas, tinctures, jams, and ice cream, these recipes and invaluable insider tips will delight everyone from the most discerning mycophiles to brand new fungus fanatics.

The American Southwest is not usually thought of as a habitat for mushrooms, yet its various life zones are home to a surprising number of fungi and related species. This first book on the region's mushrooms and truffles provides descriptions and color illustrations for 156 major species and additional descriptive references for 155 more. Also included are selected slime molds and lichens, which, like truffles, usually are not covered in mushroom guides at all. The book's range is Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, and northern Mexico. It is designed to help fungiphiles not only identify mushrooms but also find them. The author describes the life zones where fungi can be found in association with characteristic plant communities and provides maps--with major landmarks indicated--designating conifer forests on public land where mushrooms are most often found. The major classifications covered are Club Fungi (Basidiomycetes), Stomach Fungi (Gasteromycetes), Sac Fungi (Ascomycetes), and Tuberlike Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes. A special feature of the guide is the provision of cross references to other field guides, reinforcing the need to confirm identification before consuming mushrooms. Notations on toxicity and edibility are provided.

An incredibly versatile cooking ingredient containing an abundance of vitamins, minerals, and possibly cancer-fighting properties, mushrooms are among the most expensive and sought-after foods on the planet. Yet when it comes to fungi, culinary uses are only the tip of the iceberg. Throughout history fungus has been prized for its diverse properties—medicinal, ecological, even recreational—and has spawned its own quirky subculture dedicated to exploring the weird biology and celebrating the unique role it plays on earth. In Mycophilia, accomplished food writer and cookbook author Eugenia Bone examines the role of fungi as exotic delicacy, curative, poison, and hallucinogen, and ultimately discovers that a greater understanding of fungi is key to facing many challenges of the 21st century. Engrossing, surprising, and packed with up-to-date science and cultural exploration, Mycophilia is part narrative and part primer for foodies, science buffs, environmental advocates, and anyone interested in learning a lot about one of the least understood and most curious organisms in nature.

A grieving widow discovers a most unexpected form of healing—hunting for mushrooms. “Moving . . . Long tells the story of finding hope after despair lightly and artfully, with self-effacement and so much gentle good nature.”—The New York Times Long Litt Woon met Eiolf a month after arriving in Norway from Malaysia as an exchange student. They fell in love, married, and settled into domestic bliss. Then Eiolf’s unexpected death at fifty-four left Woon struggling to imagine a life without the man who had been her partner and anchor for thirty-two years. Adrift in grief, she signed up for a beginner’s course on mushrooming—a course the two of them had planned to take together—and found, to her surprise, that the pursuit of mushrooms rekindled her zest for life. The Way Through the Woods tells the story of parallel journeys: an inner one, through the landscape of mourning, and an outer one, into the fascinating realm of mushrooms—resilient, adaptable, and essential to nature’s cycle of death and rebirth. From idyllic Norwegian forests and urban flower beds to the sandy beaches of Corsica and New York’s Central Park, Woon uncovers an abundance of surprises often hidden in plain sight: salmon-pink Bloody Milk Caps, which ooze red liquid when cut; delectable morels, prized for their earthy yet delicate flavor; and bioluminescent mushrooms that light up the forest at night. Along the way, she discovers the warm fellowship of other mushroom obsessives, and finds that giving her full attention to the natural world transforms her, opening a way for her to survive Eiolf’s death, to see herself anew, and to reengage with life. Praise for The Way Through the Woods “In her search for new meaning in life after the death of her husband, Long Litt Woon undertook the study of mushrooms. What she found in the woods, and expresses with such tender joy in this heartfelt memoir, was nothing less than salvation.”—Eugenia Bone, author of Mycophilia and Microbia