{"id":1313924,"date":"2019-08-23T21:00:26","date_gmt":"2019-08-24T03:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=986514"},"modified":"2019-08-23T21:00:26","modified_gmt":"2019-08-24T03:00:26","slug":"wet-year-makes-for-great-mushroom-hunting-in-roaring-fork-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/wet-year-makes-for-great-mushroom-hunting-in-roaring-fork-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Wet year makes for great mushroom hunting in Roaring Fork Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
A wild boletus mushroom<\/strong>
David Teitler<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Veteran mushroom hunters talk in generalities when discussing their preferred picking locations.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are famously discrete about their favorite mushroom spots,\u201d said local mushroom forager, David Teitler. \u201cNo one is going to tell you where their best spot is unless you are their friend and I am certainly not going to put it in the newspaper.\u201d<\/p>\n

No secret, however, is the fact that Independence Pass and areas along the Frying Pan River serve as hotspots for foragers like Teitler. And, while numerous mushroom species grow in Colorado, two stick out as the cream of the crop \u2014 boletus (also known porcini) and chanterelle.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can cook the boletus or chanterelle with onions, garlic, a little white wine or some shallots,\u201d Teitler said of the mushrooms that often complement pasta, steak, risotto and even breakfast dishes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boletus, specifically, over toast with over easy eggs makes for a really good breakfast.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Carbondale resident, Teitler first got into mushroom hunting \u2014 a hobby he says at times can \u201cborder on obsession,\u201d \u2014 while backpacking with friends some 30 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best way to learn about mushrooms is you go with someone who knows, and each time you go out you learn maybe one more mushroom,\u201d Teitler said.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s Lake Christine Fire, combined with this year\u2019s wet weather, made for particularly good burn morel mushroom hunting.<\/p>\n

A rare find, burn morel mushrooms grow the year after a fire in its burn scar area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a proliferation of morel mushrooms on Basalt Mountain this year,\u201d Teitler said.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
A wild morel mushroom on Basalt Mountain.<\/strong>
David Teitler<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Trent Blizzard, another avid Roaring Fork Valley mushroom forager, said that one should always cook mushrooms, not only for their flavor, but safety reasons too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is something in them called chitin, which breaks down when you cook them,\u201d Blizzard said. \u201cEven raw mushrooms that you get from the grocery store, your body doesn\u2019t really turn them into nutrition because the chitin hasn\u2019t been broken down through cooking.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Colorado, the premiere mushroom-hunting season occurs in late July and August. However, Blizzard said he preserves the wild delicacy for year-round enjoyment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe dehydrate, pickle, and freeze,\u201d Blizzard said of the various mushroom preservation techniques. \u201cThere are so many ways you can preserve these mushrooms and enjoy them on food.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to putting them on pizza, Blizzard particularly enjoys slicing larger mushrooms to cook on the grill \u2014 similar to steak.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are very desirable gourmet mushrooms that have worldwide markets,\u201d Blizzard said.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Wild morel.<\/strong>
David Teitler<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

One must possess a special permit from the state to sell a wild mushroom. However, anyone can go out and pick the delicacy so long as they obtain a free permit from the Forest Service.<\/p>\n

mabennett@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A wild boletus mushroomDavid Teitler Veteran mushroom hunters talk in generalities when discussing their preferred picking locations. \u201cPeople are famously discrete about their favorite mushroom spots,\u201d said local mushroom forager, David Teitler. \u201cNo one is going to tell you where their best spot is unless you are their friend and I am certainly not going […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1313924","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 12:20:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313924\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}