Treasure at our feet.

TREASURE AT OUR FEET

The phrases beat on our eardrums: "Get more exercise." "Watch those calories." From doctors, spouses, and well-meaning friends, we hear the advice. The tiny voice inside us agrees: It's true! It's true! If only we could combine these two bits of advice.

The good news is, we can! Doctors agree that the one exercise most beneficial and least harmful is walking. It's something we've been doing since we were in diapers. We don't need any special equipment, and it doesn't require a large outlay of funds. We just put on appropriate attire and go out the door.

No one has more fun walking than a mycologist (a specialist in the study of fungi). When a mycologist arrives home after a walk, he not only has used up some calories, he also carries with him some of earth's food treasures that hold few calories. Six large, fresh mushrooms have 14 calories, or about two calories per mushroom.

And the things you can do with mushrooms! Eat them raw in a salad, creamed in a sauce, or simmered in a soup. They can serve as hors d'oeuvres, appetizers, or entrees. Stew them or stuff them. You can even enjoy sniffing them. Wild mushrooms hold an astonishing array of fragrances to tease your nostrils and tempt your palate. The scent may vary from earthy to anise, the flavor from robust to mild.

Now you have a twofold purpose to your exercise program. Instead of wandering aimlessly around the block, march to a woodlot, a river valley, or a spring-fed glade. Walk along a roadside, or stroll through a cow pasture. Mushrooms can be found anywhere.

Look high, look low. Mushrooms grow in some surprising places - in lawns, under dead leaves, even high in trees.

Most North Americans shy away from collecting wild mushrooms. Not so the Europeans and Asians. These people have known for centuries that some of nature's most precious bounty lies at our fingers and feet. How else would one explain the popularity and expense of truffles in the world of gourmet cookery? Unfortunately, truffles are rarely found in North America, but hundreds of other species of mushrooms abound.

Armed with information and a couple of common items, you can turn the simple act of walking for exercise into a treasure hunt. No longer will you look upon your daily walk as something you must endure. It will become an adventure!

Many people give little thought to a mushroom. To most it's either a beige, slimy blob extracted from a can or it's a white, globular object purchased from the vegetable department in the supermarket. The wild cousins of the commercial mushroom come in a rainbow of colors and a plethora of shapes. They can be mauve or crimson; tangerine or emerald; convoluted, ridged, or smooth.

A mushroom is the fruiting body of a fungus. The main part of the plant is underground. It consists of threadlike tissues called mycelium. A fungus cannot produce its own food because it contains no chlorophyll, so it has to use the waste products of green plants, whether they be dead branches, leaves, or rotten logs. Animal manure, a processed equivalent of green plants, is also a source of nutrients for the mushroom. When conditions are right for the main body of the plant - that is, the moisture and temperature of air and soil - the plant fruits, producing the bodies we call mushrooms.

Mushrooms play a vital role in nature's housekeeping plans, decomposing waste materials and keeping our earth clean.

In the continental United States and Canada the greatest variety of mushrooms appear in the fall, usually September, when days and nights are cooler, and especially after autumn rains. The second most prolific time of year is spring, when rains soak the earth and days grow warmer. Summer weather, with its hot days and little rain, offers few species, although as conditions vary so does the availability of wild mushrooms. Naturally, the winter months, with snow and freezing temperatures, are not conducive to mushroom growing, so in that season you'll have to find another activity to combine with your daily walk.

Because there are poisonous wild mushrooms as well as edible ones, it is imperative that you have access to a good field guide before you begin your quest. I suggest Mushrooms of North America, by Orson K. Miller, Jr., published by E. P. Dutton of New York, and available at any good bookstore. Scores of other books and booklets are available, but the information and detailed color photos contained in the Miller guide make the identification of individual species of mushrooms almost fool-proof.

There are several species of wild mushrooms that any beginner may collect and eat with confidence. In this article we will deal with only two.

Shaggy mane (Coprinus comatus).

The shaggy mane is common along country roadsides, in fields and pastures, in lawns, and in city dumps, after rains. August and September are prime shaggy mane time. They may occur singly or in groups, where two or three may arise from the same base.

The cylindrical and shaggy cap and dissolving gills are characteristics that make the shaggy mane easily recognized. The cylindric caps may be anywhere from one and a half to six inches long. Very young specimens are covered with a brownish cuticle. As the mushroom matures, the cuticle becomes torn into shaggy scales, giving the mushroom its name. The white or pinkish flesh shows between the scales. The flesh is very fragile, thin, and soft. The gills are almost completely free from the stem, connected only at the top of the cap. The gills are crowded and dense. In young specimens the gills are white, in more mature specimens pink, and in very mature mushrooms they become black. Eventually, the whole cap will turn black and dissolve into an inky mass. The hollow stem is from one-fourth to one-third inches thick, usually tapering upward from a slightly bulbous base. The spores of a shaggy mane are black.

The shaggy mane is an excellent mushroom for the beginner to collect. Because of its unusual appearance there is little chance of it being mistaken for any other mushroom. The very young shaggy manes (one or two inches high) make tasty hors d'oeuvres. Dip the cleaned mushroom into beaten egg, then roll in seasoned crushed cracker crumbs, and fry lightly in a little margarine. Larger mushrooms may be used in any of the ways previously suggested, e.g. soups, sauces, salads.

PHOTO : Shaggy mane

Oyster mushroom

(Pleurotus ostreatus).

Oyster mushrooms are a "fun" mushroom to collect. One would think that to collect mushrooms you should keep a close lookout on the ground: however, with oyster mushrooms, although you may find them close to the ground, you are more apt to find them quite a distance above the ground, for oyster mushrooms grow in trees! Once you have smelled the unmistakable aniselike fragrance and savored the flavor of this mushroom, there will be no mistaking it.

Oyster mushrooms grow singly or in overlapping clusters on branches, trunks, logs, and stumps of hardwoods and conifers throughout much of the mushroom season. It is commonly found on poplar, aspen, willow, and pine, but may occur on other trees as well. When searching for oyster mushrooms in a grove of trees, look for broken trunks, as they will often provide you with your first introduction to this gourmet delight. It is not uncommon to come face to face with an oyster mushroom when you wander the woods. Finding a cluster of these mushrooms on an aspen 20 feet above the ground gives one some idea of how the fox in the old Aesop's fable must have felt.

The cap may be from one to nine inches long and up to three inches wide. It is fan-shaped, moist, and smooth to the touch. The color may vary from white to beige to yellow-brown; it turns ocher in old age. The flesh is firm and thick, with gills extending to the point of attachment to the host tree or log. The gills are thick, broad, and fairly well separated. There is usually little or no stalk. The smell of anise is unmistakable. The spores are white to buff.

People are not the only creatures to appreciate the flavor and aroma of oyster mushrooms. A small, shiny, black beetle also finds this mushroom irresistible. It will frequently be found between the gills of this species where it lays its eggs. These hatch into small, white grubs that feed on the mushroom and begin the cycle over again. It is desirable to find these mushrooms before the beetles do, although small infestations may be cut and flicked out with ease.

Probably the best way to prepare oyster mushrooms is to clean them and cut or tear them into bite-size pieces, then season lightly with onion or garlic salt, and fry quickly in a very small amount of margarine. If you wish to serve these delicacies whole, they may be added to a dinner roast for the final hour of cooking. Either way, you are not about to quickly forget this exotic gift from the woods.

On the whole, mushrooms should never be washed. They may be brushed with a soft brush to rid them of any bits of grass, sand, or bark particles. They may also be wiped gently with a dampened cloth or piece of paper towel. If absolutely necessary, they may be plunged quickly into cold salt water to dislodge any unwanted guests, then drained and dried before cooking.

You're not interested in eating wild mushrooms? How about making a collection of their spore prints? This refers to the artistic pattern in which they drop spores from their gills. Each variety makes a different kind of print.

To make a spore print in the field, place the cap of the mushroom, gill side down, on a plain white piece of paper and wrap it in wax paper. If the specimen is mature enough, it will drop its spores in a few hours. The paper will reveal an exact image of the underside of the mushroom in whatever color is specific to that species. If you wish to do this at home, proceed in the manner described above, but place a tumbler over the mushroom instead of wrapping it in wax paper. Or you can leave the mushroom intact, stem and all. In this case, tear a small hole in your paper, place the mushroom stem through this hole, and set the entire thing over a tumbler. Overnight, a perfect spore print will develop.

Points to remember before you begin your search for the wild mushroom:

1. Get a good field guide and study it carefully. Take it on your excursions.

2. You will need a basket, several paper bags, a sharp knife, and a small hand mirror. Use the mirror to check the underside of a mushroom for the color of the gills. This can prevent you from taking a specimen you won't use.

3. Never mix different species of mushrooms unless you have positively identified them.

4. When obtaining a mushroom for identification, always get the entire mushroom, including the bottom of the stem from below the ground.

5. NEVER take more than you can use. Always leave some specimens for propagation purposes. Leave extraneous material where you are. This would include such things as trimmings from the bottom of the mushroom to rid it of sand, debris, and any insect infestations.

So for fun and food with your exercise, troop to your bookstore, hike to a glade, amble about, and stride home with your treasure - wild mushrooms!

PHOTO : Oyster mushroom

PHOTO : Puffball