A FASCINATION FOR FUNGI
In the picturesque Elan Valley in mid-wales, mushroom fanatic Daniel Butler hosts informative foraging forays
In the Elan Valley in mid-wales, mushroom expert Daniel Butler hosts informative foraging forays
Any day now, there will be a scare story in the press about wild mushrooms poisoning people,” Daniel Butler says. “It happens every year and deters people from foraging. To put the risk in perspective, there have been only a handful of adult fatalities from fungi in the past century, while every year there are 6,000 deaths from accidents in the home.”* In the 20 years that Daniel, a writer and smallholder, has led guided walks in Mid Wales, he has been on a mission to dispel the myths surrounding one of his favourite foods. He explains that, unlike the cultivated species found in supermarkets, wild mushrooms are richer than you might expect and less easily digested. “Any ill-effects are usually down to eating too many at one sitting,” he says. “The correct portion is 50g per person, and they should be used as an adornment to a meal rather than being the centrepiece, to add a special touch to soups, risottos and casseroles.” Of the 1,000 species we can find in Britain with the naked eye, he continues: “A very small number are potentially fatal, while the vast majority are harmless and many are delicious. Our prejudices are not shared on the Continent, where the ancient pastime of foraging is still valued.”
Every Saturday and Sunday from early September through October, Daniel takes a group of a dozen or so fellow foragers to hunt for mushrooms in the tranquil Elan Valley, a pristine landscape of small farms, mixed woodland and clear rivers. It was the abundance of natural resources that inspired Victorian engineers to flood the area and build its landmark reservoirs, dams and aqueduct, supplying water to the West Midlands. It attracts visitors year round, by day and by night, for in 2015, the 70-square-mile region became an International Dark Sky Park in recognition of its spectacular starry skies and nocturnal habitat, free from light pollution.
On today’s ramble in a conifer plantation, there’s a frisson of excitement as members of the group make their way through the leaf litter, eyes fixed to the ground, watching for tell-tale signs of hidden treasure. Their finds will contribute to a meal later at Daniel’s home, a 17th-century longhouse near Rhayader.
The trees are cloaked in moss and lichen, ferns in every shade of green flourish in the humus-rich soil, and the forest floor is scattered with fir cones. Damp, earthy smells mingle with woodsmoke, while far above the forest canopy, the raucous calls of jays can be heard as they collect acorns to secrete in the crevices of tree bark for winter. Daniel is as knowledgeable about wildlife in the air as he is about wild food on the ground, and flies his goshawk, Sky, every day. On his 13 acres he also keeps rescue pigs, a horse, a plethora of poultry (foxes permitting) and two dogs (Gem, a lurcher, and Holly, a Jack Russell).
“On a good day, we can expect to find a dozen edible varieties,” Daniel says, setting the bar high for today’s search. The first discovery is a patch of porcini, identified by their spongy gills, brown caps and thick beige and cream stalks. Highly prized in cooking and highly priced in the deli, there are enough to share, so they are carefully sliced off with a knife and placed in a willow basket. In one season, Daniel estimates that he picks 50kg of porcini, which he dries on wire racks above the woodburner for use in cooking, reducing them to a tenth of their weight.
As the morning progresses, more delicacies are unearthed, including hedgehog fungus. This strangely shaped species has tiny spines underneath rather than gills, hence its name and popularity with young foragers. Giant puffballs are unmistakable, as they grow as large as three feet in diameter; their firm, white flesh is
“The first course was a favour for local hotels – now I make half my income from them”
a good substitute for pasta in a lasagne. Contrasting in shape and size, a flush of chanterelles is a welcome revelation, with delicately fluted golden trumpets that have a distinct aroma of apricots.
Daniel is self-taught, but over the years has amassed a wealth of knowledge ever since tasting a wild mushroom he found growing on a haystack in Oxfordshire in 1992. Two years later, when he swapped city life for the Welsh countryside to pursue his dream of self-sufficiency, and found tiny parasols growing in front of his house, his fascination for fungi grew. “The first course I organised, in 1997, was as a favour to local hoteliers – now I make half my annual income from them.” To extend the season, he offers courses from April onwards, because another myth is that mushrooms are seen only in autumn. “From Easter, a distant drum roll gradually increases. St George’s Mushroom traditionally appears on 23 April; in May you might find three different species, four in June, five in July. Then it’s full on from mid-september, and one October morning I collected my personal record of 31 edibles,” he says.
Daniel believes that the biggest myth of all is picking mushrooms damages the environment. The banning of mushroom foraging has a complicated history. Commercial picking has been banned in the New Forest in Hampshire for several years, due to the fact that it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, although monitoring this has proved difficult and there were reports of groups of people arriving at dawn to harvest large amounts for commercial gain. To crack down on this, as well as protect the mushrooms’ habitat, last year the ban was extended to include even those collecting small amounts for personal consumption in areas where foragers have been accused of uprooting native plants. However, Daniel refutes the idea that there is a risk to the woodland ecosystem: “The fact is, you can’t uproot a mushroom because it doesn’t have a root. Most of the fungus is underground where the mycelium (the vegetative part) wraps itself around the root of a tree or shrub and taps into it for nutrients. It breaks down leaf litter, absorbs it into its structure and pumps it into the tree; in return it extracts sugar and water from the tree. Trees and mushrooms have a symbiotic relationship.” To emphasise his point, Daniel challenged the ‘no picking’ rule by foraging in the New Forest, and this resulted in a climb-down by the Forestry Commission, which conceded that the signs banning ‘harvesting on any scale’ weren’t legally enforceable.
Back at the smallholding, Daniel rustles up a sumptuous lunch for 12 – truffled cream of celeriac soup with homemade ciabatta, wild mushroom stroganoff on basmati rice or a ragu cacciatore made of home-reared pork cooked with porcini, tomato and home-grown herbs. “The dessert, lemon cheesecake, is low on mushrooms – but think of this as being let off for good behaviour!” he says. The foragers are now replete with the fruits of their labours, and all leave as new converts to the magic of mushrooms.
For more information, visit fungiforays.co.uk or call 01597 811168. A one-day course costs £70, which includes a field guide (or mushroom knife), a wild mushroom-based meal with drinks and dried Welsh porcini to take home.