Broughton Quarterly - Spring 2008 - (Page 30)

(clockwise from left) The NorCal mushroom man and his band of merry pickers see gold in every unusual mound or crack in the forest floor. Pickers bring their booty to “command central,” where they’re paid on the spot. O 30 Broughton Quarterly h, those mycelium memories. Eric’s love affair with wild mushrooms popped up in the early ‘70s. As a forest service patrolman in Northern California, he became fascinated with the vast array of mushroom species in the woods. When he came to Mendocino, he was enthralled with their endless characteristics: flavors span from smoky to earthy to nutty; shapes resemble other edibles, such as cauliflower and peach pits; and vibrant hues cry out in greens, yellow, scarlet. Eric sold them to local chefs, and soon found buyers in New York, Europe, and Asia. As his customers clamored for more, he taught eager hunters how to identify and determine which were edible and poisonous, top grade versus inferior quality. Friends and their friends were Eric’s first pickers, and soon everyone wanted to cash in on the action: mothers and their kids, senior citizens, single men, transients, anyone who showed interest. Equipment for mushroom hunting is basic, says Eric. A pocket knife with a clean, sharp blade and a bucket are all that is needed. Perhaps most essential to the hunt is a keen eye. Pickers are a competitive bunch, and they often bolt out into the forest at daybreak, sometimes earlier wielding flashlights. “No one owns the public land, but people have their secret spots,” he confides. These zealots are known as “rain chasers,” for the little caps will appear after a storm or an overnight drench. While most people Spring 2008 see a pile of wet leaves as a pile of wet leaves, trained mushroom hunters spy a potential goldmine. They can hone in on the slivers of fleshy caps under foliage and go for the kill. Every unusual mound or crack on the forest floor is suspect. Mushroom hunting can be lucrative business. “You can earn as much as $500 to $600 a day in cash,” he says. “I’ve trained a lot of people who’ve gotten very good.” So each day around 4 p.m., Eric can count on his parade of pickers who trundle in with fresh booty in buckets of every size and color. On his woodsy property, he maintains a trailer that includes a giant refrigerator for storage, and an open sorting station—a table area where pickers line up to show their catch, have their mushrooms evaluated for quality, and get paid on the spot. Eric offers top dollar for the cleanest ones with the fewest bruises and nicks. Certain mushrooms, such as the matsutake, may look perfect, but can hold insects that eat the mushroom from the inside out. He can tell by gently squeezing the poor thing between his thumb and forefinger. “This one’s no good,” he concludes, talking to one of the hunters. He pulls out a pocket knife and slices it down the middle. Sure enough, the inside of this poor matsutake looks discolored and deteriorated. While Eric loves the hunt, his real work these days is waking up early to make daily phone calls to his buyers. From his La-Z-Boy lounger in his living room (a.k.a. “command central”), he transacts thousands of dollars of business with a cordless phone in one hand,

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Broughton Quarterly - Spring 2008 Contents Contributors Plugged In Notes Destination 1000 Words Calendar Wine & Cuisine Of Gods and Monkeys Santa Monica Beach Chasing the Rain Donald Trump Marketplace Spotlight

Broughton Quarterly - Spring 2008

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