It’s June already and with it comes one of my favorite mushroom hunts, Reishi! This medicinal wonder grows extremely well in our region and can be found on hemlock and pine trees. Also known as the mushroom of immortality and the queen of medicinal mushrooms, Reishi has been used medicinally for centuries and is one of the most recognizable mushrooms in the forest. They start growing in May, bubbling up on the trees, but shouldn’t be harvested until the caps turn completely red, by then they would of dropped their spores and developed maximum medicinal potency. The soft, white/yellow outer edges of the Reishi can be sautéed and eaten and have a good flavor in my opinion. Along with Reishi, many other wonderful mushrooms will be showing up this month including chicken of the wood, pheasant backs (dryads saddle), and towards the middle to end of the month, chanterelles.
June is an exciting month for me as I finally get to start my mushroom tours again! I’ve had many of you sign up with emails expressing interest, as the mushrooms start to appear I’ll be reaching out with availabilities, on that note drop me an email with what the best days that work for you during the month so I can work you in as I get started. Walks will be scheduled on a week by week basis.
I also come to you, doing walks on your property, so if you are interested in that and have seen different mushrooms popping up on your property, feel free to reach out. Walks are $45 a person and last about an hour and a half. Home visits are $55/hr.
Markets this month:
East Asheville tailgate Fridays 3-6 at 954 tunnel rd, Parking lot of Groce United Methodist church. 6/3, 6/10 and 6/24
Lester Market Wednesdays 3-6 at the Leicester community center. 6/1 and 6/22
Yancey County market Saturdays 8:30-12:30 in downtown Burnsville town square 6/4 and 6/25
Mars Hill market Saturdays 10-1 at college st in Mars Hill 6/18
Enka/Candler market Thursdays 3-6 at 1465 sand hill rd AB Tech campus 6/9,6/16 and 6/30
HEEAL market Saturday 6/11 from 2-6 at One World brewing west 520 Haywood rd
Meadow Market Sunday 6/5 from 12-5 at Highland Brewery 12 Old Charlotte hwy
Cursus Keme Brewery Market 6/2 3-8 pm at 155 Thompson st Asheville
Dates are subject to change at my regular market so please keep an eye on my social media posts to be updated week by week!
****Inventory Update: I’m out of stock on Indian Pipe tinctures, I will be restocked in July, as they start growing this month, tinctures will be in process. If your interested in being notified when they are back in stock just drop me a line and I will put you on the waiting list.
Monthly Special: $10 off all Reishi tinctures and $5 off Reishi teabags.
Reishi has a wide range of benefits including boosting the immune system, fighting cancer, calming the nervous system, improving gut health, lowering blood pressure, improving heart health, helping to manage allergies (much needed right now), improves liver and kidney function and helping the body to detox.
New Products: I have a limited supply of dried Lions Mane. $12 an ounce. They can be rehydrated to eat or used in teas and coffees. Also Lions Mane premade teabags, 4 teabags for $15, each teabag makes 1 quart of tea to be used twice. Lions Mane is one of the more researched medicinal mushrooms currently, especially for cognitive and heart health, helping mild depression and anxiety, speeding up recovery from nerve damage, anti-inflammatory and immune boosting properties.
Also in New things coming, I’ve teamed up with some good friends who are opening a new brewery in Old Fort!! Whaley Farm brewery will opening this summer and master brewer Chris Whaley has been creating magic things, he will be adding my wild foraged Chaga to a beer, to be dubbed the ‘Chaga Lager’ and I can’t wait to try it!!
A few things arriving on the scene this month are fawn mushrooms, edible but forgettable. Pheasant back/dryads saddle, a tasty mushroom that smells of cucumbers, eat only when young, as they grow large they are too tough to eat. Indian pipe/ghost pipe, an absolute favorite medicinal wildflower that feeds off mushrooms, great for pain relief, headaches, and sleep issues. Oysters, of coarse a wonderful edible mushroom. Chicken of the wood, most mushroom consumers love this one and it’s a true delight to find. Umbrella Polypore, is a choice edible cluster of mushrooms, they are polypores, so pores instead of gills. Reishi, pictured above in early stages, not to harvest until completely red. Coral mushrooms are popping, these I typically stay away from as they are hard on your digestive tract, however the white crown tipped corals are one the easier ones on the system and are pretty good. Some greenery growing is wild ginger, with heart shaped leaves, you want to get to the root to be used for teas. Also sassafras, you can eat the leaves in a salad when they are young and lime green, the bark and roots were once used to make root beer and you can enjoy as a tea. The three different leaves are an easy identifier, the ghost, the mitten and the simple lobe. Lastly the Chanterelles that will be later in the month, another choice edible mushroom.
