Mushrooms grow in abundance in Washington State nearly year around. Some are poisonous, many of no culinary value and a select group are some of the best food to enjoy. The Pacific Northwest is the region richest in edible mushroom in the Western hemisphere. Our choice edible mushrooms such as morels, chanterelles, hedgehogs, king boletes, conifer's bear head and cauliflower mushroom are fairly easy to identify, a fact that helps overcoming fungophobia and truly appreciate wild mushrooms. However, there is also a variety of often ignored good edible mushrooms in our woods that will be discussed. In this richly illustrated presentation Daniel will help you to get to know, identify many great edible mushrooms while steering you clear of dangerous look-a-likes. You will be advised how to properly collect, carefully transport, and safely prepare your mushrooms. Key in finding prime mushrooms is getting to know their preferred habitat and their seasonality. In addition, Daniel is mixing in some fungal fun & facts from his research and mushroaming travels.

Daniel grew up collecting and eating wild mushrooms in the Alps and is sharing his enthusiasm as a mushroom educator, photographer and guide. The Puget Sound Mycological Society, which he joined in 1996 was instrumental in exposing Daniel to mycology and inspiring him to bend his career towards mushrooms. Daniel served on the PSMS board and as vice president for many years. Daniel published in 2022 his “Fruits of the Forest – Field Guide to Pacific Northwest Edible Mushrooms” (available at mushroaming.com), a product of a life time of mushroom hunting, the last twenty-five in the PNW.  Previously he published a series of fold-out field guides on Edible Mushrooms of the PNW as well as for California (both Harbour Publishing), Amazon Mushrooms, and Medicinal Mushrooms, as well as MycoCards "Boletes of Western North America" and “Best of Mushroaming” calendars. As an ecologist and landuse expert Daniel focused on High Asia towards researching Tibet's enormous fungal economy. His ethno-mycological Cordyceps research has been featured in National Geographic, New York Times, The Economist, NPR, BBC etc. In the last decade Daniel started exploring neotropical fungi. With his travel agency MushRoaming Daniel is organizing mushroom focused eco-adventures since 2007, current destinations are Bhutan and Colombia.