Newsletters accompany our weekly deliveries to keep you informed with our farm, and give you info and recipes to expand your love for Fungi.

Provisions CSA Mushroom Farm

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Hello Shareholders,

Hope everyone is enjoying their mushrooms. We have arrived at the halfway mark of the season. Unbelievable how fast this summer is flying by, but still plenty of time to enjoy the rest of the summer’s bountiful harvests.

We are looking forward to the Helsing Sleepover this weekend. As always, we will be treated with great music, food, films and friends. We hope to meet those of you who are coming down for either a day, a night, or the whole weekend. If you have a chance, even for just the afternoon, come enjoy a little relaxation and great food, at the Helsing Sleepover, this weekend!

I was asked this week where Lobster mushrooms grow and thought it would be an interesting topic for this week’s newsletter. For those of you who have never seen, nor heard of a lobster mushroom, I will give a brief description. I’ve seen them occasionally in the Pikes Place Market, in Seattle, right about this time, or a little later in the summer. They have a very Lobster like red color on the outside and are white on the inside of the mushroom. Some Lobster mushrooms can be entirely white, instead of the nice red color that is most prominent. The gentleman that asked me where the Lobster’s grow, guessed that they grew like Chanterelle’s or Porcini’s, which have symbiotic relationships with the surrounding tree’s. Lobster mushrooms however, don’t start as ordinary mushrooms. Lobsters are a parasitic fungus that attacks other young mushrooms like, Russula or Lactarius mushrooms. The Lobster mushrooms are unlike other parasitic fungi that kill living or diseased trees. They both feed off of the host, but only the Lobster transforms an already existing mushroom into the Lobster mushroom. Ironically, the taste and texture of the Lobster mushroom far surpasses the original host mushroom’s qualities, making it a choice, wild edible mushroom.

There are many other parasitic fungi. Cordyceps is a highly revered medicinal mushroom that grows in the high mountainous areas of Tibet . This mushroom parasitizes caterpillar’s and digests the tiny crawlers from the inside out. Ultimately, fruiting a small, horn like, mushroom from the caterpillar’s body. Native people in Tibet have been harvesting and using this mushroom for it’s energy and stamina properties for thousands of years. Some people believe that these same types of parasitic mushrooms may be used to exterminate household pests like, termites and carpenter ants, in a more environmentally, non-toxic way.

Most of the time, we think of parasites as harmful or undesirable, and once again, the world of fungi surprises us with all kinds of helpful possibilities.

If you have high speed internet and are able to watch movie clips, search for, “cordyceps” on www.youtube.com. There are excellent time lapse video clips of cordyceps in action.

Enjoy! Hope to see you this weekend!

Ria & Christian Kaelin

Beer Battered Oyster Mushrooms

Oyster mushrooms sliced
1 C flour
salt and favorite seasonings
1 tsp baking powder
1 C beer
½ C milk (or milk alternative)
1 egg
Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, mix well. In another bowl combine wet ingredients and whisk. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined. Add sliced oyster mushrooms and let mixture rest for 10 min. Heat 3 cups oil in a heavy skillet, wok, or deep pan to 365°F. Fry in small batches until golden and crispy. Eat plain or with dipping sauce of choice while still hot.

Five Mediums For Your Mushrooms

Eggs : Saute’ sliced or smaller whole mushrooms in butter before adding to omelets or scrambled eggs. I like to add diced onions and garlic just before mushrooms are cooked. Dried and fresh herbs like basil, tarragon, or chives are a nice accent to these dishes.

Pasta : From Asian noodle dishes to Italian pasta plates, mushrooms can make these dishes especially tasty. Saute’ your mushrooms for these dishes with your favorite oil before tossing them together in your pasta or sauces.

Fish : Saute’ mushrooms with onions, garlic and herbs, top baked or broiled fish with mushroom sauté. Or bake fish in foil wraps with mushrooms, lemon and herbs on top of each piece of fish. Seal foil around fish dish to stay moist. Bake at 400˚ for 10-15 minutes.

Veggies : Those leafy greens you get from Helsing are great lightly cooked in a broth of water, mushrooms, onions, garlic and lemon. Or saute’ mushrooms with beans, asparagus or zucchini.

Adding lemon or balsamic vinegar before or after cooking can make those veggies shine and taste great.

Appetizers : Experimenting with snack foods can bring out new flavors with mushrooms. Use mushrooms as the main ingredient for a pate’. Or combine them in a cheese spread over toasted baguettes. Or use as a topping over beef, chicken or fish appetizers.