Wild Harvest Life - Winter Family in PNW

From the Washington mountains to our table—fresh wild American matsutake transformed a simple bowl of ramen into a very special meal.  There are meals that are expensive because of their ingredients, and there are meals that feel priceless because of the story behind them. This bowl of matsutake ramen was both simple and precious. My husband and I had spent the day together in the Washington mountains searching for matsutake. We walked quietly over soft moss, looked at many interesting plants, listened to birds, and enjoyed a peaceful day in the Pacific Northwest forest. We had planned to cook ramen while we were out, but the mosquitoes were so intense that we were afraid we would be eaten alive if we stopped long enough to cook. Instead, we made a meal from the snacks we had packed. As soon as we returned home, however, I knew exactly what I wanted to make with the fresh matsutake we had found. That became our dinner: premium matsutake ramen with pork for my husband and green onio...

Finding this firm, fresh American matsutake in July was an unforgettable PNW forest surprise. I could hardly believe what we were holding. Matsutake is the mushroom my husband and I normally associate with cool autumn rain, fallen needles and the unmistakable fragrance of the fall forest. Yet there it was in the Pacific Northwest—in the middle of July. The mushroom was firm, clean and remarkably fresh. It had not been damaged by insects, and it carried the familiar aroma that we usually wait all year to experience. For a moment, I kept wondering: How could a fall mushroom be growing here in summer? As many of you may already know, I am a Korean woman approaching 50 who married an American and now lives in the mountains of Washington State. Living here has taught me that food memories can travel across oceans. Sometimes they remain almost exactly as we remember them. At other times, they meet a new forest, a different climate and another family—and become an entirely new tradition. Mats...

My husband and I absolutely love matsutake mushrooms. Whenever we walk through a forest where matsutake might grow, we are not looking only for mushrooms. We also pay attention to the trees, the soil, and the smaller plants covering the forest floor. Sometimes we see thick carpets of green moss. Beargrass may be growing beneath the conifers, and patches of salal may appear nearby. None of these things can guarantee that matsutake mushrooms are present. Forest habitats are complex, and mushrooms do not appear simply because one particular plant is growing there. But there is one unusual forest plant that matsutake hunters often notice more carefully. Fresh candysticks rising together from the summer forest floor in the Pacific Northwest. It is called candystick , or Allotropa virgata . And whenever we find it, our matsutake hopes become a little stronger. A Summer Search We Had Not Expected Matsutake hunting has always felt like an autumn activity to us. I think of cool mornings, damp f...