Magic of Mushrooms in May
Poached eggs on St George’s Mushrooms with one growing in the grass just for good measure
When an expert forager invites you to go mushroom picking in late Spring you might be tempted to check the calendar, but when you subsequently end up in a large industrial estate you might also begin to wonder if he hasn’t lost his marbles.
The end of summer, not the beginning, is the traditional time for a fungi foray - and I tend to think of the damps woods and hillsides of Exmoor as being ideal mushroom territory rather than places that vibrate to the sound of industry and traffic.
Of course, if you really know your onions from your chanterelles you will realise that St George’s Day is in April - and that this date marks the time when a very special fungi grows here in Britain. It is, indeed, called the St George mushroom - and the forager’s lore surrounding its rather mystical appearance insists that it will pop its little creamy white head above the ground for just a month running from a week before April 23 until it vanishes just a month after.
What this means in theory is that it should be more-or-less impossible to be poisoned by picking the wrong type of mushroom - but PLEASE DO NOT hold me to that. Although there should be no other fungi around at this time of year save for the odd bracket-type fruiting bodies hanging onto tree limbs, there might - just might - be some freakishly early destroying angel or other deadly amanita, which could be mistaken for a St George’s mushroom, as they are slightly similar in appearance.
I wasn’t too worried about that unlikely eventuality, mainly because I had my old friend - chef-lecturer and forager extraordinaire David Beazley - as my guide. And David really does know what he’s doing when it comes to the fruiting bodies of fungi and other delicious wild delights from the countryside.
Devon chef-lecturer David Beazley
What did surprise me, though, was the location David described on the phone. I will not share it with you here because the place is his find, his secret - one he holds very close to his chest because he’s been on the look-out for St George’s mushrooms for years and this is the first location in the West Country where he’s found any.
But what a location! We could hardly hear ourselves speak as we crawled around a grassy verge under an ornate cherry tree in a very large Devon industrial estate near several busy roads.
“I’ve been searching for ten or 15 years and I found them here last year for the first time,” said David. “They normally crop two weeks before and two weeks after St George’s day but this year - even with all that frost we’ve had - it’s been nice and wet and also we’ve now had heat, which is ideal for them.
“They always grow in grass. Grass and trees - not sure which variety, but we have cherry and birch here which they are associated with. What I can say about this location is that the council would probably have mown this if they weren’t so cash-strapped - and these would have come ready-sliced,” laughed this fan of wild food.
“They are creamy in colour and the cap the stalk and the gills are all the same colour. The cap itself is wavy and it tucks underneath around the edge - and they have a very mealy smell. They are solid and heavy for their size.”
David is willing to go to all the trouble of hunting the St George mushroom because he says it’s one of the best edible fungi mew have.
“I love them because of their texture and their amazing flavour,” he told me. “They are among my favourites - they are definitely up there with the chanterelle and the ceps. If you’d seen these in the autumn when the amanitas are out, they have the same sort of creamy white top, stalk and gills - and you could kill somebody with one of those. People say that because they grow in April they are definitely safe, but I would certainly still go through the identification just to be sure.
“So I’ve used to my skill as a forager to find them and pick them - and I use my skill as a chef to maximise that flavour. I love to pan-fry them in the same pan as the one in which I’ve fried smoked bacon in - and then put some cream in it to pick up all that lovely flavour. Place on top of a muffin with a poached egg on top. Absolutely delicious. It is a springtime breakfast - or you could leave the bacon out if you were a vegetarian, but you would miss out on that flavour because you need a bit of saltiness.
“I’ve also taken the idea of garlic mushrooms - so with these growing at this time of year I’ve fried them in butter and then put some shredded wild garlic through it. Then, to serve it - to make it a bit cheffy - I’ve put it into a wrap. You could eat it hot or cold - either way - and take it with you on a spring walk.”
David is a part-time chef-lecturer at Exeter College... “I run the restaurant kitchen that supplies the food for the public restaurant - it’s open five days a week and I’m there four days. Your readers can dine there and you can go online to book or phone. It is very popular - three courses and a glass of wine for a tenner.”
As a life long forager he is also to be found out and about in all manner of landscapes across South Devon.
“I don’t really take the public out foraging because you need permissions, a licence, insurance and so on - but I do take my students out and also some scouts at times. It is encouraging to see the youngsters out there,” said David. “Lots of people say to me: ‘Dave, can you take me to the woods to get some mushrooms?’ But when we get there and they see the hundreds of varieties they are completely put off. They expect to see just one or two.
“You have to know what you are doing, or you can kill yourself - and others. I started in 1981 and I am still here after nearly 40 years. So I must be picking the right ones,” he grinned.
“The beauty of finding the St George mushrooms here is that now I know they are around at the moment, which means I can go out and about looking for other locations knowing that this is exactly the right time here in Devon.”
You can read about David’s expertise in hunting food from the wild and find 50 of his Devon recipes by reading his ebook, The Forager’s Apprentice, which is available on Amazon for £2.99.
David Beazley’s St George mushroom RECIPES
St George’s breakfast muffin
This dish showcases St George’s mushrooms at their very best, the flavours all brought together by the double cream. Perfect for a Sunday brunch. For 2 people you will require.
2 muffins lightly toasted
2 fresh eggs
300grms of cleaned St Georges mushrooms
100grms smoked bacon lardons
150 mls double cream
25grms butter
In a small frying pan, melt the butter and fry the bacon until crispy, remove from the pan. In the same pan fry the St Georges for 2 minutes. Return the bacon to the pan along with the cream, bring to the boil and season.
Poach your eggs whilst toasting the muffins. Place the muffin on a plate, cover with the mushroom sauce and top with the poached egg.
With freshly cooked pasta this sauce creates a lovely supper dish.
St Georges mushrooms with wild garlic in a wrap
25g butter
12 cloves garlic leaves, finely shredded
200g St Georges mushrooms, sliced thickly
Salt and black pepper
2 wholemeal wraps
Melt the butter in a pan. Add the mushrooms, salt and pepper. Cook and stir for several minutes until mushrooms are soft. Add the garlic leaves, stir in and remove from the heat. Divide between the wraps and fold in your preferred way.
