Maggie: In this episode of The Farmer & the Foodie.

Whitney: I never expected people to be so interested in like some holler babies skipping through the hills and finding fungus, but it's worth.

Here, I see some mushrooms on that tree.

Paul: Hey, welcome in, guys.

Thank you.

Oh my gosh, look at this.

This is amazing.

Maggie: I'm Maggie Keith and I'm the farmer.

Lindsey: And I'm Lindsey McClave and I'm the foodie.

And this is... -Maggie: The Farmer -Lindsey: & the Foodie Voiceover: Funding for this program is made possible in part by the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions.

[water gushing] Today we are deep in the hills and mountains of Appalachia, Eastern Kentucky, and we are learning all about how to find wild mushrooms.

I am extremely excited to learn all about foraging, what to do, and we've got a wonderful guide that's going to take us around.

The woods is where I became to really love nature and just connect with the land.

And I'm really excited to meet Whitney, the Appalachian Forager and she's going to show us what we can find in the woods to eat.

Lindsey: But remember, foraging for wild mushrooms should be done carefully.

Any mushroom found in the wild should be identified by an expert first before being consumed.

Some found fungi can be poisonous.

So if you don't know, let it go.

So, wild mushrooms is where we're going to start and then we're going to head to Ashbourne Farms where we're going to learn how to cultivate your own mushrooms, and very different setting, more of a lab situation, but really, really wonderful work they're doing.

And we're going to end up in the kitchen to make a bunch of delicious mushroom recipes.

-So, let's get going.

-Yes.

[music playing] Whitney: All right, we hardly two to three steps and we've already found our first edible mushrooms on this trail.

-Wow!

-Oh my gosh, what luck.

So, these -- oh, and look, there's some babies growing up underneath.

So, these are oyster mushrooms.

Now, they're a little past their prime here but they grow on these dead hardwood logs.

The way that you can tell that it's an oyster mushroom, these gills, they run all the way down.

They're called the current gills where it's usually like another mushroom, it would stop where the stem is.

These don't really have a stem.

They are current gills and real popular mushroom, -Yes, yes.

- like they're everywhere.

And do you see these often in these woods?

Yes, but it's kind of early for them right now.

So, I think we got a little lucky here.

And usually where there's smoke, there's fire.

So, I'm going to say that there's probably going to be some more somewhere around here.

Well, and they are little babies, like you said.

And they're a little water logged too -but, I mean, -Yeah.

survival situation, we could totally eat these.

Maggie: Yeah.

And holler buddies, look right there on that log.

Lindsey: This is so exciting.

Whitney: This is the one that I was telling you about.

Well, I have to pick it up and look for sure.

But this is the one I was telling you about.

-Yep, yep, that's it.

-Yay!

Whitney: These are called deer mushrooms and they grow directly out of wood like this and they have like a salmon-colored gill to them.

-Maggie: They're so pretty.

-Whitney: And these are edible.

Maggie: Wow.

And it's like the perfect little circle.

Yep, and again, kind of like those oysters were, these fellas are a little soggy.

Oh gosh, yeah.

So that's the same as that.

This is the same mushroom as that one.

This one's obviously had a better day than that guy, but, like, I wouldn't be too opposed to taking that one home.

With these you usually just eat the caps anyway.

The stems can kind of be a little like stringy.

So, like, he's a healthy boy, but yeah, these deer mushrooms are going to be kind of everywhere this time of year.

Lindsey: So soft and delicate.

Whitney: And if you do a spore print at home and lay this down on a piece of paper and let it sit overnight and then lift it up, it leaves a pretty pink spore print and also... And a lot of bugs.

Maybe you don't want to take it home.

If you look down there at those bright orange ones?

-Maggie: Oh, yeah.

-Whitney: You see that?

Lindsey: Do you know what those might be?

Whitney: There's like little babies and big ones.

I do know what they are and it is a very high-tech Latin binomial that starts with an X Oh.

And I can't pronounce it, but it's not edible.

So that's all you need to know.

If it has that kind of a name, it's probably not an everyday kitchen ingredient.

Whitney: There's no common name for that one - that I found.

- It's so pretty though.

I'm not sure what they are because they're so small.

How would you identify this?

-It's hard to... -Oh, I would... Well, I don't know every mushroom because I'm not an expert, but I would take these home and I would compare them to my field guides.

So, you can see that it has gills on the bottom.

So, I would flip to the gill mushroom chapter and then you would look for like the colors, the size, and then you can also even smell to see if it has like a distinctive smell.

It has like a little bit of a sweet smell.

-Lindsey: Oh, yeah.

-Whitney: Can you smell it?

Whitney: So, when you're going to -- It's actually fresh, I mean, obviously it is.

Yeah, so if you're flipping through and you see one that's like small, orange, grows from wood, gills, you know, and then checks all the boxes and smells sweet, then you may have what you got there.

[music playing] Well, Whitney, thank you so much.

This is incredible.

I feel really at peace in your woods.

Thank you.

Thank you for coming to my woods.

-Lindsey: Yeah.

-This is what I'm trying to show people is how peaceful this can be.

Yes, so, when you have a successful foraging moment, what does that feel like?

Cloud 9000.

It's like adrenaline that I can't explain.

Like when you're able to bring home like a giant haul of mushrooms, it's like there's nothing like it.

That's probably what it feels like when people win the Super Bowl, like, when I'm like bringing home a big bunch of mushrooms.

But yeah, like it's awesome that you got to get outside and find them, then you get to bring them home and get creative with them.

And then one of my favorite things to do is to feed people.

So, being able to share that with people, it's just amazing.

How did you get into this, chasing that adrenaline or?

I'm actually not that big of an adrenaline junkie.

But it kind of started because I've always been outdoorsy, like as a kid, I was in the dirt playing with snakes, stuff like that.

Mom couldn't get me in, and I've just always liked to hike, but then at some point in time I noticed mushrooms or maybe they noticed me.

I don't know.

It was just like, suddenly it happened.

Anyway, I would go around, I would like take pictures of mushrooms, trying to be like artsy and like take these really nice portraits of mushrooms.

And then that kind of went into, okay, well, what kind of mushroom is this?

Can I eat it?

Would it kill me if I eat it?

Just my overall, like knowledge and love for the outdoors and it just kind of snowballed and it ain't stopped since then.

So, yeah, it's just something that you can keep learning.

Like, I can come out here today and probably find something I've never seen before.

So, that's what keeps it fun for me.

And you've become a real advocate for Appalachia in Eastern Kentucky.

What does that feel like?

And how has that made a difference you think in this world?

I don't even think that I can put into words like what Appalachia means to me.

Like, it makes me emotional, it makes me proud, like, it makes me angry sometimes when I think about like the way people portray it.

But to me, like, I feel like that is in every single thing I do, like, that culture is me, like, I mean, I do all these things that like old ways that you saw like your mama and your papa all doing.

Like a lot of this stuff is not new news and just because it's on social media and you see me doing it isn't like some revolutionary thing.

People have been doing this for years.

And like, this region gets a lot of flak sometimes, so what I'm trying to do is shine a positive light here, show what we have, like the bounty, the beauty, the diversity.

Like, there's so much to be had here and I really want people to start to see that.

And so does the butterfly.

But yeah, I mean, I'm proud I won't shut up.

Give me a soap box, I'll tell you all the things I love about Appalachia, but just in general, yeah, I feel like it's really important to keep those roots of mine in what I'm doing, share that with other people, maybe change their minds a little bit.

Like, getting more people to come here and just see what it really is, you know, makes my heart swell a little bit.

So, I love that part of it too.

My main thing is I'm trying to leave it better than when I found it.

And I'm like huge into like responsible ethical foraging.

So, you know, if I see something, I'm not going to take like all of it and I'm not going to throw trash around, but also getting out in foraging does a lot for like the ecosystem.

You know, like, if stuff gets overgrown, overcrowded, there's invasives that you can eat and stuff like that too.

You're actually doing it a favor by doing that and in turn it's like giving back to me too.

So, that ain't bad.

I like free food.

So, that's nice.

How could you not like love this?

-Agree.

-Remarkable.

Like, this is therapy, this is church.

This is everything for me and it's just so good for the soul.

[music playing] Maggie: Thanks for having us out, Billy.

Ashbourne Farms is glowing today on this beautiful spring crisp morning.

Thank you so much.

Welcome to Ashbourne Farms, where we'd love to have you guys here.

So, we have just recently come from foraging mushrooms out in the wilderness.

And it's such a wonderful contradiction to that to see this.

I can see mushrooms in here that you're growing.

So, how long have you been growing mushrooms here at Ashbourne?

So, we started our Mushroom Program in May of 2020.

And it first started out with us just growing 5 to 10 bricks of mushrooms for our local CSA and our local farmers market.

That in turn turned into 80 to 100 bricks per week that we will grow.

Everything is pan ready.

So, you can take those mushrooms, take them straight home, put them on the skillet, saute them, however you'd like to prepare them, and then put that right there and dinner for you and your family.

Why did you all decide to begin experimenting with mushrooms?

How does that play into just what makes Ashbourne Farms special and what benefits does it give to the farm?

We really started out with wanting to go organic and grow the healthiest, safest food.

And then also that leads right into the mushrooms.

It's a great substitute for protein and it's a very, very healthy produce that we can provide.

You know, lion's mane, I'm sure everybody has seen, they're making coffee out of it, they're making tea out of it.

Every one mushroom that we have has those medicinal properties that can really help the value of someone's life.

Maggie: So, what is a brick?

Billy: A brick is just basically a log.

Each brick comes with wood grain and that in turn goes into a bag.

It's just like putting a seed in the ground.

You put your spawn inside that bag, seals up, and then you mix it all up.

And the only reason we call it a brick is because when it settles and the brick is colonized, basically, the spawn has completely colonized the entire brick and that's when it's ready for production of mushrooms.

Well, we're looking forward to meeting Paul in the lab and learning more and getting our hands dirty a little bit.

-Yeah, absolutely.

-Absolutely, absolutely.

Welcome to mushroom world.

Welcome in, guys.

Lindsey: Wow.

Paul: So, here we got our shelves full of mushrooms.

These are the bricks that Billy was telling us about earlier.

So, they're full of sawdust and other substrates like sorghum and molasses.

Full of good things for helping the mushrooms grow and flourish in this room.

A lot of cleaning goes into this room.

So, I'm in here two or three times a day, just mopping and sanitizing everything.

Sterilization is a huge part of these mushrooms.

So, that's definitely one of the biggest things, like Billy was saying, infections can get in here.

So, everything we can do to prevent that is going to make them grow better.

So, one thing I noticed when we came in here was it's not humid but there is a sense of moisture in the air and that's all part of one of the many factors you all have to control, right?

Yes, yes.

So, we have a new ultrasonic humidifier which is keeping the room at about 75% humidity at all times.

The mushrooms love humidity.

Some of them a little bit less, some of them a bit more.

So, there's different areas of the room that have different humidity levels.

So, I try to adjust where I have the mushrooms in the room to help them grow to their full potential.

Lindsey: Once they grow the mushrooms you cultivate them, they don't regrow them again, right?

So, what happens to these when they're done?

So, we take them to compost because they're so full of nutrients.

And obviously, the mushrooms love to grow out of them.

So, other plants like them too.

So, we take them to our compost pile, let them sit around and bake basically for a whole year, and the next year we can use them in our garden, on our fields to help the crops and give everything a new life, like how the mushrooms have.

Lindsey: Nothing goes to waste.

Paul: Right, right.

Yeah, we like fungus in our soil and on our plate.

Paul: Yes.

So we grow three different kind of oysters.

We have the Italians, the blues and the elms.

These are Italians, also our fastest growers.

So, I mean, I can cut these open, they'll be ready anywhere from 3 to 7 days.

They grow really fast.

After you cook them, they have a really velvety texture.

And the best thing about these is they don't have too much stem, so they're all caps.

So, customers get a big bang for their buck with these.

They have very mild flavor compared to the other oysters.

A little bit earthy but much more mild than the others.

So, these are our lion's mane mushrooms.

As you can tell, we have two different kinds, but they're both very similar.

So, these are the white ones and the pink ones.

The white ones kind of grow more fuzzy.

So, they'll actually look like lion's mane when they're full grown, they kind of like fan out like a lion's mane would.

Lindsey: Like a literal lion's mane?

Yeah, and then the pink ones will look more like a coral you'll see in the ocean.

They have a very seafoody like taste.

So, people say like crab or lobster.

So, a lot of people make like faux crab cakes with them.

Here's our second kind of oyster, the blue oyster.

As you can tell they get their name because they're very blue when they first start growing.

They get a bit more gray, but they still have a very blue like hue.

They have a slight seafood taste, but they have a very earthy aroma.

They have a bit more of a strong flavor than the Italians, but they're very popular like saute.

I love seeing like these teeny tiny babies and how they slowly grow.

And one of the most interesting textures I've experienced before, this is the chestnut, is that right?

Paul: Yes, these are the chestnuts.

Lindsey: And it almost has, I mean, slimy is not the right word, but I feel like on the top they are a little bit silkier almost.

I have trouble explaining this to people all the time because I want to say slimy, but nobody likes that word.

But that's like not, it's not unappealing.

It's just very different compared to the other mushroom textures.

Paul: Yeah, they're completely different.

They're like very soft and smooth on the top.

Lindsey: Yeah.

They're one of the ones that are more popular to be eaten raw.

So, a lot of people put these on salads as well.

Maggie: Well, I'm very, very ready to get in the kitchen.

Thank you so much.

And could we take a few home as we leave here to go back and [prepare]?

Of course, as long as I can try what you're making.

-Okay.

We'll have you over.

-Deal, sounds good.

Thanks.

[music playing] So, I don't know about you, but the past couple of days exploring the forest with Whitney and then going to Ashbourne and having Billy and Paul tell us about how they've cultivated these incredible mushrooms has just been such an eye-opening and brightening experience.

And this is one of my favorite things to cook in the kitchen.

I'm so excited for today.

Yes, I feel like Whitney opened my eyes to a whole new view of the woods.

So much to talk about, which I think we can unpack as we make some delicious recipes today.

But I know you actually start every day with a mushroom tea, right?

Yes, I've been starting my mornings with a sort of a mushroom elixir and depending on what I'm doing that day or maybe in my mood when I wake up, I decide what I need.

So, I thought for today some lion's mane would be great.

So, this is the lion's mane actually -right here.

-Yes.

Maggie: But what we're going to do today is we're just going to make a simple tea.

So, this is mainly lion's mane.

There is some cordyceps, there's even some dried blueberry, which is great for like antioxidants.

And so we're going to stir this up, -if you can just take this off, -Thank you.

let me hand you this tiny cute fork.

All right, kind of whisk it in.

Yeah, whisk it in.

So, what I like to do is add a little chug of maple syrup because it sweetens it up a bit.

I love it and I bet you could do honey or any other like natural sweetener.

Yes, yes.

Sorghum is another one I like to do because that also is like a little woody to me as well and earthy.

Yeah.

And then we can add some delicious frothed milk.

This is oat milk, one of the milk alternatives I prefer, but of course, I would love to go get some fresh squeezed cow milk as well, but this should do us really well.

Oh my gosh.

And to add just one tiny pinch of extra sweetness, we have honeysuckle.

Oh my gosh.

Why am I not starting my day like this?

This is wonderful.

I know.

This just reminds you of like childhood.

Oh my goodness.

Okay.

Lindsey: Yeah, it really does.

Well, thank you.

-Yeah.

Cheers.

Yeah.

-Cheers to mushrooms.

That's so just soothing and happy, but the sweetness is great, like it makes it feel like a treat.

It does, it does.

One of the things that I love the most about mushrooms is just the pure versatility of them.

And I wanted to not do too much with them in terms of like just really enhancing their flavor.

We have so many to work with here too.

Several oyster varieties from Ashbourne.

We've got the elm oyster, blue oyster, Italian oyster, and then the lion's mane, which we've just been sipping on as well this morning.

So, we're going to make a mushroom soup with just a really fun garnish, spring garnish with all of these beautiful things that are so fresh right now.

And to me just scream spring in the garden in Kentucky.

And also, I think of them as like mushroom croutons.

We're going to roast some mushrooms.

They get really, just like the flavors concentrate, all the water goes out and they're just really yummy and kind of crunchy.

So, those will be our soup garnishes.

Then we're going to make duxelle, which is a very traditional French way to cook down finely minced mushrooms.

And you might have heard of it in like a beef Wellington recipe.

-Maggie: Yes.

-Lindsey: It's the mushroom mince that goes around the tenderloin.

It's so versatile.

I love to put it in pastas.

I love to cook it with eggs.

It's just a great easy way to prep mushrooms.

It holds in the fridge.

It's just delicious.

Now, one thing that I love particular about this variety that Billy and Paul had said at the farm is there's not much of a stem there, which is great.

So, there's so much usable mushroom here.

It's got just such a fresh, it's almost no smell.

-It's like just earth.

-Yeah.

Yes.

So, I'm just going to tear off a few of these pieces and let's put them on a roasting pan -and we'll get those... -Are these the croutons?

These will be our croutons, - yeah.

- Okay.

Lindsey: This is just going to have a little olive oil, salt, pepper.

I do 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes, check them halfway, give them a little toss.

Depending on the thickness, they might take a little bit longer but you'll know when they're ready.

They are so good.

[music playing] So, all of our beautiful mushrooms are all chopped and then the fine dice over here and now we're going to start our soup.

So, we'll start with that because it'll simmer and we'll give these mushrooms time to release any water that's in there, let that evaporate out so the flavors can really concentrate and they get nice and soft and happy in the pot with a whole bunch of butter because that's mushroom's best friend.

-Why not.

-As are these fantastic spring ingredients.

And this to me is just like the soup just screams spring.

I've got some spring onions here and we have this beautiful green garlic.

So, the green garlic is actually something that we just like naturally started harvesting because we were making room for the garlic.

So, if you can imagine like all these little garlic heads are planted in the ground and if you want to take one out, it's going to leave room for the others to grow.

And so you want to be able to have the room for the bigger bulb to grow.

So, that's how green garlic started being harvested.

But then the other great thing is it's super tender.

So, you can use the entire head.

There's no like plucking out little individual cloves and so you can use the whole bulb.

Oh, wonderful.

And it still has that great garlic flavor I feel like, but it's like soft and slightly mild.

And the other wonderful thing I think that comes from this are the garlic scapes, right?

Yes, I love the garlic scapes.

So, the garlic scape is actually a flower that the garlic plant is shooting out.

And that's saying, hey, do I grow up like a flower or do I grow my roots more?

And you say, I'm going to cut you off flower and you're going to focus on your roots.

And so that's how you get that big bulb is you actually need to cut these off in order to send the energy to the roots.

I love that.

And with that, this is the most mild, beautiful garlic flavor.

So, I really do love it raw and we're going to use it as a garnish on our soup.

Oh, great.

Oop!

Mushrooms are flying.

[music playing] Whoo!

I can barely see.

I know, I know.

That's one of the joys of this for it is.

Yes, it is.

You don't want to, I mean, yeah, I'm crying over how amazing these are, these mushrooms.

We just love spring.

We do.

Whoo, we did it.

We made it.

-There's one more.

-Oh, gosh.

Lindsey: Once you've sauteed your onions in olive oil and they've softened and become translucent, add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes, followed by your chopped mushrooms.

Stir the mushrooms until they begin to soften and release their water.

And then add a cup of dry white wine, followed by my favorite part, a Parmesan rind.

Next comes the mushroom stock, around 3 to 4 cups, a healthy pinch of kosher salt, and stir.

So, our soup has been on the stove melding together with mushrooms, our mushroom stock, the green garlic, onions, and it's ready to blend.

-Great, simple.

-Yeah, it really is.

Whenever you're blending hot ingredients, you definitely want to make sure you have some sort of air outlet because there can be little explosions.

Don't want that.

No, you don't but we are just going to add it.

There's no cream in here, there is half a stick of butter.

-Yeah.

-But it looks creamy.

I feel like the mushrooms like gave off such wonderful, just texture and we made sure all the water was cooked out and they just got super soft.

It smells super garlicky, too.

Yeah.

Oh, gosh, that spring garlic.

And we're going to discard here our Parmesan rind.

I see that, you want me to grab them?

Yeah, if you want to grab that.

We got all its good flavor.

Exactly, and what a way to make use of everything, right?

So, I never ever, ever throw away my Parmesan rinds.

Throw our top on and this is definitely a spot where you can make this.

You could eat this just like this.

You don't have to blend it.

I just like the idea of like, you know, really getting the flavors all creamy together.

We're going to go pretty high, get it pretty creamy.

Maggie: Great.

Whoo!

All right, now we're going to real carefully transfer this batch over.

Just about three quarters cup, just a cup of cream.

Pour that in.

-I know.

-Perfect addition.

And then I just like to add a little bit of fresh lemon juice.

This is definitely to taste, but it's spring, we're just going to keep with the ripeness.

Okay, let's do a quick taste test and decide if we need more salt and pepper.

-Just about right.

-It's perfect.

We're going to pop this back on the stove and just keep it on low heat just so we can stay warm and happy.

We'll make up our duxelle toast, which is really a very similar process to what we just did minus like all the broth.

We've got those finely diced mushrooms.

We've got a little bit of the green garlic, the spring onion, we're going to saute them together.

But since they're so small, they'll cook fast obviously, and we're going to get them a little bit hotter, make sure all the water that's reserved is reduced and out.

And just when they start to stick to the bottom of the pan, we're going to pull them off.

So, it almost just creates this little fun like tiny pate.

It's going to be yummy and we're going to put it over some toast -with whipped ricotta.

-Whipped ricotta, yes.

I know.

I know.

So, let's get this on the stove to stay happy and warm and we'll get to the duxelle.

Maggie: Okay.

This all looks delicious, Lindsey.

I'm really excited to garnish it with some of the farm-fresh flavors.

To me this is just like spring in a bowl.

So, we've got our mushrooms, we've got some dill here, some asparagus, some spring peas, a little bit.

A little bit of those garlic scapes.

And then we have our mushroom croutons, which are going to add a nice... -They look so crispy.

-Yes, they are.

I'm really pleased with those.

What is this gorgeous magenta I see here?

This is called amaranth and I think it's just the best punch of flavor in a micro green.

Lindsey: Well, and it's gorgeous and I love it.

So, this is a nice like cilantro flower which I love to garnish with.

And then this is chamomile.

This is great for digestion and tea and... Lindsey: Love it, love it, love it.

So, just little tiny final touches.

I just think a little lemon juice brightens it up.

Olive oil drizzle just adds that like sort of pretty luxurious finishing touch.

I'm going to do just a tiny little olive oil over that as well.

And then I love finishing things with Maldon salt.

-Me too.

-It's just those little things which make you go, oh, why is that bite so extra delicious?

And it's because of all these extra little steps that really aren't hard and gosh, make all the difference.

Cheers to mushrooms and all that they've given us.

Yes.

That's fantastic.

Such versatile ingredients.

Love that it just represents everything that is fresh right now for spring and, yeah, I'm a mushroom fan always.

Oh, me too.

-Happy foraging.

-Yes, cheers.

Voiceover: Funding for this program is made possible in part by the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions.