For weeks and months, the status of marijuana has been in the local news. For a welcome shift, attention this weekend switched to ‘shrooms, as Santa Cruz celebrated its Fungus Fair. Over 300 varieties of local fungus and mushrooms were on display at the event, but that’s just a tiny sliver of the 3,000-5,000 varieties available locally. Some are quite mundane, but others can be beautiful. Some are deadly while others are delicious, and as one fairgoer pointed out, “it’s kind of interesting to figure out which ones are edible and avoid the ones that can kill you”—though it may be less interesting when you’re gasping for breathe and your systems are shutting down.
Someone once said that, “Life is too short to stuff a mushroom.” That may be true, but they never tasted all the other culinary possibilities that mushrooms have to offer—and these go far beyond mushrooms on pizza or in soup. One of the highlights of the fair was a mushroom gelato, concocted by Massimo Caporale of Gelato Massimo. He used candy cap mushrooms, and claims that they go well with cookies.
The local Fungus Federation sponsored the 36th Annual Fungus Fair, which took place this weekend at the Louden Nelson Community Center. Read more at KSBW and the Sentinel.
