Frank Hyman, a wild mushroom enthusiast and writer, at McLaughlin Garden & Homestead on Aug. 29. Nicole Carter / Advertiser Democrat

PARIS — North Carolina resident Frank Hyman has mastered the art of and the market on hunting for wild mushrooms.

But his passion for foraging originally began right here, in western Maine.

“I got hooked on them here during a visit,” Hyman told the Advertiser Democrat last week following a 90-minute presentation on mushroom hunting at McLaughlin Garden in South Paris. “We saw a newspaper notice about a mushroom walk [through Loon Echo Land Trust] in Bridgton. So my wife and I went and learned about a few mushrooms, brought some home, and cooked and ate them.

“I make my living from my hobbies, I’m self-employed. And I distinctly remember that day, thinking it would become one of my hobbies that I would never make a dime from. It seemed like just a weird little thing that weird people do.”

But then he watched as the pastime of foraging grew. He began writing about it for magazines like Hobby Farms and even Forbes.

In 2021, Hyman even wrote the book on mushrooms, ‘How to Forage for Mushrooms Without dying: An Absolute Beginner’s Guide.’

“I kind of got paid for writing the first draft of the book by writing columns,” he said. “Along with teaching classes about mushrooms, leading walks.

“I wasn’t even thinking about a book, there were so many out there.” Hyman said. “I own about 40 mushroom books. The market is saturated.”

There were few wild mushrooms growing at McLaughlin Garden in South Paris last week, but mushroom forager and writer Frank Hyman found edible wild mayapples growing on the hillside. Nicole Carter / Advertiser Democrat

But then a colleague of his published a pocket guide, a scout’s guide to foraging wild edible plants, that included a checklist for easy identification of characteristics.

“That was it – I could do a beginner’s book about mushrooms, something small,” he said. “And a checklist for reference: if it has this, and this and this, you’ve got the information.

“There’s no mystery, it separates the wheat from the chafe. None of the other mushroom books did that.”

As an example, Hyman explained about identifying puffball mushrooms and when they are safe to eat.

“People know puffballs,” he said. “Pretty much everybody as a kid has kicked at puffballs – the dust comes out. But if you find it while it’s immature, it’s good to eat. If you cut it in half and it’s solid white inside, like tofu or a marshmallow, it’s edible.

“That’s the one item on the puffball list: if it’s round and solid white inside, you can eat it. If it has any color besides white, you don’t.”

Another mushroom, the chanterelle, has dozens of species. But by using Hyman’s book, a forager does not need to know all the species to identify them. In his ‘Beginner’s Guide,’ if a wild mushroom looks like a chanterelle and meets the four traits on its checklist, it will be edible.

“As long as you cook it,” Hyman added. “A key to safe wild mushroom consumption is to only eat them cooked. People will get sick more from eating edible mushrooms than poisonous ones because of food poisoning. Maybe they’ve been left in a hot car – they will spoil like meat. They have bacteria.

“Or someone will eat a mushroom, like chanterelles, raw. They will still have toxins in them that have to be denatured by cooking for 10 minutes. Even some restaurant chefs will not know that if they’re served raw people will get sick.”

For novices, Hyman says puffballs are among the easiest to identify. Chicken of the woods is another.

“Chicken of the woods are a screaming, crazy orange color that nothing else has,” he said. “They grow on a tree like a shelf, for the most part. You make chicken salad with them.”

When shredded, the mushroom has the texture of chicken.

“You sauté it with butter, and add chicken stock to it,” he said. “It has the consistency of chicken, and by cooking it with stock it will taste like it. You make chicken salad with it, without the chicken.”

A similar sounding mushroom, hen of the woods, is prepared differently.

“You make it like a beef jerky,” he explained. “You break mushrooms up, steam or boil them, and then marinate them overnight. Then you put them through a hydrator and they become like jerky. They’ll keep in the fridge for a few weeks.”

For beginners the tools of mushroom hunting are simple: a bag, a sharp knife and a brush. Foragers can buy specialty pocketknives equipped with both at a variety of price points, or they can make it even simpler and use what they already have: a kitchen knife and a pastry or basting brush.

Hyman’s book, published by New England’s Storey Publishing, may be purchased at retail books stores or ordered from Amazon.