It’s taken me years to enjoy eating mushrooms. They always tasted too earthy and the spongy texture was a turn-off. But then, mostly what I was sampling was the ubiquitous button mushroom. Once I started trying wild mushrooms – like chantrelles and shitakes – in soups and risottos - I began to really appreciate their delicate flavor, especially when sauteed. After that point I found myself cooking and enjoying many different varieties – portobellos, porcinis, hen of the woods. So it was my new interest that led me and Sam, my local conspirator in culinary adventuring, to the mushroom festival in Kennett Square, also known as “The Mushroom Capital of the World”.
Reading through the festival’s mushroom guide, I was surprised to learn that PA accounts for the country’s greatest production of mushrooms at 61% while 51% comes from Chester County alone. Mushrooms are PA's largest cash crop. The US is the world’s second largest producer of mushrooms, second only to China. One Portobello mushroom has more potassium than a banana!
Before arriving, I had read online that past Top Chef contestants, Carla Hall and Miguel Morales, would be giving cooking demonstrations, so Sam and I made sure to head for that tent first, as we were both big fans of Carla. She is definitely as hilarious in person, ad-libbing there on stage, as she was on the tv show. Through out her demonstration of making mushroom beignets with a spicy aioli she kept inadvertently referring to Miguel as Manuel who never corrected her. When the audience finally did, she had everyone in stitches with her self-depricating humor. I did learn a good cooking tip from her demonstration – when draining fried food, don’t lay out the paper towels flat, but rather crumple them up so you have a uneven bed. This way the grease drips down into the crevices below and allows the food to drain the oil rather than sitting in it.
Miguel also had the audience laughing with his behind the scene Top Chef stories while making stuffed mushrooms. The recipe was incredibly simple. He sandwhiched two crimini mushrooms, also called baby portobellos, with a mixture of blue cheese and chopped dates and then wrapped them in a slice of bacon, because everything tastes better with bacon. Initially the plan was to saute all of them, but when he saw the pot of hot oil that Carla had been using for the beignets, he decided to try deep frying (because who doesn’t like more fat) some of them. Sam and I figured out the only way were possibly going to get to try any of these mouth watering dishes was if we stayed around until the end and then approached the stage. I was hoping to get the recipe for the beignets as we missed the beginning but unfortunately Carla didn’t have any copies to pass out – but she did suggest we try them. Mission accomplished. Unfortunately others scooped up the few stuffed mushrooms before we could get to them. I’ll just have try making those at home.
By that point our appetites where whetted so we headed out of the tent in search of a small snack knowing that we still wanted to try the soups at the cook-off later. The cultivation of the mushrooms in this area requires a large amount of migrant labor most often provided by Mexicans. So we had an inkling that if we found some Mexican food, it was bound to be authentic. It didn’t take long to find the taqueria stand with the long line. That meant I had time to scope out what others where ordering. There was a masa pancake on the grill that was then served up with cheese and crumbly meat that looked delicious. I ordered what turned out to be a “Mexican quesadilla”. They had many different filling options, including mushrooms, but I couldn’t pass up the spicy pork. Sam ordered the beef taco with salsa verde. At $2.50 each it was quite the steal. We sat on a shady stoop to enjoy our savory treats.
Visitors could go on a mushroom farm tour something I vividly remember doing as a child. As we had limited time we opted to check out the “mushroom exhibit” on site instead. By the time we arrived, there was a long line to enter, but our curiosity about mushroom growing convinced us to stick it out. We were glad we did as it was very educational. As you walked through the exhibit, it took you through the cultivation of the button mushroom starting with the elements that go into the compost that is the main base material. All along the way, farmers were stationed to provide information about each part of the process. What I found most interesting was seeing how the specialty mushrooms, like shitakes and oysters, are farmed. They are grown in the dark on these small compressed compost logs covered in plastic that only produce for 3 harvests. It made me realize how time and labor intensive it can be. Now I understand why they cost so much.
By the time we headed to the mushroom soup cook-off, the voting had ended, so they waived the $8 fee and let us in for free. Most of the stations still had soup to try though. We started with the pumpkin mushroom soup which was creamy and flavorful but didn’t really have a strong mushroom flavor to it. The second soup we had was our favorite – it was broth based with an assortment of mushroom types, fennel and sweet tarragon. Being that it wasn’t cream based, the mushroom flavors really shone and were complimented by the herbs. When we told the chef that was our first choice, he berated us for not voting as he did not win. He was very cagy when asked for the recipe; must be top secret. The next one was pretty unappetizing as it tasted to me like Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup with some additional mushrooms and sherry added. The last one we tried was the voter’s favorite, A cream based soup from the chef at Longwood Gardens. Cream and mushrooms can be quite seductive when done well.
On our way into the festival we made note of where they were selling fresh mushrooms and planned to buy some on our way out. Unfortunately, as it was the end of the day, several of the varieties, like the shitake and hen of the woods were no longer available. As a consolation, they offered that we take some of the display mushrooms for free. We were able to take home an armful of portobellos and criminis. Sam did buy some of the enoki mushrooms, but when we later looked at the label we noticed they were grown in Korea!
During the course of the day, I did learn the best way to store mushrooms is a brown paper bag in the refrigerator. The brown bag allows them to breathe. You should always remove mushrooms from plastic wrap as it creates condensation which is absorbed by the mushrooms allowing them to get prematurely slimly. Now I just have to decide how I want to prepare these earthy treats……
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