Do you know how many people die every year from eating mushrooms? I can't imagine eating anything I wasn't absolutely positive that I knew what it was! But here it happens. Many people don't make it through the season because they don't know which mushrooms are actually edible. What's worse, supermarkets can unknowingly buy mushrooms from these same people. This year a whole family was wiped out after buying Porchini mushrooms and eating them in a sauce, mushrooms they'd bought from a supermarket.
But up here in our little region we know our fungi.

As a matter of fact we've got it down to a science!

My mother-in-law can tell you not only which mushrooms you can eat, but depending on the color of this correct mushroom, it's softness or hardness, she'll also tell you what recipe to use it in. Even more wondrous, she can even tell you what type of tree it grew under!
Mushroom season was about a month ago here, September, October, depending on weather. They grow in the Alps and it is a regional pastime to find them. Armed with walking sticks, paper and cloth bags, (you can't use plastic as you will be fined on fear of littering..sigh..) you will see entire families scouring the countryside in search of these delicious funny looking delights. There are several different kinds they try to find here but Porchini is the most popular. In our household we know them well too so my son went this year to try his luck. Find them he did! He brought back so many of them we ended up;
drying them in the oven at low temperature,
cutting them up into little squares and freezing them,
including them in homemade pasta sauce, eating said sauce and than freezing the rest for the winter!
Giving them to friends and family who didn't have the time to go or couldn't go for themselves.

All in all there's something pretty fantastic about gathering wild things you find yourself and then preparing them into some exquisite dish, or storing them for future use. Mushrooms aren't the only wild things Italians here in the North gather, all summer long it's one yummy vegetable or treat after another. Now here's a little secret, first make absolutely sure you know exactly what the mushroom is that you are looking for. (Porchini) The first time my husband insisted on eating the mushrooms he'd picked up, I was frightened to death being well..me.. and having no idea about wild things in general. I watched nervously as he ate them in a sauce I'd prepared, expecting him to get violently ill and keel over, but he lived, I believed after that, and thus began our yearly mushroom hunting adventures.
Now I'll tell you where to find them in the states.
In the state of Colorado above Colorado Springs, you can find Porchini mushrooms in the mountains above 10,000 feet. Yup it's true, we used to do it every fall right before the leaves change color and usually we were the only ones looking for them as not many people know. Their smell is a bit different, and their taste is not as strong as the ones you find here in Northern Italy, but they are still very good. Use them in your pasta sauces, even ready made, they add a great taste and you'll have a pretty cool feeling of personal fungi accomplishment!