Mycoscope
August 2025
Into the woods | | Wild Mushrooms of the Northeast On September 11, 2025, discover the wild mushrooms of Northeastern America. Attend this conference to learn how to identify and select different species. | Excursions Love our outings? So do we! They've been sold out for 20 years. Good news: new dates have been added to explore the forest and learn to identify edible mushrooms. Lanaudière : August 31
Montérégie : September 21
Laurentides : October 5
Easterntownships : October 12 | | Always on the lookout for products that reflect your love of mushrooms, Mycoboutique continues to expand its collections. Discover what's new in decorations, games, and kitchenware. Visit our website and browse through the store. | The end of the season is near, and mushrooms are in a hurry to reproduce: russulas, milk caps, boletes, chanterelles, and all the rest. July’s torrential rains are a promising sign. Among others, many tricholomas are popping up—like the prized matsutake, long overlooked here, and the distinguished man on horseback (Tricholoma equestre). | A burst of Umamity While their manga were gaining popularity in our culture, Japan’s favorite mushroom was making its mark in our cuisine. The matsutake (Tricholoma matsutake), meaty and stately, with creamy hues and powerful aromas of cinnamon and clove, is the result of a symbiotic relationship with pine trees (matsu). | | Over the coming weeks, you’ll be able to forage for its North American look-alike, the pine mushroom (Tricholoma magnivelare). Found under our pines, and occasionally under firs, this flavor-packed mushroom is synonymous with umami. Matsutake can be used fresh in season, frozen, or, as a second best, rehydrated after drying. We offer a variety of recipes sure to delight both you and your guests—including the following unique combination featuring peanuts and limes. | | The Flavor Twist You Didn’t See Coming We dared to try the improbable: pairing the unique aroma of matsutake with the sweetness of peanuts and the brightness of lime. The result? A flavor explosion in a bowl of soba noodles! This recipe can be made year-round using dried matsutake (available online) or, starting in mid-August, with fresh matsutake in store. Let your creativity run wild—mix and match vegetables as you please, and try different types of noodles to create your perfect version. | | On the Knights’ Table The man on horseback mushroom is said to have earned its name from its place on knights’ tables. It stands out from its look-alikes with varying shades of yellow on its cap, stem, and gills. You'll find it growing in sandy soils, especially beneath pine trees. Simply sautéed, its mild flavor is reminiscent of hazelnuts. | | Color isn't everything Jack-o’-lantern (Omphalotus illudens) are gilled mushrooms growing in bright orange clusters on decaying oak wood. Surprisingly, they sometimes glow faintly in the dark. By day though, their vivid color can lead some beginners to mistake them for chanterelles. Here's what a customer told us about her daughter while picking out a mushroom knife. A year ago, Isabelle was eight months pregnant. Her father, a surgeon, proudly brought her the day’s harvest: bright yellow mushrooms, which she ate that very evening. Within hours, she suffered from cramps, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Rushed to the hospital, she had to undergo an emergency C-section. Today, both mother and child are doing well. The little one, now taking her first steps, will celebrate her first birthday in a few days—with real chanterelles on the menu for the occasion. Take care! | Mushroom cultivation I recently bought a 1 kg oyster mushroom grow bag. As expected, I harvested 350 grams of mushrooms within a few days. Since then, production seems to have stopped. Is it over? Cultivation kits | | No! Not if you want to keep going! These mushrooms break down organic matter—in this case, soybean hull pellets and hardwood. After the mushroom’s white network (mycelium) has fully colonized this substrate, the harvest begins. It will stop when there’s too little cellulose left for the oyster mushroom to feed on. You can restart production by adding new substrate. Be sure to pasteurize the supplement first to avoid contamination. For more details, check out our instructions! | Fruitful passages Since our opening in 2006, Mycoboutique has welcomed many young collaborators. After working with us for a few years, they continue their journey in fields such as biology, psychology, TRE provider, education, and... mycology. Émile Gluck-Thaler, now a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, studies transposable elements in the genome of certain fungi species. | | These jumping genes can move from one position to another within the same chromosome or between different chromosomes, altering the function of other genes. The process is described using vocabulary inspired by the TV series Star Trek: “Starships” are DNA segments carrying “Cargo.” Captain genes at their prow direct the movements. This recently discovered source of genertic diversity earned Barbara McClintock a Nobel Prize in 1983. | | | | |
