Wild Mushroom Soup

Mushrooms are an incredibly versatile ingredient. They bring earthy nuances and rich meaty flavor to a dish. The health benefits of mushrooms alone make them ingredients worth including in your favorite recipe They are fat-free, gluten-free, and rich in vitamin D and potassium. 

The following recipe is from  Fantastic Fungi > Fungi as Food and Medicine  for Plants (and us) by Eugenia Bone. 

A few words about buying, storing, and cooking mushrooms. Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of fungi, and as such, they should be purchased and stored much the same way as you would flowers or fruit. When buying mushrooms, look for the elasticity of youth in the texture and a lovely earthy smell. Like berries, do not wash them until you are ready to prepare them. Some species can be eaten raw, but not all–morels, for example, they will make you sick. When in doubt, cook mushrooms. 

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Excerpted with permission from Earth Aware, Fantastic Fungi: How Mushrooms Can Heal, Shift Consciousness & Save the Planet, Edited and introduction by Paul Stamets. It is the companion book to Fantastic Fungi, The Magic Beneath Us film by Louie Schwartzberg. mandalaearth.com

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EUGENIA BONE is a nationally known nature and food writer and author. Her work has appeared in many magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Saveur, Food & Wine, Gourmet, Sunset, and The Denver Post.

She is the author of six books. At Mesa’s Edge was nominated for a Colorado Book Award. She wrote Italian Family Dining with her father, celebrated chef Edward Giobbi. Well-Preserved was nominated for a James Beard award, and was on many best cookbooks of 2009 lists. Mycophilia: Revelations from the Weird World of Mushrooms, was on Amazon’s best science books of 2011 list and nominated for a Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries award. Her fifth book, The Kitchen Ecosystem was nominated for a Books for a Better Life award, and was on many best cookbooks of 2014 lists. Her current book, Microbia: A Journey into the Unseen World Around You, will be published by Rodale in April 2018.

Her writing and recipes have been anthologized in a number of publications, including Best Food Writing, Saveur Cooks, and The Food & Wine Cookbook, among others.

Eugenia has lectured widely, in venues like the Denver Botanical Garden and the New York Pubic Library, judged food and wine competitions, and she has appeared on television and radio many times.

She is the founder of Slow Food Western Slope in Colorado, a master preserver, the former president of the New York Mycological Society, and a member of the National Association of Science Writers. She writes the blog, www.kitchenecosystem.com.
Photo: Susan Hornyak

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