We were fortunate to attend Mendocino County’s famous annual 10-day Mushroom & Wine Festival which was held this year from Friday, November 4th through Sunday, November 13th. Even if you’re not a mushroom fan, there seemed to be something for everyone. This event features mushroom dinners, wine- and beer-pairing workshops, mushroom exhibits, cooking classes, guided mushroom foraging walks, and much more. We especially loved the drive up; stopping along the way at wineries such as Meyer, Yorkville Cellars, and Husch Vineyards which offered mushroom pairings and tastings. Sadly, we missed the Wine and Mushroom Train Mushroom Cook off, but heard it was a blast and will be sure to put it on our list for next year. This benefit at Camp Mendocino for the Frank R. Howard Foundation featured wine and mushroom pairings, a mushroom hike, and silent auction.

Mendocino County is home to over 3,000 types of mushrooms, 500 of which are edible. Every fall, beginning in October, the mushrooms begin to flourish. It’s the perfect place to sample, and even pick your own chanterelles, porcini, morels and hedgehogs, and even the very rare candy cap mushroom. These only grow along the northern coast of California and have an intense maple-syrup flavor.

One of the biggest highlights was seeing Ryane Snow speak about Medicinal Mushrooms at the Stanford Inn, an eco friendly, vegan and dog friendly resort located on the Mendo Coast hillside. Ryane is a member of the Mycological Society and a well-known local leader of mushroom identification. After the talk, he guided us on a mushroom foraging adventure in the redwoods along with notable writers from O Magazine, Popular Plates, Sunset Magazine and Vegetarian Times. Ryane stated, “We have so many incredible varieties of mushrooms that are grown in Mendocino County, and everyone in the community gets involved in showcasing this great local bounty. As more people discover the health benefits of mushrooms, as well as how versatile and delicious they are to cook with, the interest in our festival is growing.” Many thanks to Heather Thompson Noll of HypeHouse, a San Francisco based Marketing Communications and PR firm for inviting us along.

I have only amazing things to say about this festival and it inspired me not only to cook more with different kinds of mushrooms, but also to continue studying mushrooms for their medicinal benefits. They are incredible for the immune system, and are being used to treat many cancers, and even one called Lion’s Mane that they believe slows the neuro-degeneration in patients with Parkinson’s Disease.

Since this was not an ABCey Event production, we didn’t have a professional photographer in tow, but we did snap some personal shots of our adventure. To view, please click here.

What’s your favorite mushroom?