Learn how to forage Michigan's wild mushrooms without dying

In recent years, there’s been a boom in the topic of foraging, thanks in part to the influential outdoorsy types who’ve made sourcing ingredients from the wild a viral phenomenon.

Midwesterners with access to lush woodlands have led the conversation. Take Alexis Nikole, for example. The Columbus, Ohio-based explorer better known as the Black Forager on social media, has amassed millions of followers across platforms like Instagram and TikTok for clips of her adventures identifying edible plants, berries and fungi in the wild. For safety purposes, most of Nikole’s energetic videos end with the disclaimer: “don’t die.”

There’s also Sean Sherman, a James Beard Award-winning Oglala Lakota Sioux chef based in Minneapolis, who has followed Indigenous wisdom of foraging wild ingredients for fine dining experiences.

In the Detroit area, herbalist Lottie Spady of Earthseed Detroit has shined a light on finding the most nutrient-dense and medicinal plants Michigan’s bounty has to offer, and retailers like The Mushroom Lab, The Mushroom Hub and Give and Grow Mushrooms help metro Detroiters stock their pantries with a range of locally sourced mushrooms. The latest in the mushroom boom is BeShroomed Farms, a coffee shop starring mushrooms as the key ingredient.

Michigan’s landscape is flourishing with wild, edible plants and mushrooms are among the most delicious of them all.

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By now, most Michiganders are well-acquainted with morels, the delicacy amassed during many spring-summer hunting trips. And while they might not land on your favorite restaurant menus, there are a number of wild mushroom varieties in Michigan that are edible and nutritious.

However, it is important to accurately identify mushrooms that are safe to eat as many can be poisonous — or psychedelic. Which may just be easier than you’d think.

That’s why the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Outdoor Skills Academy is offering a series of wild mushroom clinics.

Beginning Aug. 3, MDNR will host courses that teach participants how to identify, handle, clean, cook and preserve seasonal mushrooms. Classes, which run up to five hours, range between $30-$55 and some offer an opportunity to taste-test foraged ’shrooms.  

Held in Oden, Cadillac, Tahquamenon Falls and Ontonagon — waterside towns where fungi varieties thrive — classes will require some travel plans for those venturing from southeast Michigan. But a lesson in finding the meatiest, tastiest mushrooms in Michigan may be worth the trip.

Schedule

• Saturday, Aug. 3, at the Oden State Fish Hatchery Visitor Center
• Sunday, Aug. 18, and Saturday, Sept. 28, at the Carl T. Johnson Hunting and Fishing Center in Mitchell State Park
• Saturday, Sept. 14, at Tahquamenon Falls State Park
• Saturday, Sept. 21, at the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park Visitor Center

Visit michigan.gov/dnr to learn more about the Wild Mushroom Clinics series.