Magic Mushrooms

The scent of my childhood is not composed of madeleines, warm milk, or pink frosted cupcakes; it’s the odours of dill, kasha and wild mushrooms. Late summer smelled like dill. Having grown tall and lacy in our garden, it was then stuffed into pickling jars along with tiny cucumbers. When it was too hot to turn on the oven, we ate heaping bowls of warm kasha with cold sour milk for dinner. But by autumn, with the first burst of Arctic air, these sweet, nutty aromas were replaced by the powerful scent of the mighty handpicked wild mushroom.

In 1959, when my mother applied for a travel visa from Poland to Canada, the Iron Curtain was very much in place. She came for new love but had to leave family, friends, work, everything behind forever. There was little money, just enough for a boat passage across the Atlantic. But there was hope in her heart (she was coming to meet my father they were pen pals who had fallen in love) and a dowry of sorts: wild Polish mushrooms stowed in her luggage.

Nostalgic for her cultured life in Warsaw, my mother would often tell my brother and I about days spent with family and friends foraging for mushrooms in Raj Grod, a lush forest outside the city, whose name translates as paradise. Only the mushrooms found here and in other wild habitats could be called prawdziwski--real mushrooms, also referred to as Polish Gold. A vivid storyteller, she could bring to life the sea of dark ferns and damp green mosses, the cool cedar-scented air, the crunch of pine needles underfoot and the thrill of discovering a fungal treasure hidden beneath a fallen tree log. The fact that being seduced by a brilliantly-hued poison mushroom could cause a slow painful death made the tales even more exciting.

While shopping in the supermarkets here, my mother was stunned by the poor quality of the food. Even in war-ravaged Europe, the bread was real bread, not a rectangular mound of marshmallow; and a coffee cake was a buttery-mocha afternoon delight, not a sugar-drenched syrupy mess that stuck to the roof of your mouth. She certainly wasn’t going to take any chances with the mushrooms. They were never purchased locally but shipped several times a year by my grandmother back in Warsaw and they would find their way into delicious hearty soups and sauces. My mother stored the mushrooms in a small glass jar on the second shelf in the kitchen (she keeps them like this today). Sometimes I would climb onto the counter to pull down the jar, open it, close my eyes and inhale deeply the heady, woody aroma. It was hard to believe that these beige and brown gnarled wisps could cause such an olfactory explosion.

Last winter, inspired by my mother, I tried to make a wild mushroom soup using a packet of Italian mushrooms. Verdict: anemic. Then my boyfriend and I tried to duplicate a favourite dish; Funghi Assoluti; made with oyster mushrooms from Terroni’s restaurant but it always turned out kind of mushy and greasy and we have now abandoned the project.

These days I don’t so much eat mushrooms as put them on my face. A slew of beauty companies now include mushroom-based ingredients in their skincare products to provide potent anti-aging benefits. Portobello, cremini, shiitake, oyster, maitake, chaga; they all punch above their weight, offering mega doses of potassium, selenium, ergothioneine, polysaccharides and various anti-inflammatory agents that reduce free radicals and infections.

While Japanese and Chinese medicine has relied on the medicinal benefits of mushrooms for the last 6,000 years, Western science is rapidly catching on. One of mushrooms biggest proponents is Dr. Andrew Weil who professes to consume up to three servings a day. Partnering with Origins (Estee Lauder) skincare, Dr. Weil launched a line called Plantidote, containing cordyceps and reishi mushrooms that include Mega-Mushroom Face Serum for reducing inflammation, puffiness and redness and Mega-Mushroom Face Cream and Lotion. Aveeno (Johnson and Johnson) sells Natural Shiitake Complex as part of their Positively Ageless collection that is composed of shiitake and mannentake mushrooms. Yves Rocher (Serum Vegetal), Orlane (Refining Arm Cream), Kaplan MD (Intensive Eye cream), and NeoStrata (Skin Brightening Gel), Actifirm (Actizyme Renovation Mushroom Mask) all focus on shiitake mushrooms. At the high-end, Amore Pacific (Moisture Bound Refreshing Complex) uses matsutake mushrooms to help refine the complexion and reduce discolouration. Kojic acid, found in high concentrations in mushrooms, seems to be the active ingredient that gives skin-brightening benefits. And Asian medicine recommends eating mushrooms to increase vitality and longevity.

There’s nothing like a day of hiking in the forest, foraging for wild mushrooms to give a girl that rosy hue. But a lovely shroom mask and a bowl of steaming kasha will get you glowing too.