A short shelf I hand to anyone getting serious: the identification references that keep you safe, and the cookbooks that turn a full basket into dinner. More of Jerome's picks coming soon.
Identification & Field Guides
David Arora · pocket field guide
The book that lives in my jacket. Arora's irreverent West-Coast field guide is the fastest way to start putting names to what you find — small enough to carry, deep enough to trust.
David Arora · the comprehensive reference
The 900-page heavyweight. When the pocket guide isn't enough, this is the desk reference that settles the argument — dense, authoritative, the standard every California forager grows into.
Siegel & Schwarz · 750+ coastal species
The field guide written for exactly our ground — coastal Northern California, Monterey to Oregon. 750+ species, with the photos and detail to match what you'll actually turn up here.
Samuel Thayer · wild edible plants
Not mushrooms, but the book that taught a generation to harvest wild plants responsibly — clear, careful, and obsessive about correct identification. The mindset carries straight over to the coast and the forest floor.
Cooking the Wild
Hank Shaw · wild-food cookbook
A Northern California forager-cook's bible — how to take what the woods and tideline give you and actually make a great meal of it. The spirit of our whole table, in one book.
Chad Hyatt · 120 wild-mushroom recipes
A Bay Area chef-forager's homage to wild mushrooms — 120 recipes, comfort food reimagined around what you carried home. The most useful book for turning a basket into dinner.
Worth a Read
Langdon Cook · On the Trail of an Underground America
Not a field guide — a gripping ride through the hidden economy of America's wild-mushroom hunters. The book that captures why this gets under your skin, long after the season ends.
— Online Resources —
The clubs, tools and hotlines I point people to. Join a local society and you'll learn faster than any book can teach you — and keep the safety numbers in your phone before you ever eat a wild thing.
Clubs & Societies
SOMA · Salt Point forays & camp
The society for our own coast — public forays, an annual camp, and monthly meetings. The fastest way to put names to what grows here.
MCMC · Fort Bragg
Right on our own coast, out of Fort Bragg — an informal, welcoming club of coast mushroom lovers, with monthly meetings and forays. I haven't made it up yet myself, but good friends of mine are members.
MSSF · Bay Area
One of the country's oldest and largest mushroom societies — forays, a fungus fair, and a deep bench of experienced identifiers.
NAMA · national
The national body: a directory of local clubs, national forays, and the continent's mushroom-poisoning case registry.
FFSC · Santa Cruz
A club close to my heart — I was a member for years and still have friends and contacts all through it. Their annual Santa Cruz Fungus Fair (January–February) is a joy, and always worth the drive.
Learn & Identify
Community ID · app & web
Photograph a find and the community — and the AI — help you name it. Brilliant for building your eye between forays. Never eat on an app's say-so alone.
Fungi records by observers
A running, searchable record of wild-fungi observations — a good second opinion and a rabbit hole for the curious.
For the seriously curious
Long-form writing on mushrooms, science and cooking — the magazine to read when a season's over and you want more.