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TNC Coastal Scientist Bo Lusk grew up on the Eastern Shore, learning from his grandmother how to fish and catch crabs. “That's the history of beer in the first place it's reflected the land that it came from.” “I really see beers being this vehicle to reconnect people with things that maybe we've lost touch with otherwise,” Mandeville says. And if there’s any magic in these mountain mushrooms, eyes and minds may be opened to the intricate connections between our food and drink and the natural world that provides them. The TNC team here hopes this message will resonate as people learn about and taste Allegheny Highlands Farmhouse Ale.Īt the very least, the beer is a conversation-starter and an invitation to join a deeper discussion. Thus, it has never been more important to invest in healthy, dynamic and diverse forest systems. So a major focus here has been reintroducing fire, which creates openings, lets in sunlight and encourages new hardwood seedlings.Īs our climate changes, the Appalachians are serving as a crucial habitat highway for plants and animals to migrate. Decades of fire suppression, however, threaten a stagnation effect. “This part of the Central Appalachians is known as a hotspot for biodiversity,” says Blair Smyth, who leads TNC’s Allegheny Highlands team. Whether it’s mushrooms sprouting from spores or future mighty oaks bursting from acorns, regeneration is what The Nature Conservancy’s work in this landscape is all about. “Then we put them in a mesh basket or bag to spread the spores as we collect them,” she says. To promote resprouting and new growth, they cut off each mushroom near its base. Schablein points out that not only is the Warm Springs forest a prolific producer of mushrooms, but the team took care to keep it that way. “We ended up getting over 50 pounds,” Mandeville says-more than enough to brew his recipe “inspired by Scandinavian or Norwegian farmhouse beer.” He adds, “That may not sound like a ton, but it's really, truly just a very surprising amount of chanterelles.” “We had a big old pot of mushrooms bubbling away on the campfire and had a really lovely feast,” Schablein says. Naturally, chanterelles made it onto the menu. Setting up camp at the historic Trappers Lodge site, the group was able to celebrate a successful first day with a gourmet campfire dinner. To improve their chances of hitting the right conditions, the team scheduled two collection days, with an overnighter on the mountain.
On Warm Springs Mountain, mushroom abundance is not an issue-but timing can be.Īccording to Conservation Project Manager Laurel Schablein, an experienced forager, “chanterelles are just dispersed all throughout the forest floor.” For optimal growth-and foraging-you need moisture, but the days leading up to the planned collection date had been dry. "You're not going to find this amount of chanterelles in, like, Richmond." "Mushrooms can be kind of fickle as far as availability goes," he says.
Still, Mandeville and his Fine Creek team were anxious about finding enough chanterelles. "They've got a really robust kind of earthy profile … a little bit funky … with this great subtle fruit character." While common comparisons to apricots may be a stretch, he says, the flavor suggests "definitely kind of dried stone fruit." "Chanterelles have a really amazing character, but it's not aggressive," says brewer Brian Mandeville. "But the second we pitched the idea to Brian at Fine Creek Brewing, he was so excited." "We were nervous because we felt like it was a little bit of an unconventional ingredient," McGee says. But then the TNC team rallied around Program Coordinator Zoe McGee's more creative suggestion to feature chanterelle mushrooms. The Central Appalachians are known for ecological diversity, so identifying one signature ingredient was the first big challenge in western Virginia's Allegheny Highlands.
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