'An incredibly good year': Manitoba’s foraging community celebrating high mushroom year
At least one group of Manitobans is enjoying the rain we’ve been receiving.
Manitoba’s foraging community said the recent wet weather has been positive for allowing fungi such as morel mushrooms to grow.
“This year especially it's an incredibly good year,” said Tom Nagy from River City Mushrooms. “The moisture, the consistent rain, the cooler weather. It not only helped them to flourish, and produce lots, but also the fact that it was cooler helped to extend the season quite a bit longer."
Lisa Barnes, a forager in Manitoba, said the size of the mushrooms found this year is impressive, especially when it comes to morels.
"This year we've seen bigger ones than we've ever seen before. We've found ones bigger than our hands," she said.
Barnes uses the fungi in the products she makes for her business, while for others, it’s simply a way to find a natural food source.
However, not all wild mushrooms are tasty, and the wrong one can leave more than a bad taste in your mouth.
“There are delicious ones in the forest, but there are things that will kill you over six weeks,” said Susan Kaminiskyj, a biology professor at the University of Saskatchewan. “Because they stop you from making protein. And when you stop making proteins your cells start to die and you die.”
Nagy said it is important to know what you’re doing before you start picking wild mushrooms. He suggests speaking with experts and doing a lot of research.
"The fungal kingdom is so enormously diverse; there's so many different species out there," he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Hurricane Helene death toll rises, dozens are still trapped in damaged homes
The Georgia governor says at least 11 people in his state have been killed and dozens are still trapped in homes damaged by Hurricane Helene.
Family of man killed by Calgary police issues statement
The family of Jon Wells, a man killed by Calgary police earlier this month, say they are seeking time to grieve their loss.
CSIS says a former parliamentarian may have worked on behalf of a foreign government
A former parliamentarian is suspected of 'having worked to influence parliamentary business' on behalf of an unnamed foreign government, Canada's spy service told a federal inquiry Friday.
1 person hospitalized, 550 people symptomatic after illness outbreak at P.E.I. shellfish festival
More than 550 symptomatic people responded to an online questionnaire about a gastrointestinal illness at a Prince Edward Island shellfish festival last weekend.
Maggie Smith, scene-stealing actor famed for Harry Potter and 'Downton Abbey,' dies at 89
Maggie Smith, the masterful, scene-stealing actor who won an Oscar for 1969 film 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' and gained new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in 'Downton Abbey' and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, died Friday. She was 89.
Israel says it struck Hezbollah's headquarters as huge explosions rocked Beirut
A series of intense Israeli airstrikes hit one of Beirut's heavily populated southern suburbs on Friday as blasts were heard throughout the Lebanese capital.
What's 'chroming'? Experts explain the dangerous social media trend among youths
Chroming, or getting high via inhaling hydrocarbons by misusing a variety of legal products, is trending among adolescents, and it sometimes ends in death.
Police make four more arrests in viral video that showed woman stealing Porsche from Mississauga driveway
Police have arrested four more people in connection with a viral video that showed a woman stealing a Porsche from a Mississauga driveway and then striking its owner as she attempted to flee the scene.
Iranian operatives charged in the U.S. with hacking Donald Trump's presidential campaign
The U.S. Justice Department unsealed criminal charges Friday against three Iranian operatives suspected of hacking Donald Trump's presidential campaign and disseminating stolen information to media organizations.