New Mexico Mycological Society

June 1997

Meeting
We will meet 7:30 PM, Tuesday, June 3rd at the Natural History Museum. We plan to watch a tape of a talk given by Ruth Bronson's daughter Charlotte. In describing it, Doris Eng stated, "The talk that Charlotte gave was on the corn leaf blight fungi's mechanism of invasion, and the electron micrograph slides were absolutely brilliant. The latter part of the talk was on a fungus that attacks rice plants. The talk was one of the best I've heard on fungi."
Mushrooms
I have not heard any astounding morel news. One source told me that she and another member spent several hours in the Sandias and returned with four morels. She stated that she suspects that another member (who denies the existence of morels in New Mexico) had been there before them. However, the rains of the last couple of weeks have brought an abundance of yard mushrooms: Coprinus, Marasmius, and even an Agaricus.
Letter from Vicky
Former NMMS secretary Vicky Cibicki sends a warm hello from her home in Cashmere, WA. She said that the morel hunting has not been very productive, but they've found lots of Gyromitra montana.

She described the weekend forays held by the Puget Sound Mycological Society, with whom she hunts mushrooms. "They meet at 9AM at a designated camp site then go out foraying. They have a sun-powered microscope and look at the spores and identify them that way. Then there's a big potluck at 5PM and hunting again on Sunday."

Recipe

Spinach Mushroom Pizza
1 recipe for pizza crust: boxed, prepared or homemade
1 lb. barely cooked chopped spinach, drained
8 oz. sliced boletes or Agaricus, or wholeMarasmius oreades, barely sauteed
1 Tbsp. fresh or 1 tsp. dried oregano
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large clove garlic, pressed or minced
8 oz. Mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated
Roll and pat crust out in 15" pizza pan. Smooth olive oil, oregano, and garlic over surface. Spread spinach as evenly as possible. Sprinkle mushrooms over spinach. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with Mozzarella. Return to oven and bake for 5-10 minutes more, until crust is nicely browned and cheese is melted.
Beer Pizza Crust
1 c. flat beer
2 T. margarine
2 T. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2-1/2 c. flour
1 pkg. dry yeast
Dissolve sugar, salt and yeast in beer. Mix well. Add 1/2 cup flour and stir in. Gradually add rest of flour and knead for 5 minutes. Cover bowl with damp towel and let rise 1-1/2 hrs. Punch down and let rise again for 1/2 hour. Punch down again and make pizza!