General Information
The Matsutake mushroom has a large rugged umbrella-shaped cap and thick-skinned stem. The coloring ranges from creamy white to rusted brown throughout the flesh. Often compared to a jellyfish, it is toothsome and crunchy in texture. Matsutake mushrooms have definitive spicy and clean aromatics and a pine-like fragrance when cooked.
History
The North American Matsutake, aka Pine mushroom, is a different mushroom species than the Japanese Matsutake. It has become a suitable substitute for the Japanese Matsutake, but should not be confused with the Japanese species. The North American variety, Tricholoma magnivelare, releases the same complex, spicy fragrance as the rare Japanese species, Tricholoma Matsutake. Matsutakes prefer the company of fir and hemlock trees in the north, pine trees a little further south, and tanoak and madrone trees in California. In the United States Pacific Northwest, the Matsutake season usually starts the first part of September. Generally, by November the growing range will have stretched into Northern California and the season can stretch as far as late January. Rainfall determines early growth and continued production.
