Michelle and Eric Whitehead say they can’t keep up with demand for morel mushrooms and other forest foods are also increasing in popularity
For many Albertans, a bowl of wild morel mushrooms in a cream sauce has become a rite of spring.
And turns out there is a large worldwide demand for these tasty fungi.
“The world supply of morels has never met world demand,” says Michelle Whitehead, co-owner of Alberta-based Untamed Feast, which sells non-cultivatable wild mushrooms and mushroom-based products.
“They are the most desired wild mushrooms in the world next to French truffles. I think it’s also just because they are rare, they look different, they taste different, and their texture is quite unique. People really respond to them.”
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Her husband and business partner, Eric Whitehead, has expert knowledge about all sorts of natural forest commodities, including many varieties of edible and non-cultivatable mushrooms. He is also a registered herbalist and an adviser to a group called The Rural Opportunities Network. He spends considerable time in the bush harvesting the raw products that the young couple from St. Albert has turned into a growing business.
The couple has been harvesting wild mushrooms from forests throughout Western Canada and the Northwest Territories for 13 years, and began selling them six years ago. Their big seller is the highly sought-after morel mushrooms, which are sold in dried form, and this year they sourced their entire supply in Alberta. Eric, who grew up in B.C.’s Chilcotin region, came to appreciate the value of wild forest products — and where to find them — while working in the forestry sector. He also helped his father to harvest the highly valued pine mushroom, or matsutake, when it was selling for $100 per pound. Michelle was also used to harvesting edible forest foods such as mushrooms and berries while growing up on a Prairie farm. They began working at the business casually in 2007, it grew to become their primary income and last year, they worked full time in the business.
“We started selling to high-end restaurants,” says Michelle. “Then we got into food and craft shows as a way to get people to start eating these foods in their own kitchens. There is a demand for it and people are interested.”
Finding enough morel mushrooms in one location to make a trip worthwhile takes considerable planning and evaluation of forest fire maps, as the mushrooms tend to grow in fire burns the year after a fire.
“There is a tremendous amount of preparation months in advance of the spring season to figure out where those morels are going to be,” says Michelle. “It’s not a guarantee but a forest fire is definitely a strong indicator… we’re really quite nomadic in the sense that we are always hunting.”
A key part of their marketing strategy is emphasizing their mushrooms are wild food, which makes a difference in their nutrient content, flavour and aroma. The company’s product line has expanded to include other wild mushrooms such as dried, smoked, and aged chanterelles; dried porcini; and a forest blend consisting of several edible mushroom varieties. They also sell mushroom-based products such as mushroom gravy, porcini risotto, wild mushroom soup, morel coconut rice, and chanterelle arroz.
Untamed Feast only uses wood heat to dry its mushrooms, which the couple says helps to differentiate their product from freeze- or flash-dried mushrooms.
Interest in wild foods is taking off, they say.
“First it was organic, and then it was local, and we do believe that wild is the next trend,” says Michelle. “We’re very proud to be part of it. We really believe that the food is so good for you, it really is the most sustainable way to eat, and we are leaving such a small environmental footprint. We’re not disturbing the soil.”
The business has exceeded their expectations and their vision has grown dramatically, she says.
“We want to be a patron of all things wild,” says Michelle. “We’re not just going to stop with mushrooms. We’re going to get into berries, and stinging nettle is already in some of our mushroom-based products.”
They sell their products directly through farmers’ markets and online, and use both home and gourmet cooks in their marketing efforts. All of their products come with recipes and their website (untamedfeast.com) has cooking demonstrations and mushroom-hunting videos.
