Hooked up with a new dealer

I was steered to The Dealer via a Facebook post. I contacted him via Messenger. "Yeah", he said, "I have what you want." He gave me a price and when I told him I wanted what he had, he gave me an address and a time. That I would need to bring cash was unspoken. I drove out to the location - a parking lot behind a church in a part of town that's somehow remained a bit rural, with large lots and open fields, some with horses in them. I got a message - "ETA 10 minutes". I noticed another car parked behind me with someone sitting in it. Probably another customer. Five minutes later, a van swung into the parking lot. I got out of my car and the door of the van opened. "Mike?", said The Dealer. I nodded. He handed me two bags. The first: a pound of grade A fresh porcinis. The second: a half pound of morels. I gave him $35 and he gave me a taste of a leafy green aptly named "peppercress", that made the most peppery arugula I've ever had seem like Iceburg lettuce in comparison. (I'll have to think about that one.) He'll have more porcinis next week, so I'm looking forward to plenty of tasty mushroom dishes.

[Robin Garr]

you had me going for a minute there, Mike!

Definitely Velvet U/Reed playing in background.
Jealous of the morels/porcini

[Jenise]

Fun post! Great score.

And I'm trying real hard to picture that peppery green.

Fun post! Great score.

And I'm trying real hard to picture that peppery green.

Looks a bit like flat-leaf parsley. It was too much for me, just munching a leaf of it, but The Dealer said that he's had it prepared by sauteing it, adding some stock and thin-sliced potato and then blending the resulting soup. A poached egg is slid into that. Sounds like it would be interesting, anyway, and I would think the extreme pepperiness might be tamed with the saute.

Great story, Mike!

Good grief, my brain had all sorts of pictures running through it as I was recalling stories from my days with the Redding Police. Don't do that again!! Good story though...

Well, I did over-dramatize a bit there, Karen. He's a legitimate mushroom forager - I think he provides for some of the restaurants around here. It did seem a little like some sort of weird drug deal at first, though.

Turns out that we hit the jackpot with The Dealer. Not only does he supply various foraged products to our local food co-op and to Corti Brothers' Market, he also supplies at least one of our two Michelin starred restaurants. So basically, we're getting exactly what those high-end markets sell but at about 2/3 the price. Although he does some of his own foraging, most of what he sells is brought in by other people, which explains why he has so much stuff to sell and so much variety. Yesterday, he had morels and porcinis, but also ramp bulbs and butter boletes (a mushroom closely related to porcinis). He gave me a taste of an excellent (although pricey) sorbet he has a friend make for him from sea buckthorn berries. I'd never heard of that, but it's one of those plants has all kinds of healing properties ascribed to it by folks who, well, aren't doctors or medical researchers (but hey, you never know). And he also had truffles that had come in from Australia that smelled fantastic. (I didn't bother asking the price for those.)

...an excellent (although pricey) sorbet he has a friend make for him from sea buckthorn berries. I'd never heard of that, but it's one of those plants has all kinds of healing properties ascribed to it by folks who, well, aren't doctors or medical researchers...

This is from the CA coast?

In German the word is sanddorn, and indeed, if you're in Germany or Denmark along the North Sea/Baltic coasts, it is in everything, from sorbet to alcohol to soap to lotion, etc etc. Their magical berry.

This is from the CA coast?

In German the word is sanddorn, and indeed, if you're in Germany or Denmark along the North Sea/Baltic coasts, it is in everything, from sorbet to alcohol to soap to lotion, etc etc. Their magical berry.

I'm not sure of the source for the buckthorn. I suppose it's possible that he gets it from California but it's certainly not native here.