There's so many edible mushrooms in the world it can be confusing trying to figure out which ones are the best. I wanted to make a list of the best tasting mushrooms for beginning foragers and people new to the sport, so I polled my professional chefs and mycologist friends to give me their top ten edible mushrooms. Apologies in advance as crimini / baby bella, portobello, and white button mushrooms did not make the list. Without further ado, here's the results!
Morels
With their rich flavor everyone seems to love and unmistakable meaty texture, morel mushrooms are literally at the top of the list. One of the most famous mushrooms in the world, they were mentioned by every single chef I spoke to. If given the choice, many of my friends would take them over all other mushrooms.
Part of their attraction is their rarity and high price. Morel season is short, and hunting patches are often passed down in families like heirlooms, for good reason. They're also the state mushroom of my home, Minnesota.
Shiitake
Although they won't be found wild, shiitake were mentioned many times by chefs and mushroom hunters alike. They have a special place in my heart personally as being one of the only cultivated mushrooms that can stand up to wild mushrooms with their flavor.
Shiitake mushrooms have a meaty, rich flavor packed with umami. They also have a texture that's the perfect amount of chew without being tough. Added to soups, stocks, stir fries, and just about anything else, they deserve credit as arguably the most dependably good tasting cultivated mushroom.
Hen of the Woods
The king of the fall mushrooms in the Midwest and basically every state east of the Rocky Mountains. Hen of the woods or maitake (Grifola frondosa) tastes delicious with a rich nutty flavor some compare to roasted meat.
With their meaty texture they make a great meat substitute, or just a great substitute for any fungi in your favorite mushroom recipes.
As a bonus, this polypore that infects oak trees can grow to an enormous size. I have seen 20, 30, and even 50 lb mushrooms over the course of my career cooking with them.
While they're cultivated and easily found in Asian grocers and coops, the cultivated versions lack flavor compared to their wild cousins. On the plus side, they're very easy to clean, where wild ones can be difficult.
Golden Chanterelles and Friends
The Cantharellaceae is a family of fungi containing golden chanterelle mushroms. Many of them smell like a bag of apricots or ripe fruit which never ceases to amaze people the first time they have them.
The fruity aroma mellows with cooking turning into a meaty flavor that matches their perfectly chewy texture. Pound for pound, they're one of the most dependably good tasting mushrooms that nearly every mushroom enthusiast I know enjoys and looks forward to picking each year.
Although the PNW species C. formosus is often sold at Costco, chanterelles are always wild and haven't yet been cultivated.
Black Trumpet Mushrooms
Cousins of chanterelles with a similarly sweet aroma comparable to very ripe apricots and stone fruit. Black trumpet mushrooms (Craterellus fallax, cornucopioides and others) are undeniably one of the best tasting mushrooms in the world.
Their rich, earthy flavor becomes bitter when concentrated or pureed, so newcomers to this mushroom will enjoy them most lightly sauteed or incorporated into a cream sauce for pasta. Just like chanterelles, they can only be foraged and cannot be cultivated.
Porcini
Also known as the king bolete, porcini, pennybun, steinpilz, and many other names. Porcini (Boletus edulis group) are loved around the world for their crisp texture and mild, pleasantly nutty flavor.
The aroma of some European species becomes very strong after drying. These very potent dried mushrooms are what most people will know as the fresh mushrooms are very perishable. Their deep, woodsy flavor is perfect for soups, pastas and risotti. A very special attribute of porcini is that they can be eaten raw without cooking.
Golden Oyster Mushrooms
A newcomer to the scene, and a surprising mushroom for me to add to this list personally, golden oyster mushrooms are an invasive fungus in North America and are native to Siberia. A common cultivated mushroom, they escaped from captivity and are now widespread across the Midwest.
All oyster mushrooms taste good when harvested young and without bug damage from fungal knats, but golden oysters stand above their cousins. Their light, yet rich meaty flavor and excellent texture perfect for stir-fries and sautees. Like maitake and chicken of the woods, their shape can also lend itself to cooking as mushroom steaks when young, firm clusters are found.
Matsutake
With a unique flavor of pine and spice, matsutake mushrooms taste completely different from every other edible mushroom in the world. As is the case with delicacies, the flavor is so strong that some people won't like them at all. Also known as pine mushrooms (Tricholoma magnivelare and others) they're a holy grail for many mushroom hunters in North America.
Beloved in Japan where they're found less and less due to habitat loss, single mushrooms were given as gifts to businessmen, reportedly costing hundreds of dollars a piece. In the olden days of Feudal Japan they're said to have be hunted by Samurai.
Truffles
Not technically mushrooms, truffles are a subterranean growth of mycelium called a sclerotia. As their woodsy, unmistakable aroma has been prized for thousands of years by people like the Pharaohs and Roman Emperors, it's no surprise fresh truffles were mentioned by nearly every chef I spoke to. Unlike many other fungi, all species of truffle are best consumed raw for the best flavor.
The price of fresh truffles is typically more than most home cooks can afford. Synthetic truffle oil has filled a hole in the market democratizing the flavor of truffles, but it's typically an unnatural product that gives people the wrong impression of how truffle is supposed to taste.
Truffle flavor is extremely versatile. Besides being used in savory dishes, they can make excellent desserts, like ice cream.
Chicken of the Woods
Without a doubt one of the most popular wild mushrooms of all time. The sulphur shelf fungus is a cousin of the Hen of the woods, and is the edible fungi many will know simply because its a mushroom that tastes like chicken.
Chicken of the woods mushrooms come in two pore colors (yellow and white). Besides being delicious, they're also known, unfortunately, for giving some people allergic reactions.
The flavor varies with age and between species slightly. Very young mushrooms can have a tart taste and citrus aroma with a squishy, soft texture. More mature mushrooms will have a more chewy, meaty texture and a mushroom flavor without any tart taste.
Mark
Worth mentioning also that shiitake are remarkably easy to grow in logs if you have a bit of shade in the backyard, making them particularly amenable to "backyard foraging"
Alan Bergo
Thanks Mark that’s a great point.
Paul Brainerd
You are absolutely spot on about Morels Alan. They are a stand-alone epicurean delight. They are also wild and rare with limited season, which makes them that much more coveted, and in my own case, nostalgic. Nostalgic in the sense as they bring back memories as a young boy of hunting Morels in the hills and woods near my rural home in the Spring with my brothers many years ago. I still remember the captivating smell of my mom pan frying a mess of Morels in the kitchen.
Alan Bergo
Thanks Paul.