There’s GOLD in these Ozark hills… and most people walk right past it.

Chanterelles. Morels. Lion’s mane. Chicken of the woods. Puffballs. Hen of the woods. The forests around Lake of the Ozarks are absolutely loaded with wild edible mushrooms, if you know what you’re looking for.

And Mike Snyder knows what he’s looking for.

Mike is an Ozarks mushroom forager and the author of the forthcoming Foraging Mushrooms of the Ozarks (preorder here), so we brought him on Take On The Lake to talk about one of Editor Nathan Bechtold's favorite borderline-obsessive hobbies: wandering around the woods looking for fungi.

And this conversation goes DEEP.

We talk about:

Chanterelles: where to find them, when they fruit, and why they're one of the best beginner mushrooms

Morels: why everybody hunts them, where they actually grow, and why finding them can drive a sane person completely bonkers

Chicken of the Woods: one of the easiest wild mushrooms to recognize and one of the best to eat

Lion’s Mane: the bizarre-looking mushroom that happens to be delicious

Puffballs, Hen of the Woods and other Ozark edibles

The dangerous stuff: poisonous Amanitas, lookalikes, and the basic rules every new mushroom hunter needs to know

How mushroom identification actually works: habitat, trees, gills, pores, spore prints and more

How to cook wild mushrooms once you haul your woodland treasure back to the kitchen

And plenty of stories from two guys who have spent an unreasonable amount of time staring at the forest floor.

If you’ve ever wondered whether those mushrooms growing in your yard or along an Ozark trail are edible, this episode is your gateway drug.

Because once you learn to see mushrooms, the woods never quite look the same again.

Welcome to the hunt.

Take On The Lake with Nathan Bechtold
Episode 46 | Mike Snyder

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