Black Trumpet Mushroom Mash
Dried wild mushrooms rehydrated in their own broth, then thickened into potatoes with the soaking water.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 4 oz
- cal / oz
- 155
- protein
- 11 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 8 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- 400 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dried black trumpet mushrooms | 1/2 oz | about a loose handful; they crumble, so pack them last |
|---|---|---|
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 3/4 cup | |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Nutritional yeast | 2 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried thyme | 1/4 tsp | |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste |
Method
- Boil 400 ml of water. Drop in the dried mushrooms, kill the heat, and cover the pot for five minutes.
- Do not drain. The soaking water is the broth and most of the flavor is in it.
- Bring the pot back to a bare simmer, then stir in the garlic powder, thyme, and nutritional yeast.
- Off the heat, add the potato flakes in two or three additions, stirring between each, until it thickens.
- Pour the oil over the top, stir it through, and salt hard. Dried mushrooms need more salt than you expect.
Black trumpets dry down to almost nothing and rehydrate fast, which makes them one of the few foraged foods worth the pack weight. Half an ounce is a season’s worth of walking slowly through wet oak woods, and it weighs less than a fuel canister lid.
The method is built around not wasting the soak. Most home recipes strain the mushroom liquid and use it separately; on trail you have one pot, so the potato flakes go straight into the broth and pick up everything that leached out. Nutritional yeast and oil stand in for the butter and cream this would get at home.
Packing
Potato flakes, yeast, and spices premix into one bag. Mushrooms go in their own bag whole so the pieces stay big enough to chew.
Variations
- A spoonful of tomato powder turns the mash into something closer to a stew.
- Dried porcini or shiitake work the same way if trumpets are not in your freezer.
- Add a foil packet of chicken if you are not keeping it vegan.
https://foragerchef.com/the-horn-of-death-black-trumpet-mushrooms