The classic description of this mushroom’s aroma never seemed quite accurate to me, nor poetic, in a way that matches the reverie it inspires from its enthusiastic fans. “Cinnamon ‘Red-Hots’ and musty gym socks.” Meh. That doesn’t sound like something I would want to eagerly seek out in the forest much less covet in a culinary dish.
I had the opportunity to get my nose under one again the other day and a more accurate and full sensory (to me) description overwhelmed my perception:
“It is the aroma of an old wooden house in the northern woods, damp, dark, mossy… with a library of hundred year old books crowding the shelves, creaking floorboards… dripping fog and still pines just outside the drafty window, a tea kettle bubbling on the wood burning stove. The fog-filtered light coming in the window is indiscernible whether it is morning or afternoon… but a cup of warm spiced tea is almost ready to be sipped from a favorite mug…”
— Jess Starwood
Capturing that ephemeral essence in a tempura batter, a warm miso broth or simply cooked in a pot of fluffy rice has been my favorite way to enjoy them… while reminding me of the coming season and my annual escapes to the northern woods.
Jess Starwood 
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