Video: Foraging for wild mushrooms, finding something more

Mushroom foraging
Mike Kempenich, who has foraged wild edible mushrooms for the past seven years, finds a large chanterelle mushroom in a state park north of Minneapolis.
Jennifer Simonson / MPR News

Mike Kempenich forages for wild mushrooms all around Minnesota, which he then sells to well-known chefs in the Twin Cities. In the spring he finds treasured morel mushrooms, but in the summer he finds greater variety, including chanterelles, lobster and hen-of-the-woods mushrooms.

Kempenich, who has made a career of foraging mushrooms for the past seven years, leads guided mushroom hunts to help people identify wild, edible mushrooms. In the process of hunting for mushrooms, and teaching others to find them, he found something of his own.

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