A Furtive Fungus Foray

The cauliflower fungus so good to eat that Tim Maddams sneaks out of a beating line to pick it — and finds himself in hot water

- Tim Maddams

Foraging for fungi can be a dangerous business — but the most deadly thing about the cauliflower fungus is the wrath of the gamekeeper. It’s a fungus that is simple to identify and I have, more than once, come across it while out beating.

On the first occasion we were just holding the line in the woods so, with no one noticing, I was able to whip out my trusty pocket knife, cut the sponge-like growth from the base of the pine tree next to me and stash it away in my game bag without so much as an eyebrow being raised.

The second time I found one while out beating was a slightly different story. The drive was almost at its zenith when I happened to see a fresh, football-sized specimen looking so prime and irresistible that I simply had to get my hands on it.

The problem was that we were waiting for the flank to push holding birds into the wood slowly. We, the main beating team, would cut them off from a woodland retreat, thus holding them nicely in the flushing area. Next, we would, under cast-iron control, gently advance, allowing the birds to trickle out, catch the breeze and soar over the Gun line. The plum drive would take about 20 minutes if we were steady.

My issue was that if I were to leave my station, there would be a rather glaring hole in the line and the cunning game birds would soon find this chink in our armor and beat a swift retreat. Luckily, I had my dog with me. I simply tied him to a nearby branch, thinking: “No way anything will push past with him sitting there.”