Hongos

The Rio Grande, the one and only that everyone sings about stretches from its starting point way up north with the Colorado River all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, and flows through my hometown of Bosque Farms, New Mexico. I found these mushrooms along the bosque near the river.






HONGO-It means fungus but it was also the word my grandmother used to describe mushrooms and until I was old enough to know better there were mushrooms and there were these guys- hongos-that grew on the trees in the winter and fall and mushroomy as they are they were hongos she would have me shimmy up the tree and get them, little did I know the 'shimmy' was about 6 feet up. (my granny was old and tiny)I found pounds of them and they are so good and meaty with the same texture as shitake and flavor that is mild and earthy, they can be dried and reconstituted too. We ate these as quesadillas with some of those fresh tortillas and melted cheese with green chile.