A little reason to celebrate
Day of the Mushroom
Food · Nature · April 16
A day for mushrooms, the fungi that turn up in forests, on lawns and in kitchens, and how people cook, find and learn about them.
Day of the Mushroom falls on Friday, April 16, 2027. That is 171 days away.
Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of fungi. Most of the organism lives out of sight as a web of thin threads called mycelium, spread through soil or wood. The cap and stem we notice are the part that pops up to release spores.
In the kitchen, mushrooms do a lot with very little. Button, cremini and portobello mushrooms are the same species picked at different ages, which surprises people who have bought all three in one shopping trip. Shiitake bring a deeper, smoky flavor, and oyster mushrooms cook up tender with frilly edges. Most kinds brown best in a hot pan with room to spare, since crowding makes them steam and turn soft.
Outside, mushrooms are easiest to spot after rain. They appear on fallen logs, at the base of trees and sometimes in rings on a lawn. Many are striking to look at, with gills, pores or ridges under the cap, and colors from plain tan to bright orange.
People mark the day by cooking a favorite dish, trying a variety they have never bought, or taking a slow walk to look for fungi with a camera instead of a basket. Wild mushrooms can be hard to tell apart, and some are poisonous, so looking and photographing is the safe way to enjoy them in the field.
Spore prints are a quiet pleasure for the curious. Set a store-bought cap gill side down on paper, cover it with a bowl, and by morning it leaves a pattern of fine dust in the shape of its gills.
Ways to celebrate
- Try cooking a mushroom variety you have never bought before.
- Make a spore print from a store-bought mushroom cap overnight.
- Take a walk after rain and photograph fungi without picking them.
- Sear mushrooms in a hot, uncrowded pan and taste the difference.
Dates
| Year | Date |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Thursday, April 16 |
| 2027 | Friday, April 16 |
| 2028 | Sunday, April 16 |
| 2029 | Monday, April 16 |
| 2030 | Tuesday, April 16 |
Also on April 16
- National Eggs Benedict Day
- Save the Elephant Day
- National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day
- National Orchid Day
- National Bean Counters Day
- National Librarian Day
Categories: Food daysNature days