MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Will Vermont become the sixth state to designate a state mushroom?
Elementary and middle school students in Windham County spent time this year learning about edible fungi and the Democratic process. Rep. Michelle Bos-Lun, D-Windham 3, worked with students to help put together a bill that would designate the bear’s head tooth mushroom as Vermont’s official state mushroom.
Students from Windham Elementary and Compass School made their case Tuesday before the House Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry Committee about why Vermont should adopt a state mushroom.
“We think the bear’s head tooth mushroom should be the state mushroom because it can be used for medicine. It’s found locally and it’s in the mushroom family hericium americanum, which means hedgehog of the Americas,” said Charles Pelton, one of the students.
The mushroom can be cultivated or foraged in the woods and is said to have certain medicinal qualities.
Rep. Bos-Lun also says it’s delicious if cooked properly.
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