That’s Matsutake. They are highly prized and moderately plentiful. Sadly, I don’t have enough knowledge to pick them. I have a friend who believes she does, and I trust her pretty well, but I’d rather not eat them still.
They are about $50-$100 a pound by the time they hit Uwajimaya, the Japanese grocery in Seattle.
That explains the plentiful pickers. The mushrooms were graded. #1,2 and 3 depending on how open the heads were. We would buy #3’s at roadside stands. Went great with sockeye.