# Seeking mushrooms



## ernest_

Hi,

Here in Catalonia, seeking mushrooms is a popular activity. There are professional seekers, but the vast majority are ordinary people that do it for the fun of it. In general, people only go after certain species that are edible, and not all species are valued the same. There is always two or three casualties every year due to ingestion of poisonous mushrooms.

The exact location of a mushroom spot (a place where mushrooms are known to grow) is usually kept with utmost secrecy, even close relatives may not tell each other. For example, if you ask a stranger carrying a basket full of mushrooms where he's found them, he will only give you some vague indications, no matter how much you insist.

What is it like in your country, do people use to seek mushrooms or not?


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## clipper

I have certainly heard of people looking for mushrooms in the UK but the reasons behind it are quite different as these people are looking for the type of mushrooms which are illegal to sell in the shops  These people also tend to be very secretive about the exact locations.

As for "non-magic" mushrooms there propably are people who pick wild ones but as you point out the risks are great considering how little they cost in a supermarket.


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## cuchuflete

There are mushroom gatherers in the U.S.  We generally do not share location information.  Look for rotting oak tree trunks.


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## Hakro

*Finland* with the endless forests must be an Eldorado for mushroom-lovers (like me). The mushroom crop varies yearly from one million tons to four million tons, but this is less than five per cent of the total growth of edible mushrooms.

Many people pick mushrooms for their own use, but even more people say that they would never ever eat anything like mushrooms.

Some people pick mushrooms to sell (it's free of income tax and VAT), and Finnish wild mushrooms are also exported (about 300 tons a year), mostly _Boletus edulis_ to Italy and _Tricholoma matsutake_ to Japan.

We don't have enough pickers for this business, so some 12 000 people come from Russia, Ukraine, Poland and even from Thailand to work here for a couple of months picking both mushrooms and berries. Many Finns, even unemployed, don't care to do a job like this. Stupid, isn't it?



> There is always two or three casualties every year due to ingestion of poisonous mushrooms.


In Finland there has been four deaths in the '40s, two in the '50s and two in the 70's. The last one was in 1978.

The other day I read an advice how to avoid problems:
1. Learn to identify the poisonous mushrooms.
2. Pick only those mushrooms you can identify.


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## Miguelillo 87

Well I don't know if in Mexico's countryside they use to do it, but at least in the city We cannot (the forest is not really close form the city) and I haven't heard my granparents that they have done it before. 

Maybe because (as far as I aware) mushrooms are not really common to be grown in Mexico central forests. 

But Maybe in other parts of the country where they are common people do it.


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## sokol

ernest_ said:


> What is it like in your country, do people use to seek mushrooms or not?


It is pretty much the same in Austria.

Though there are many Austrians who would only eat mushrooms bought in the supermarket (mostly _Agaricus bisporus _= cultivated species, but also wild ones like _Cantharellus cibarius & Boletus edulis & __Macrolepiota procera__) _there are a great many mushroom enthusiasts here, especially (of course) in regions where there grow plenty.

In the region where I grew up the places where the best mushrooms grow (again_ Cantharellus cibarius, Boletus edulis, __Macrolepiota procera) _too were kept secret. We did even (especially with young specimens of _Macrolepiota procera)_ hide them with grass, dry leaves or branches because they were still too young to be picked but we feared that others might find them before we could return to this place.

Other popular species are _Boletus badius (= __Xerocomus badius), __Boletus chrysenteron, __Coprinus comatus,_and for enthusiasts also _Lactarius deterrimus _and several _Russulae _(of which some are quite good) and even _Amanita rubescens _and _Armillaria mellea (+ subspecies) _even though they aren't that delicious (personally I don't eat the latter two at all) - and several others.

In some regions (lately in Carinthia) people even tried to make professional mushroom seekers pay money (some forests there frequently get almost plundered by them) which caused an uproar in the local press; the latest I heard from there was that you can again gather mushrooms for free.

Poisoning with mushrooms also occurs from time to time, quite frequently even; but usually not with mushrooms which really are difficult to keep apart if you don't know them very good (like _Amanita rubescens_ vs. poisonous _Amanita pantherina) _but with species which don't even look alike (like _Agaricus campestris_ and poisonous _Amanita citrina).
_
Best for mushroom seekers of course is never to pick anything of which you aren't absolutely sure. Also there are official mushroom advisors in every major town where anyone may go and ask if his or her mushrooms are edible ones.


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## Vanda

Unhappily my country doesn't have this mushroom picking habit. Most of us just know the small and the poisonous funghi. Nowadays because of the mushrooms contribution to health they are importing and expanding its growing. Someone has told me that the real story is that we do have many mushroom species  but only recently we are discovering and cataloguing them. Our mushrooms grow unknown by us among old leaves on the woods and forest ground.

Actually to write this post I have just discovered about the existence of 400 native species only in our Mata Atlântica, and 1.700 species only in one South state!

For example it is said that *we* barely know a famous mushroom of us that is widely known abroad. 


> O Agaricus brasilienses, que começa a ser chamado de cogumelo do *Brasil*, é mal conhecido em terras nativas, mas amplamente difundido em países como o Japão.



I had an experience of seeking mushrooms in an European country and was amazed to see how people go to the woods to pick them as - I'd say - a kind of sports. Who knows in a near future we do begin a new tradition of picking mushrooms?


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## Nanon

Sokol's post is an encyclopaedia of mushrooms! 

France being located not very far away from Catalonia and Austria, mushroom gathering looks pretty much alike. However many people do not know how to identify mushrooms well. But everybody knows how to avoid some poisonous ones - the classical (but not deadly) _Amanita muscaria_ found in all children's books, the ones that turn blue and those with a ring around the stalk.

If you have a doubt about wild mushrooms, you can go to a pharmacist's to confirm whether the mushrooms you have gathered are edible or not. This service is provided for free. But people who gather mushrooms often go on Sundays, when pharmacies are closed...

And nice spots for mushrooms are kept secret for sure.


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## Paulfromitaly

Mushroom gathering is common in Italy too.
We love Porcini and we go pick them both on the Alps and the Apennines. 
Needless to say they are a delicacy and fortunately quite easy to distinguish from poisonous mushrooms.


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## Hakro

> We love Porcini and we go pick them both on the Alps and the Apennines.


... and you also buy them from Finland. A few days ago I saw Italian canned (dried) Porcini in a supermarket in Helsinki, possibly exported from Finland, dried and packed in Italy and then imported back to Finland. Business is business!


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## sabrinita85

Paulfromitaly said:


> Mushroom gathering is common in Italy too.
> We love Porcini and we go pick them both on the Alps and the Apennines.
> Needless to say they are a delicacy and fortunately quite easy to distinguish from poisonous mushrooms.



Yes, in Italy we love Porcini, but the king of mushrooms is the Tartufo! (A good Italian truffle may cost a lot of money... even more than diamonds!!!)


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## Bonjules

Hola,
one would think that mushrooms would do great in a hot/humid (tropical)
climate. They're Fungi, after all. Not so! Cool and humid seems better, like much of Central/North/Eastern Europe. And New England of course, which is why we used to hunt them there in October/November. I miss it so much.

So, already having given up hope to find any(except little shiny ones, but who knows what they are) I was walking one day after some heavy rains on the vast lawn in front of the Spanish-built fort San Felipe del Morro (''El Morro") in San Juan. Guess what! A whole bunch of 'Parasols'!
This is how mushrooms are: They will suddenly pop up where you least expect them. After that I found a great many of puffballs in the same spot.


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## mirx

If Ernest referred to the "magic" ones, well yes. A lot of hippies from all over the word come to México trying to find them, there are specific regions in the center of the country where these are more abundant.

Cuchu, they ineed grow next to rotenning tree trunks, not necesarily oak. I grew up in a farm and there were lots of them in the rainy season. I was told never to touch them because they were poisonous, I never bothered to investigate if it was true or not, and because there were so many of them I never saw them any different than I saw all the plants and herbs growing in the wild.

As for the edible ones, I don't think people in México care much about them. They are grown in greenhouses or specific plantations I suppose, just like any other crop.


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## ernest_

Hi,
Interesting comments, all of them.
I wasn't referring to "magic" mushrooms specifically, but to mushrooms in general.
Here there's a species of mushroom that is hallucinogen, in fact there's a popular expression, literally "to be touched by the mushroom", to indicate that someone is behaving strangely or is crazy, that seems to suggest that these mushrooms were well-known in the past, but I'm not aware of anyone going after them, nowadays. Instead, people who's interested in this kind of experiences buy a kit to home-grow _Psilocybe_ mushrooms, these kits being perfectly legal (because they only sell "spores", which are no psychoactive, seems to be a hole in the law).


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## alexacohen

Hello everyone, mushroom seekers.

The mania is growing fast in Galicia too. There are even official Autumn days dedicated to walk the forests, gather mushrooms, cook them in different ways, eat them and, well, drink a lot, of course,

These holidays are becoming more and more popular and attract many mushroom-gatherers.

_Boletus edulis_ and _Macrolepiota procera_ are the most popular varieties.


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## sokol

ernest_ said:


> (...) buy a kit to home-grow _Psilocybe_ mushrooms (...)


I suggest to be careful with those _Psilocybe _kits  those psychoactive mushrooms are poisonous after all, and it is possible to take an overdose. (Apart from that personally I never ever was tempted to try psychoactive mushrooms; one of them also grows in great numbers everywhere in Austria, the well-known _Amanita muscaria,_ while others are rare and difficult to find.)

As for poisonous mushrooms here in Austria also there's a prejudice that those which turn blue were poisonous (which is nonsense, there are many delicious ones doing so like _Boletus badius _- turns blue, or _Leccinum scabrum_ & other _Leccinum _species - they turn grey or even black: these species all are delicious). Further there are many species with rings which taste excellent, like _Macrolepiota procera._

(I am a mushroom enthusiast since I was a kid, you know ... when I grew older this turned into an obsession, I guess.)


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## alexacohen

sokol said:


> (I am a mushroom enthusiast since I was a kid, you know ... when I grew older this turned into an obsession, I guess.)


 
I just wanted to ask...

I talked about the "Mushroom days" organized in Galicia. 

There is always a prize winner among the mushroom seekers. The one who finds and collects the _Amanita Caesarea_. It is so very rare here that many times there is no winner. 

Is there something similar somewhere?


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## Hakro

Hi Alexa,

In Finland they arrange competitions for both mushroom seekers and berry pickers. The winner is the one who has found the biggest amount of either a certain species of mushroom or any edible mushrooms; for berry pickers it's always a certain berry, most often cloudberry.

As far as I know, _Amanita Caesarea_ can be easily confounded with some poisonous mushrooms. Maybe the competitors have to eat it by themselves to prove that it's a right one?


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## alexacohen

Hakro said:


> In Finland they arrange competitions for both mushroom seekers and berry pickers. The winner is the one who has found the biggest amount of either a certain species of mushroom or any edible mushrooms; for berry pickers it's always a certain berry, most often cloudberry.
> 
> As far as I know, _Amanita Caesarea_ can be easily confounded with some poisonous mushrooms. Maybe the competitors have to eat it by themselves to prove that it's a right one?



Hello Hakro,

It`s nice to know we have something in common with Finland.

The answer to your question is yes, they have to. There are people who bid for them, too (as far as I know no one has died yet from mushroom poisoning round here).

I have never found an _Amanita caesarea_, but I´ve come across several _Phallus impudicus_. Interesting.


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## Hakro

I don't wonder that you have come across several _Phallus_. Instead, I've never found a real _Amanita_ in Finland.

On the other hand, maybe the most popular mushroom in Finland is _Cantharellus  cibarius_, but I've heard that in Britain they consider it as poisonous. Anybody to confirm?


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## alexacohen

They´re called here _perrachicas,_ but they are not so widely known as the Boletus or the Macrolepiotas. Same can be said of the _Marasmius oreades._ 

It may be due to the fact that mushroom gathering is not as popular here as it is in Catalonia (where Ernest comes from) and people tend to stick to the mushrooms they know well, without the least shadow of a doubt.

My great grandfather refused to eat them and did not allow them in his house. He was a judge, and he said that he had seen more deaths caused by mushroom poisoning than he saw during the Spanish Civil War.

Possibly an exaggeration; but several people die each year in Spain because of that.


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## sokol

alexacohen said:


> I talked about the "Mushroom days" organized in Galicia. (...) Is there something similar somewhere?


No, not as far as I know; I guess we just prefer to go mushroom seeking without company  ... but probably in some mountanuous regions who are extremely rich in (edible) mushrooms like some regions in Styria and Carinthia this exists, I don't know - never heard of such days in the region of Vienna and Mühlviertel/Upper Austria.



alexacohen said:


> I have never found an _Amanita caesarea_, but I´ve come across several _Phallus impudicus_. Interesting.


_Amanita caesarea_ is extremely rare in Austria and only grows in warmer regions; I've never found one and I probably never will - it is possible that this one will become extinguished here in Austria.
_Phallus impudicus_ on the other hand is not rare at all and one strange mushroom indeed.  Most people don't know that this one even can be eaten, but only as long as it is still small as an egg (see 'Hexenei' in Wiki). (I never tried to, though.)



Hakro said:


> On the other hand, maybe the most popular mushroom in Finland is _Cantharellus  cibarius_, but I've heard that in Britain they consider it as poisonous. Anybody to confirm?


Strange really. 

It is one of the most popular mushrooms of Austria too, you even can buy it in the supermarket, we even import them in great numbers from Lithuania, Romania, Serbia, etc. (never have seen Finnish or Swedish ones even though I know from a visit in Wärmsland, Sweden that there you only have to go into the forest, pick until your basket is full and then go home while in Austria places for Cantharellus cibarius are kept absoultely secret because this mushroom here already is becoming rare.)


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## Encolpius

Hello everybody, I was really very surprised by the first thread. I couldn't imagine that mushrooming is popular in Catalunya. 
*In the Czech Republic it is extremely popular*.


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## Miguel Antonio

Encolpius said:


> I couldn't imagine that mushrooming is popular in Catalunya.


Yes, see below as well as above 


Hakro said:


> On the other hand, maybe the most popular mushroom in Finland is _Cantharellus  cibarius_, but I've heard that in Britain they consider it as poisonous. Anybody to confirm?


They probably lie so you don't go out to pick them. They are a true delicacy, and they may grow in the spring too, not only in the autumn. 


alexacohen said:


> They´re called here _perrachicas,_ but they are not so widely known as the Boletus or the Macrolepiotas. Same can be said of the _Marasmius oreades._
> 
> It may be due to the fact that mushroom gathering is not as popular here as it is in Catalonia (where Ernest comes from) and people tend to stick to the mushrooms they know well, without the least shadow of a doubt.


 _Perretxico_ is a Basque name, in Galicia folk mushroom names change from valley to valley as do fish names from port to port. Catalans organise expeditions to Galicia to come to pick mushrooms, for private or even commercial purposes. 

A _morcella esculenta_ once popped out from the roots of a potted box tree in my garden. It is a species I had never before seen over here...

My favourites are _Lactarius Deliciosus, Cantharellus Cibarius, C. Tubaeformis, Boletus _(most of the edible species), _Lacaria Amathysta, Sparassis Crispa,  _and of course, _A. Cesarea_, which grows in plenty around... oops, I had better not tell you, just in case 

Beware of _Tricholoma Equestris_, in itself not poisonous if eaten once or twice, but for which the toxin accumulates in the organism year after year, this was discovered recently in France where several people died from this. I used to eat it. Not any more


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## sokol

Miguel Antonio said:


> A _morcella succulenta_ once popped out from the roots of a potted box tree in my garden. It is a species I had never before seen over here...


That's a typo, right? I guess you mean Morchella esculenta.
I once found one in Danube National Park (So now could you pleeease tell me where you've found your Amanita caesarea ...?) which fortunately is much too big as that this determination of place would be of any use to you. 
(And apart from that it is illegal to pick mushrooms in the NP - and so I didn't; sadly, many people do so nevertheless - and so someone else did pick this one.)

Commercial mushroom pickers also are found in Austrian forests, especially in the Alps.


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## Nanon

Who said _Morchella esculenta_?! Yummy!
They don't grow only in national parks. What I know about them is that they sometimes like to grow in places that are not very nice. Such as places where trees have burnt or things have been discarded (sorry Miguel Antonio, I _don't _mean your garden is untidy -- I said _"sometimes"_!). 
My grandfather knew some (nicer) spots for _Morchella esculenta_, but he took his secrets to the grave...


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## Miguel Antonio

sokol said:


> That's a typo, right? I guess you mean Morchella esculenta.


Absolutely, thank you for the correction 



Nanon said:


> (sorry Miguel Antonio, I _don't _mean your garden is untidy -- I said _"sometimes"_!).


Not to worry, in fact, I find it to be a privilege that such things that usually grow in the wild have decided to colonise my back yard. It'll save me trouble when I go mushroom-picking  (I wonder when will that be?, I'm so busy I can't afford the time!!!!)


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## Terry Morti

British people have trouble recognising anything so healthy as a mushroom in a supermarket let alone one growing wild!


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## Chtipays

Miguelillo 87 said:


> Maybe because (as far as I aware) mushrooms are not really common to be grown in Mexico central forests.
> 
> But Maybe in other parts of the country where they are common people do it.



Wherever there is forest, there are mushrooms, you just have to be there at the right time. 
But even when there are mushrooms, only a small portion of them are edible.

Around Mexico city there are many forests where you can collect them, but you have to get there very early in the morning because many people collect them for business. You will find those mushrooms later during the day, in the mercados. 

In the university of Veracruz in the Mexican state of the same name, there is a dissertation that lists about 100 species of edible mushrooms for the centra area of the state, located in the mountains of the Sierra Madre Oriental. One of the reasons for this, is that there you can find some of the most diverse forests of México (more diverse than evergreen tropical forests): the Cloud forest where mushroom diversity is also very high.

Some of the species found in México are highly appreciated (_Amanita cesarea_ an other _Amanita_ species, _Boletus_ spp, _Suillus_ spp, _Lactarius_ spp.) others are less popular (_Helvella, Morchella, Clavaria, Clitocybe_, etc.), but still good. 
My  mom used to prepare a mushroom that looks like chicken meat (but taste like mushroom) and I learned later that it was part of a _Polyporus_ species, that is collected when is young because it becomes woody later on. 

We also eat the mold (or mushroom?) that grows on fresh corn, we call it Huitlacoche and it can be as expensive or more than _Amanita cesarea_. 

I used to love the wild _Volvariella_ that grows on the coffe beans waste. It is much better than the cultivated Straw mushroom.  But again, I had to get there before sunrise, or the only thing I could collect where the smiles of the people that arrived earlier and harvested all.

In the tropical areas the mushrooms are not as popular to eat as in the subtropical or temperate zones of Mexico, and I am not sure why. 

Buying mushrooms in the market is not always safe in Mexico. One famous story in my family was that of the sisters of my grandfather, they were already older than 70.  They prepared some mushrooms that they bought at the market, it was a mixture of different species. After lunch, they were found laughing and dancing in the dinning room, they were asked why they were laughing and they answer that the walls had mosaics full of color.


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## Chtipays

Nanon said:


> Sokol's post is an encyclopaedia of mushrooms!
> 
> But everybody knows how to avoid some poisonous ones - the classical (but not deadly) _Amanita muscaria_ found in all children's books, the ones that turn blue and those with a ring around the stalk.
> 
> If you have a doubt about wild mushrooms, you can go to a pharmacist's to confirm whether the mushrooms you have gathered are edible or not. This service is provided for free. But people who gather mushrooms often go on Sundays, when pharmacies are closed...
> 
> And nice spots for mushrooms are kept secret for sure.



Some mushrooms that turn blue are edible. Several mushrooms with ring around the stalk are also edible (even les _Champignons de Paris_ have a ring).
And my father in law was complaining because he brought his _Champignons_ to the pharmacist for identification and she said, that she would not do it, that she could not take the responsibility of getting someone poisoned .


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## Encolpius

Chtipays said:


> ... he brought his _Champignons_ to the pharmacist for identification and she said, that she would not do it, that she could not take the responsibility of getting someone poisoned .



Did he take it to a pharmacy?  I haven't heard pharmacists  do a job like that, too. At least here. Interesting.


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## إسكندراني

In several Arab countries, seeking _truffles_ is a popular traditional activity. Not sure about mushrooms, though.


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## JustKate

Mushroom hunting is a big deal around here in the early spring. The favorites - and they are *delicious* - are morels. They are very difficult to grow commercially, so basically, you have to either find your own or be close to a really good and generous mushroom hunter. Like the OP mentioned, once someone finds a good place, they tend to keep it a deep, dark secret from even their closest friends.


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## ernest_

Looks like it's mushroom season already 
I don't know morels, they seem pretty exotic. Truffles are well known around here, but since you need a pig to find them and not everyone has a pig, it's not the kind of mushroom that the average mushroom picker goes after.


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## olaszinho

ernest_ said:


> Looks like it's mushroom season already
> I don't know morels, they seem pretty exotic. Truffles are well known around here, but since you need a pig to find them and not everyone has a pig, it's not the kind of mushroom that the average mushroom picker goes after.



Interesting! Do you still use pigs to find truffles? I live in an area full of valued black and white truffles but we only use dogs that hunt for them.


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## rusita preciosa

Mushroom picking is extremely popular in Russia, even among the city people who either have weekend homes in the country or make special daytrips. Growing up it was something we did a lot in the summer and early fall. Around our summer house (80km from Moscow) there were birch tree forests and separate pine forest with different mauchrooms in each, alltogether may be 5-7 edible varieties with different flavors.

While I loved (and still love) eating mushrooms, I personally hated picking them! You have to get up extremely early (why??), walk in the woods for hours, I was pretty bad spotting mushrooms, so I usually got less than anyone. I loved to sort and clean them though. 

In the US I only saw the familiar varieties on a mushroom stand in a fancy farmers market in San Francisco, I do not know where they came from, but the cost was astronomical! Not far from where I live in Pensylvania they have a mushroom festival in early September, but I have not yet been there.


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## JustKate

I took a tour of mushroom farms in Pennsylvania a few years ago, Rusita - it was _fabulous_. I had always suspected that there was no such thing as a mushroom I wouldn't like, and that tour pretty much confirmed it. We had...I don't know, maybe 25 different kinds of mushrooms, all different and all delicious.

Morels grow in woods (which is what small forests are called in Indiana). Supposedly they grow best around dead elm trees, but I don't think there's any scientific basis for that idea. I haven't actually gone mushroom hunting myself, but I have seen morels in the wild, so to speak (I couldn't pick them because we were in a state park), and there wasn't an elm tree anywhere near.


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## ernest_

olaszinho said:


> Interesting! Do you still use pigs to find truffles? I live in an area full of valued black and white truffles but we only use dogs that hunt for them.


I don't know for sure, but I was under the impression that they used pigs.  It is quite possible that they use dogs too.


rusita preciosa said:


> While I loved (and still love) eating mushrooms, I personally hated picking them! You have to get up extremely early (why??), walk in the woods for hours, I was pretty bad spotting mushrooms, so I usually got less than anyone.


How can you not like it? Walking in the woods is great. It clears your mind, the air is clean, you get in touch with nature. Also no need to get up early. I've gone to pick mushrooms a lot of times in the afternoon.


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## dreamlike

Mushroom picking is a popular activity in Poland, too, or at least it was so in the former times, when entire families would spend their quality time on mushroom foraging. I have the impression that it's lost some of its currency, but it's still very common among the elderly and in rural areas.  Some people pick mushrooms for themselves, some to subsequently sell them (whenever mushroom season starts there is a lot of uproar in the media about dodgy, uncertified mushroom sellers, so mushroom lovers need to be wary of that).

Personally, I'm not exactly fond of mushrooms (unless they are used to make sauces), and I don't really fancy traversing the forest on the lookout for mushrooms, so I've never done it.


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## rusita preciosa

ernest_ said:


> How can you not like it? Walking in the woods is great. It clears your mind, the air is clean, you get in touch with nature. Also no need to get up early. I've gone to pick mushrooms a lot of times in the afternoon.


Just not my thing. I agree you can do it in the afternoon, but for some unexplained reason in my family we had to get up early, like mushrooms are some kind of fish or foul who have specific feeding times etc.... I'm just easily bored in the woods, without a book or a TV, and no one to talk to (we were supposed to walk separately to cover lots of ground).  I also was not good spotting brown mushrooms among brown leaves and brown twigs. Although I loved it when everyone came back with piles of mushrooms and put them on a table outside in the shade and we sorted and cleaned them, chatting and laughing together.


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## learnerr

ernest_ said:


> How can you not like it? Walking in the woods is great.


Agree — unless you need to do something, not just walk!


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## itsmybike

Here's a short blog entry by an Irish person picking mushrooms in France:
http://www.slab-mag.com/2011/08/03/pharma-pharma-pharma-pharma-pharma-chameleon/


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## WillyAbs

Mushrooms picking, cooking and canning is an important part of Russian folk culture. Salted and soured mushrooms are the best snack for Russian vodka.


rusita preciosa said:


> Mushroom picking is extremely popular in Russia, even among the city people who either have weekend homes in the country or make special daytrips.


Yes, many people do so. And of course country people simply gather mushrooms in the forest near by. And I must say, sorting and cleanig is a hard job! Usually it is performed in the evening after the long walk in the woods and drive to and from the countryside. Also the first cooking, mostly boiling, must be done as quick as possible.
People always try to keep spots in secret. Experienced ones know by sight in which type of wood and weather conditions which varieties grow. Getting up extremely early is necessary in order to outstrip rivals. 
Some national minorities in Russia don't eat mashrooms.


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## inib

Terry Morti said:


> British people have trouble recognising anything so healthy as a mushroom in a supermarket let alone one growing wild!


I think you're right, and no other Brit has chipped into the thread so far.
I'm an exception. When I was a kid in England, we'd go out on a Sunday and get many kilos of _Boletus Edulis_ - we were the only ones looking for them, all the other walkers in the forest just kicked them aside and told their children and dogs not to dream of touching them! But my dad was German, so he was "in-the-know".
Now that I live in northern Spain, I'm still a great mushroom enthusiast and can recognise many more species, but the competition is very tough.


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## swintok

Mushroom-picking is very popular in Canada among certain ethnic and immigrant communities, but completely unknown among others.  Part of the issue is the difference in North American mushroom species from those in the countries of origin of the immigrants.  For example, many mushroom poisonings happen as a result of the fact that the death cap mushroom (_Amanita phalloides_) is very similar to the edible straw mushroom (_Volvariella volvacea_) in Southeast Asia.  I remember one time I was out picking mushrooms and ran across an Italian family who were doing the same thing, but we were picking completely different mushrooms!

By the way the _Armillaria mellea _(in Ukrainian підпеньки or опеньки) were amazing this year.  We picked at least 5 or 6 kg.  We would have picked more, but it's too much work to clean them all.


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## rusita preciosa

swintok said:


> Part of the issue is the difference in North American mushroom species from those in the countries of origin of the immigrants. For example, many mushroom poisonings happen as a result of the fact that the death cap mushroom (_Amanita phalloides_) is very similar to the edible straw mushroom (_Volvariella volvacea_) in Southeast Asia.


Exactly! Even if I didn't hate mushrooming, I would never do it in the US because I do not know the local species. I live in the woods and this summer I found mushrooms that looked like подосиновик or_ leccinum aurantiacum _(Wiki says in English it is red-capped scaber stalk). That type is one of the most prised for its taste in Russia, but I would never dream of picking it in the US because I simply do not know if it is the same.


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## dreamlike

This may seem like a strange question to some, but do you know of some cases where mushroom seekers turned out to be 'just citizens that set an example for others', by tipping off the police about some illegal marijuana fields?  That's often the case here in Poland.


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## rusita preciosa

dreamlike said:


> tipping off the police about some illegal marijuana fields


I've never heard of such cases in Russia, but that is probably because marijuana cannot grow there in a field (due to the climate)? I am watching the show 'Weeds" about marijuana dealers and growers and from that show I understand that it is a very hard thing to grow, it requires special temperature, light, equipment, chemicals etc...


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## dreamlike

rusita preciosa said:


> I've never heard of such cases in Russia, but that is probably because marijuana cannot grow there in a field (due to the climate)? I am watching the show 'Weeds" about marijuana dealers and growers and from that show I understand that it is a very hard thing to grow, it requires special temperature, light, equipment, chemicals etc...


It is indeed possible [not that I've ever tried it] to grow marijuana in such conditions. There are wild outdoor plantations in Poland situated in forests, and mushroom seekers don't get on very well with growers, by doing what I've already mentioned.


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## JustKate

I don't think this is likely to occur in the U.S. - at least not around here. Marijuana is sometimes grown here illegally (in the Midwest, it's sometimes planted in the middle of cornfields, almost always without the knowledge of the farmer who is growing the corn), but the mushrooms that are popular here grow in the woods, and they grow in the early spring, whereas marijuana grows in full sun and during the summer, not the spring. So "hunting for mushrooms" wouldn't be a good excuse for scouting for marijuana.  From what I understand, the way it's usually detected is that someone just stumbles across it, or sometimes it's detected by infrared photography since it apparently puts off a lot more heat than the surrounding crops or native plants.


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## L'irlandais

Mushroom picking in Early September to late October back home , holds many fond memories for me.  





> The Field Mushroom,_ Agaricus campestris_, is the most commonly eaten wild mushroom in Britain and Ireland.


Not the complicated affair that I've come to know in France, simply ask a land-owner for permission to ramble over his land, take home one's fill.


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## inib

L'irlandais said:


> Not the complicated affair that I've come to know in France, simply ask a land-owner for permission to ramble over his land, take home one's fill.


 Why do you say it's become complicated, L'irlandais? Are there restrictions there, as in many areas of Spain?


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## ernest_

rusita preciosa said:


> I've never heard of such cases in Russia, but that is probably because marijuana cannot grow there in a field (due to the climate)? I am watching the show 'Weeds" about marijuana dealers and growers and from that show I understand that it is a very hard thing to grow, it requires special temperature, light, equipment, chemicals etc...


It's not hard at all to grow. It grows pretty much anywhere. The variants with low THC are grown legally in Europe at an industrial scale and also in China and Russia. If I wanted to grow some marihuana I would simply go to a hemp field, plant some seeds and return 6 months later to harvest. No one would notice.


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## L'irlandais

Hi inib,
Well like your own childhood experience, when we went mushroom picking we were only looking for one kind.  With took home pounds and pounds of this variety, any thing vaguely different was left in the fields.

Here in France, when we go hill walking (mostly forest tracks) my companions are on the look out for anything edible.  What's complicated is not "rights of way" but rather the age old advice to take the "day's findings" to the Chemists for identification is no longer valid.  Chemists, like hill-walkers can rarely agree on what's what.  Perhaps I just need a new i-Phone app.


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## inib

L'irlandais said:


> Hi inib,
> Well like your own childhood experience, when we went mushroom picking we were only looking for one kind.  With took home pounds and pounds of this variety, any thing vaguely different was left in the fields.
> 
> Here in France, when we go hill walking (mostly forest tracks) my companions are on the look out for anything edible.  What's complicated is not "rights of way" but rather the age old advice to take the "day's findings" to the Chemists for identification is no longer valid.  Chemists, like hill-walkers can rarely agree on what's what.  Perhaps I just need a new i-Phone app.


Aha, I see what you mean now (and "Hi" to you too).
 I've also been out with different people for the "anything edible" stuff, and that's how I learnt about a lot more species. But after all that fun, I now know what I'm really interested in, and I'm basically after 6 - 8 types, depending on what recipe I'm going to use them for.


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## mcibor

Though somewhat less popular now, mushrooms picking is still very popular in Poland.
As mentioned above, many people from Poland even like to go abroad to pick mushrooms - I heard that quite popular are forests in Sweden

PS. Poland is the biggest exporter of champignons _Agaricus bisporus_


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## L'irlandais

Hi mcibor,
Nice, these are called "Portobello mushrooms" in English (I believe, anyway.)  We pick, what (I believe) you call "Pieczarka łąkowa"  I reckon we'd pick Agaricus bisporus too if they were widely available.


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## Stoggler

In Britain some people do pick mushrooms for their own personal consumption and it's legal to do so.

However, there has been reports in the press recently of restaurateurs and chefs picking large quantities for use in their restaurants, which is illegal - as soon as the mushrooms are "for reward or for sale or other commercial purposes" (Theft Act 1968) then it is no longer legal.  Land owners have noticed that their activities are denuding some areas of fungi which may have a knock-on effect on the ecosystem - the New Forest in Hampshire is one such area that has been prone to over-foraging.


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## Jabir

Vanda said:


> Unhappily my country doesn't have this mushroom picking habit. Most of us just know the small and the poisonous funghi. Nowadays because of the mushrooms contribution to health they are importing and expanding its growing. Someone has told me that the real story is that we do have many mushroom species  but only recently we are discovering and cataloguing them. Our mushrooms grow unknown by us among old leaves on the woods and forest ground.
> 
> Actually to write this post I have just discovered about the existence of 400 native species only in our Mata Atlântica, and 1.700 species only in one South state!
> 
> For example it is said that *we* barely know a famous mushroom of us that is widely known abroad.
> 
> 
> I had an experience of seeking mushrooms in an European country and was amazed to see how people go to the woods to pick them as - I'd say - a kind of sports. Who knows in a near future we do begin a new tradition of picking mushrooms?



Vanda, nos sertões desse país a coleta do famoso cogumelo psicoativo que cresce na bosta da vaca é a coisa mais comum do mundo! O famoso cubensis hehehe... Mas de comê comê não é comum mesmo


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## angea

Here:


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## Harry-Potter

Mushroom picking is almost a national pastime in Poland among older people (my parents and grandparents generation). The youth in my opinion tend to shy away from this activity. I've picked mushrooms on a few occasions the last of which was good 10-15 years ago but I generally find it boring and prefer to spend time doing something else.


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## angea

Harry-Potter said:


> Mushroom picking is almost a national pastime in Poland among older people (my parents and grandparents generation). The youth in my opinion tend to shy away from this activity. I've picked mushrooms on a few occasions the last of which was good 10-15 years ago but I generally find it boring and prefer to spend time doing something else.


 hi Harry-Potter, I hope you don't find eating these mushrooms boring.


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