Do you want to collect mushrooms, but don’t have any experience yet? No problem! Here you can find out everything you need to know for your first trip to the mushrooms.
Collect mushrooms – when and where?
Autumn time is fungus time – strictly speaking, that’s not true. In theory, you can pick mushrooms all year round. However, most of them are ready for harvest, especially in late summer and autumn. The humid and warm climate is ideal for many mushrooms.
But where do edible mushrooms grow? This is not so easy to answer:
The morel likes to grow in damp alluvial forests,
the meadow mushroom in meadows.
On the other hand, you can often find the Edelreizker under pine trees.
As you can see from the examples, you sometimes have to go to different places to collect different mushrooms. The condition of the soil plays an important role: some mushrooms grow particularly well on sandy soil, while others require acidic forest soil. Overall, you have a good chance of encountering edible mushrooms in the forest. Which one you ultimately find depends heavily on local conditions and the time of year.
Equipment and what to look out for
When collecting mushrooms, there are a few things to keep in mind. For example, mushroom picking is taboo in nature reserves. In all other forests, you are usually allowed to collect mushrooms for your own use, but do some research beforehand to be on the safe side. As with any other stay in the forest, you should behave considerately.
To collect mushrooms you need the following equipment:
a basket,
a knife
and a good mushroom identification book.
The collected mushrooms lie nice and airy in a basket. Plastic bags are not good at all. In it, mushrooms spoil very quickly.
Collect and identify mushrooms: This is how you do it
Here’s how you go about picking mushrooms:
If you have found a mushroom, you should first identify it. You can use the guide book to help you with this. Over time, however, you will be able to identify some mushrooms without a book.
If it’s an edible mushroom, you can use the knife to cut it off just above the ground, or gently twist it out of the ground.
Then you should cover the resulting hole with some soil and leaves.
When in doubt, leave a mushroom that you cannot identify with certainty. Some toadstools can be mistaken for edible mushrooms! Don’t just rely on illustrations in your mushroom book. Depending on the environment, individual mushrooms of a species can look very different.
Important characteristics for identifying fungi are, for example:
Shape and color of cap and stem
Distinction between lamellae and tubes on the underside of the mushroom
Staining of the lamellae and tubes
The site
The season
Color and smell of the pulp
Striking coloring when cut or when pressed
Especially at the beginning it will be difficult for you to identify the different species with certainty. It is best to let experienced collectors accompany you when you go mushroom picking. Mushroom tours are a great help. They are often offered by adult education centers in the fall. NABU also offers such excursions in many regions. Other good people to talk to about identifying mushrooms are mushroom consultants. You can find them in many mushroom regions.
Important: If you feel unwell after consuming your mushrooms, you should seek immediate medical attention or go to a hospital. As I said, certain fungi can sometimes be deadly to humans. Symptoms such as drowsiness, sweating or diarrhea can indicate mushroom poisoning.
The most popular edible mushrooms
There are countless types of mushrooms. Some are deadly poisonous, others are simply indigestible or inedible, for example because they are extremely bitter. A lot of mushrooms are edible, but they don’t taste very good. And then there are the really good edible mushrooms.
In Germany, for example, you can collect these well-known mushrooms:
porcini mushrooms
chestnuts
Morels
chanterelles
Other popular edible mushrooms are muscari, young ink caps, meadow mushrooms or birch mushrooms.
