I love spending time with my family in the nature. You have clean air, organic food just in front of you and you do sports.
I am teaching my 4 years old son about forest, hills, wild berries and wild mushrooms. With wild mushrooms will be a long teaching process. He needs to learn to identify the edible ones from the non-edible ones, and that takes time and practice.
When we are in the forest I show him different types of flowers, bugs, moss, trees, butterflies and others. We learn to respect and take care of our forests. My parents taught me about wild mushrooms a long time ago and now is time to teach my son or anyone who wants to learn.
I always enjoyed collecting wild mushrooms. I took my son when he was 6 months old and he loved the experience. Now I go in the forest with my son, my big camera with my macro lens and take photos of all the mushrooms I see, edible or not. We have also 2 baskets that keep our mushrooms whole and some recipients for wild berries.
You need to learn about mushrooms in the forest, not on the internet. You need to smell them, touch them and look at them from all the angles.
There are some rules when you go collecting mushrooms:
- If you are not sure about a mushroom don’t take it. It’s better to be safe than sorry. If you decide to take it, because you have a person home who knows better, put it in a different basket.
- You don’t get sick from touching a toxic mushrooms, so you can touch it, but be careful not to touch your eyes or mouth.
- Smell the mushrooms. The edible ones have a distinct smell. Toxic ones tend to have a powerful smell.
- If you found snails on a mushroom then is an edible one. This is only for the mushrooms you know there are edible but you are not so sure.(I ate and I am still eating mushrooms with snails or worms inside. If you don’t like it, don’t do it. It’s not a must.)
- Buy a regional filed guide to learn what mushrooms grow wild near you, check a botanical atlas or internet or ask a person who knows about mushrooms.
- Pick only whole, firm and fresh mushrooms.
Don’t eat them raw. Boiled them once or twice and change the water every time. Just to be safe. If you eat them for the first time could be difficult to digest or you could be allergic to them. If they have worms put them for 1 hour in the water. The worms will come out. (This is because of rain.)
I am 100% sure about a few mushrooms and are the only ones that I collect. I know some are edible, but I never tried them. Still there is time. Each country or region of the country have different mushrooms, so you need to be aware of that.
Those are the ones that I always collect:
- Boletus edulis
- Chanterelle
- Gyromitra esculenta
- Armillaria mellea
- Clavulinaceae
- Clavariaceae
- Russula
- Lactarius deterrimus
- Lactarius deliciosus
- Suillus tomentosus
Cooking Without Limits 
Beautiful post!
Thank you
I would not have a clue whats what 😬 this is a great guide tho and fantastic photos of course 🙂
Thank you
What a nice way to do family things together 🙂
All the little things matter.
Thank you
loved mushroom picking with my dad when I was a child …unfortunately I didn’t pay much attention….nowadays I don’t want to take any risks so even the ones I think are the same we used to it I don’t pick….is there any mushroom pickers bible out there you would recommend?
Sorry, but I don’t know
This is so cool! I would never have any idea which one’s were which! 😛
Thank you
Wow looks like a great activity, always curious about going mushroom hunting and would love to do it in the future but perhaps with a guide who knows their stuff! Lovely pictures
Thank you
Lovely post- I used to spend my summer holidays in the forest in Germany and although I don’t like eating mushrooms I always found picking them (and finding other things like wild berries) so exciting 🙂
Thank you
Beautiful post, my happy pixel!! I love wild mushrooms, too. This is a recipe from last Fall:
https://thehappiestpixel.wordpress.com/2015/10/31/wild-mushrooms-and-a-bonus-a-vegan-recipe/
Love, thp
Thank you
Great post. Thank you.
You are welcome
Your blog is always so informative and beautiful. Definitely reading each one.
Thank you
Sounds like a ramble through the woods with you would be fun. I think the walking ability and stamina of a 4 yr old are about my level. Would you give me a cold drink or two and some chocolate when we got home? And then we could both take a nap … the 4yr old and me. 🙂
:). I would give you a cold drink and chocolate in the forest, too. I think we will have a lot of fun together.
Great post! Reminds me how important it is to spend time in natural surroundings.
Thank you
Beautiful pictures and insights about nature- if you have time could you check out my new blog – I am new at this- physicaltherapyinjury.com
Thank you. I will
The pictures are so pretty! I’ve always wanted to collect wild mushrooms, but didn’t want to get sick from choosing the wrong thing.
Thank you
Thanks for cooperating with me,some error occured with uploading photos to media.
By,the way beautiful posts
Thank you
Very fine post. Foraging is important to teach our children. Take care. Bob
Thank you. You too.
Delightful post. You could teach classes.A video on the subject would also be very educational.
Thank you. Is on my list.
Wow
Thank you
beautiful pictures and a lovely post !!!
Thank you
Here in France we can take mushrooms to the pharmacy for identification.
That’s so good!
Awesome post! Thanks!
Thank you
Lovely photograpy
Thank you
We are on the edge of the arid lands and I am unaware of any wild mushrooms around this area. Commercial only I’m afraid.and these are $A11 per kilo – about $US12:50.
Very expensive
What an amazing post ! Thank you for sharing 😊 feel free to check out my recent posts and let me know what you think!
Thank you
I would go and watch my parents pick mushrooms in a private forest & at the time did not appreciate their taste as they salted them too much. Friends would salt them even more & it took me a few years to appreciate just simple button ones.
Birch trees are always a good spot to look. A half chewed one is always a good sign but would you share it? It takes skill & courage to pick the right ones for sure.
They say to pick whole mushrooms. I found snails on a mushroom eatting it lots of time. I just take off the snail and put the mushroom in the basket. I boiled the mushrooms so is not a problem.
Lovely post. I wish I had a guide to teach me in the forest, there are many mushromms now in Sweden but I don’t know them so I don’t pick any.
Check for a book in the stores.
I will as soon as I learn some more Swedish. I doubt I’d find a guide on local species in English.
True. Take a Swedish one and try to translate it. It will help with the language. 😉
This was a lovely post. I enjoy mushrooms but do not live near anywhere I could go picking. Long ago one of my Russian instructors taugh me to identify some mushrooms, she said mushroom picking is popular in Eastern Europe. As an alternative to wild mushrooms, I make the recipes she gave me with an assortment of mushrooms from the Korean market and it works well.
Thank you
Gosh, your information on mushrooms was very helpful. And it’s nice being around nature, do you grow your own vegetables?
Some of them.
I can’t walk very far but we have a grove on our property that would probably be good for mushrooms. I want to find someone who really knows about them and have them help me learn about them. I’m a mushroom lover from my childhood…a very long time ago! Thanks for the great post!
You are welcome. Take that someone with you and have long walks and talks about mushrooms. Will be fun for both of you.
Thanks for sharing!
Walking in the forest always fills my soul. It is restorative and so beautiful. The forest floor changes week to week where I walk, with different fauna, bugs, mushrooms, and flowers.I like to keep an eye on the blackberries starting in Spring, and by late August my daughters and I can pick enough for a pie. Beautiful article!
Thank you
Interesting post. Have never thought about foraging for wild mushrooms.
Thank you
My boys (10 & 6 yrs old) and I have been learning about mushrooms. Would you recommend any books for kids on the topic? I’ve been looking around for children friendly material.
Sorry. I wish I knew. Maybe some of my followers know a book and will tell you about
Very cool! I’m always afraid to collect mushrooms
Thank you
Reblogged this on Summer Bourne, The Camper Cookie and commented:
Beautiful pics and good advice
Thank you
Lovely post. Love the photographs its very interesting to learn about collecting wild mushrooms. Being vegan a lot of the times mushrooms are a go too. its good to know there is a wild and wide variety
Thank you
I want to go on a mushroom picking tour too
Good luck and have fun!
Hi, I really like the site but I’m not certain about the “snails don’t eat poisonous mushrooms” claim.
I’ve heard it before and never seen a source to back it up.
This source does say the opposite though:
https://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/science/herbarium-and-resources/identification-and-information-services/edible-and-poisonous-fung
I need to add something thee. Thank you for telling me. This is about the mushrooms I know.
Those bright purple ones in your photo look amazing!
Thank you
Awesome!!
And thanks for the favourite!
enjoyed your post about mushrooms. I haven’t eaten any wild ones, but love to photograph them. My spouse and i have taken 2 trips to the Mendocino, CA area in the fall and winter. There are some beautiful ones on a forest walk we take. I’m especially fond of the red ones like the one in the center of your first photo grouping. We also saw some that looked like slightly undulating peanut butter cups!
Thank you. I love taking photos of mushrooms too
Reblogged this on HedgeRaw, Holistics and Herbs and commented:
Some useful information if you choose to gather mushrooms from the hedgerows and woodland
Thank you
such gorgeous shots!!!
Thank you
Magical photos of the mushrooms and forest! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you