I love foraging mushrooms. It is a great exercise and also an amazing walk in the forest. Disconnected from the city rush, it is a wonderful place to meditate, listen to the birds or just to rest in the grass.
If you check my facebook account you will see a lot of photos from the forest especially in the last week.
We had some guest from France and I took them in the forest. A few times we went twice a day.
We also had great weather for mushrooms. I seen more mushrooms in a week that I saw in the last 5 – 6 years.
Most of the mushrooms were Boletus Edulis which are the best mushrooms in the world – my opinion of course. I love to smell them when I found them in the forest.
So imagine a week with 6 years old boy and some adults foraging in the forest, sometimes in the rain, with people screaming with joy when they found mushrooms.
I had a few nights when I went to sleep and I would dream about finding mushrooms. Ha ha ha!!
Coming home with 2 -3 kg of mushrooms became a problem. We needed to cook them or preserve them. My husband made an amazing “Bors de hribi” – Sour soup with boletus and we made boletus with sour cream, boletus cream soup and simple fried boletus.
My mother in law boiled them a little and then refrigerate them, but most of them I dried them. Imagine the smell of all the dried mushrooms.
Boletus edulis is well suited to drying—its flavor intensifies, it is easily reconstituted, and its resulting texture is pleasant.
Cut them into lengthwise slices no less than ½ inches thick from cap to base. Put them on a twine and leave it in the sun or hang them in the kitchen.
Reconstitution is done by soaking in hot, but not boiling, water for about twenty minutes; the water used is infused with the mushroom aroma and it too can be used in subsequent cooking. Dried boletus have more protein than most other commonly consumed vegetables apart from soybeans.
Cooking Without Limits 
Most Americans would be terrified to gather wild edibles — for good reason. We’re a couple of generations away from people who actually knew their way around the woods. It’s cool to hear about how your family keeps this kind of tradition alive! Gorgeous photos of the mushroom strings, too.
Thank you. I made it my mission to teach my son about tradition and other things that are dying. Picking your food is one of this things.
Thank you
These are lovely. I am also hoping for a good mushroom season when/if we go to visit family in Russia. Drying is the best way for us to bring them back. I mostly use dried mushrooms in brothy soups or occasionally as an additional to fried rice — what about you?
I use dried mushrooms in risotto, soups, pies, etc.
I’ve never really thought about foraging for mushrooms – mostly because I’m nervous about getting the wrong kinds! Love that you do it!
Good article, thanks for the links. I like that you point out how intense the flavor is in dried mushrooms. So few people, even many who cook professionally, don’t bother to learn there is a whole other world in dried & reconstituted food.
Thank you
This reminds me of Poland when I was a kid. My parents still go mushroom picking as they live there. They said there aren’t any mushrooms yet but soon. We use the dried mushroom in pierogi filling or bigos (cabbage soup also known as hunter’s stew). Enjoy your fruits of labor.
Thank you
I really must bring some hribi back to UK from our forthcoming trip. Drying them as you describe will be the ideal thing for transporting them.
I’ll have to find someone who knows their mushrooms to collect our own, otherwise I’ll have to buy them.
I send to France dried mushrooms. It is the best way to preserve hribi
Love this very educational post. I have happy memories of picking mushrooms as a child with my mother. She made the best soup! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you
My only experience with mushrooms so far is canned button mushrooms that I use in salads, stir fries and pizzas. This post has inspired me to try other kinds too.
I do remember foraging mushrooms with my family and friends a a child…we would make a picnic out of it! I also remember buying kilos of succulent mushrooms in a local farmers market in France and wondering how to preserve them. I finally cooked them and stored in batches in the freezer…drying them sounds like a much better idea!
exhilarating
I love mushrooms!! I should see if we have any foraging classes nearby. Great photos! 🙂
Thank you
Definitely worth checking which mushrooms are edible in your area first time round. My mother got very sick eating wild mushrooms where we grew up in Australia. A neighbor told her they were the same as those from the Black Forest back in Germany. 🤢
Sorry about that. I trust a few people when I ask about mushrooms.
Great photos, and great experience I must say..Thank you for sharing the tip to store these mushrooms for longer time.
Thank you
how cool.I have never thought to dry mushrooms that way…
This is great! A few years ago, while homeschooling my son, we did some reading on mushrooms. I find it so interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you
So glad you are finding so many B. edulis. It’s like a treasure hunt every day you head into the forest! I am hoping that the late summer rains are sufficient to get the B. edulis going. I haven’t dried any in a while because I still have a lot from previous years. They last a very long time once dried. Last year, it was kind of ridiculous. It rained and rained and the mushrooms kept coming up. I also like to saute them in some butter or oil and freeze them. I have a big freezer but if you don’t, drying them is a better option. Love how you string them on thread. It looks like a mushroom mobile.
Thank you. This is a good year for mushrooms too.
These mushrooms are so pretty! I had no idea they looked like this when dried 🙂
Thank you
Nice post. A Polish friend taught me to dry mushrooms and now I do it every year, it’s not very popular in England so there’s not much competition. B.edulis doesn’t grow round here but there are lots of similar species, all good when dried. Best wishes and thanks for liking my blog.
Thank you
best mushrooms in the world. sadly we don’t have them down here in dobrogea.