The danger with most hobbies, is that over exposure can rapidly take the shine of them. Many a budding stamp collector must have given up after a month long stamp binge in their parent's attic/damp bedsit (you may get the sense that I don't see the point of collecting stamps...) and I'm sure there would be many more train-spotters if trains weren't so damn common.
One of the good things about mushrooms, though, is the fact that the majority of them only appear in late autumn. If you are lucky enough to have found so many that the novelty is wearing thin, it doesn't matter - because you're going to have to wait another year to get the opportunity to find some more.
So why mushrooms? Well, number 1, they are free. One of the most common mushrooms I pick - the trumpet chanterelle - retails for £25 a kilo in Borough Market. This year I picked a couple of kilos. And as much as I love Borough Market, I love walking in the woods more - so double bonus!
2 - If your friends can get over the fact that they are wild mushrooms and are satisfied that you aren't trying to either poison them or usher them into a new dawn of hallucinogenic mind expansion, giving people mushrooms is a really nice thing to do.
3 - They taste great. There are endless things you can do with fresh mushrooms - and if you have too many you can even dry them and use them throughout the rest of the year.
4 - You get to feel a little bit like a cross between Ray Mears and Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall - only thinner. Nothing beats foraging for food for a sense of achievement.
So what of the risks etc?
Many mushrooms are poisonous. A few will kill you - in a fairly horrific manner. But then, if you went picking blackberries and decided to just start eating any berry you could find in the hedgerow, I'd imagine your future would be very much like Jimmy Cranky. Painful and short.
The best advice I've ever read is this. You cannot learn all there is to know about mushrooms. So learn what one looks like - I recommend any of the Boletes, as almost all of them are edible - and avoid all the rest. Every time you find a new mushroom, try and identify it. If you can identify it with no doubt whatsoever - pick it and take it home. Mostly though, you will not feel that confident. Listen to that doubt. Every year, try and add a new one to your repertoire.
There are maybe half a dozen mushrooms that I would now pick and eat with out looking them up in a book to confirm their identity - and I am pretty familiar with quite a few more. I'm happy with this; it gives me a fairly good chance of finding a mushroom I can eat on most autumnal days.
The only equipment you will need is a mushroom identification book (two would be even better!). Amazon, ebay and second hand bookshops can help you out here - none of them are all that expensive.
If you can pick up a second hand copy of Mushrooms: River Cottage Handbook No.1
, that is an excellent start. |
| A nice array of parasols, amethyst deceivers and boletes |
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| Trumpet chanterelle |
So enjoy foraging - plus, as an added bonus, your friends will think you're a scary risk-taker. You won't be, but you will have a nice, safe, wild mushroom omelette.
Mushroom book £8.50
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