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The full -scale rainy summer has led to an unusually early start of the chanterelle season. File image. Photo: Martina Holmberg/TT
Already, anyone who likes chanterelles can go out into the forest. The rainy summer has made the season started unusually early.
– It’s a good start, says mushroom expert Michael Krikorev.
After rain comes sun – and, with some luck, mushrooms. One or a few weeks after substantial rain showers, the mushroom is well thrived. It needs to be wet a bit down in the ground, about five centimeters, according to Michael Krikorev, mycologist at the Swedish University of Agriculture (SLU).
– Rainy years you can pick mushrooms all summer.
The chanterelle, one of the most popular food fungi in Sweden, grows well during rainy summers. Karl Johan fungi, on the other hand, like hot and dry weather.
Early season
The high season for mushroom picking is usually in August and September, with some variations depending on where in the country you are located.
– The season has been running a little earlier than usual because it has rained so much. The chanterelles have started and picked in several parts of the country, says Michael Krikorev.
Anyone who is going out and looking for mushrooms has the benefit of an airy basket to put the mushrooms in. Preferably no plastic bag – where it becomes trapped and moist. GPS in the mobile, or map and compass, is also useful.
The views on how the fungus is to be picked go apart.
– Some think it is immoral to pick for small chanterelles. There will be discussion every year, some think that the small mines should be allowed to stand and grow. But in general, you do not damage the fungus, it is in the ground all year round, says Michael Krikorev.
Don’t chance
The most important advice of all? Just picking the mushrooms if you are a hundred percent sure it can be eaten and cook them properly.
Pine blood risks and wine risks belong to Michael Krikorev’s favorite fungi. In addition, he wants to strike a blow for the blood soup – a firm and fine fungus that rarely gets the larva and does well in soups.
– The blood soup looks pretty scary as it has blood red foot. If you cut into it, it becomes blue -green or blue black fairly quickly. It has been scary, but now it has been noticed more and more.
How the rest of the mushroom season becomes is too early to say. The chips can quickly dry up if it does not rain enough. It is usually possible to predict a few weeks ahead.
– It’s like predicting the weather, says Michael Krikorev.
Fact advice to the mushroom picker
Mushrooms should be treated as a delicate fresh product, comparable to seafood. It is much more common to get sick from bad specimens of edible species than to really be poisoned.
Just pick mushrooms that you probably recognize as edible.
Just take mushrooms that feel firm and healthy.
Do not put fungus in plastic bag as it easily develops bacteria in such a dense environment.
Cut away everything that is the insect forced (the “worm”) and the earthy part of the fungus, preferably already in the forest.
Clear away all the debris and preferably cook the mushroom the same day. Different fungi are different sensitive – chanterelles are a little more durable than, for example, soups.
Source: Natural History Museum and Michael Krikorev.
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