There are more than 2,000 species of edible and medicinal mushrooms in the world, and considering we can find only a dozen or so kinds at the supermarket, it makes you wonder: what else is out there? The good news is, it’s totally within your power to find out - by foraging!
Hunting or foraging for wild mushrooms can be a very rewarding experience, not only are they tasty and healthy when eaten but foraging also helps keep you mind and body active, it allows you to immerse yourself in the outdoors, and continually teaches you new things about the natural world.
You don’t need much in the way of equipment to find and pick mushrooms, but there are a few key items and resources that will help you find what you’re looking for as well as keep you safe, from both accidentally poisoning yourself and getting lost in unfamiliar terrain.
In this guide, we will share some tips and tools for edible mushroom foraging:
🍄 Tips for Mushroom Foraging:
- Be 110% certain of what you are picking.
- Don’t pull the mushrooms up by the roots; cut them.
- Don’t take more than you plan to eat.
- Take pictures of mushrooms that you cannot identify to ask others and gain knowledge.
- Enjoy being in the forest even if you do not find any mushrooms.
🍄 Tools for Mushroom Foraging:
01. Be 110% sure of what you are putting in your mouth!
The biggest fear people have when they start hunting mushrooms is meeting an unfortunate end by sampling the wrong species, and that anxiety is well founded. As the saying goes, “There are old mushroom hunters, and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters.”
The best way to avoid poisoning is to get familiar with the characteristics of the specific mushrooms you’re looking for, learn when and where they’re available, and ignore everything else.
The best way to do that is to get a good mushroom-identification book; (such as The Complete Mushroom Hunter) . These books detail individual species’ habitats and growing seasons, their look and smell, and their edibility or toxicity. (The Complete Mushroom Hunter)
Do not be afraid to use an app which allows you to identify automatically the species of a mushroom from a picture. Take a photo or upload directly from your gallery, and get an answer instantly. Most apps also include a list of the most common edible mushrooms. Read our blog Best Mushroom Foraging Apps.
02. Find and pick mushrooms
Once you know what you’re looking for, it’s time to actually go out into the wild and find it. To do that, you’ll need a few things.
✔ Basket or a mesh bag: Part of being a good mushroom hunter is ensuring that there will be mushrooms to hunt next season. Many believe that using a wicker picnic-style basket or a mesh bag ensures that spores can fall from the mushrooms you’ve picked and repopulate the forest floor. Plastic is fine if you transfer your finds to another container like a basket very shortly. Leaving them in a plastic bag for too long on a warm or hot day causes the mushrooms to sweat becoming soft and slimy.
Get your own: Crate Mushroom Hunting Bag
✔ Pocket Knife: You need a knife to clean up the stems of mushrooms you pick, cut them to check for worms, and in some cases cleanly extract them from the ground.
✔ Brush: It’s a good idea to carry a brush to clean the tops and gills, ridges, or pores of your mushrooms after you’ve picked them.
Get you own: Opinel Mushroom knife N°08
✔ Map or off-line GPS device: If you’re heading deep into the woods—especially woods you don’t know well—it’s a good idea to take an off-line GPS device along so you can be sure you’ll find your way out. You will also be able to mark the locations of found mushrooms so that you can return to the same spot in future seasons.
03. Use or preserve your mushrooms
Depending on what kind of mushrooms you pick and how much you’re able to harvest, you may end up with way more than you can reasonably use before they go bad.
While they’re fresh, you can use edible mushrooms in pasta and soups, and many are delicious grilled or fried. But it bears repeating: Cook mushrooms thoroughly before eating, and never eat them raw. Consult your guidebook for cooking tips specific to each species.
If you don’t think you’ll get to your fresh mushrooms in time, you might want to think about preserving them for when you are ready.
✔ Food dehydrator: There are a variety of ways to preserve mushrooms, and certain methods work best with certain species: Sautéing and freezing, pickling, and canning are all options for chanterelles, for instance. But drying is the closest there is to a universal solution, and it can actually improve or concentrate the flavour and aroma of some mushrooms. Most mushrooms rehydrate well for use in soups and pasta, and dried mushrooms can also be ground into powder and used as a seasoning. The best, fastest way to dry mushrooms is with a good food dehydrator.
For more Mushroom Foraging Tips and Tools follow the link:
Mushroom Collecting Equipment
Posted by: Brittany
#MushroomForaging #WildMushrooms #EdibleMushrooms #Tips #Tools
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