Mushroom search technology

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Mushroom picking is a fun process. In late summer - early autumn, mushrooms and mushroom pickers begin a kind of game: some are hiding, the second are looking. This is a real hunt for trophies, and what kind!

The season does not last long: mushrooms grow quickly, outgrow, spoil and are eaten by slugs too quickly, unfortunately ... Therefore, they need to hurry to collect, process and send for storage, so that they will last until next season.

Mushroom search technology

Route search

All mushroom pickers in Russia can be conditionally divided into several categories:

• Beginners: representatives of this category haphazardly rush through the forest in search of one or two species of mushrooms, often even at the height of the season come with empty baskets;
• Lovers: for them, a mushroom hike is a walk, a pleasant day in nature, the amount of mushrooms harvested does not really matter, but they do not return home with empty baskets;
• Experienced (avid, pros): true connoisseurs, they can pick mushrooms all year round and will never return home empty.

If you have no experience at all, but you really want to collect mushrooms, you should conduct reconnaissance in advance: ask friends, talk on forums, in general, find out where there are mushroom places nearby.

Another option: to carefully observe the passengers of commuter trains leaving the city early in the morning. Appropriate equipment and a basket in hand will help determine where the real mushroom picker is and where the summer resident is. Then you can safely sit down and go out with him. The main thing then is not to get lost in the forest due to inexperience.

Preparing for the hike

A good mushroom picker gets up early. And the point is not even that the mushrooms are better seen in the morning, but there is still no heat. Competitors are awake, a little late - and instead of young mushrooms that have grown overnight, there are only stumps.

Warn your relatives and acquaintances about your "promotion" and inform at what time to expect you back and, accordingly, when to start to panic.

Dressing in the forest should also be appropriate. A long-sleeved jacket, comfortable pants, closed shoes (rubber boots or sneakers), a hat on your head are the most suitable equipment. And to protect the neck, you can tie a scarf or kerchief on it. Indeed, in addition to mushrooms, you can also collect mosquitoes with ticks.

Be sure to take water and sandwiches with you. In the fresh air, and even after a long wandering through the woods, the appetite is good. A knife will also come in handy. It is advisable to immediately clean the collected mushrooms from adhering leaves, cut off the legs.

Beginners should first sit down and carefully look through atlases and reference books, as well as photos on the forums of their area with the names of mushrooms.

Take a fully charged phone with a positive financial balance to the forest so that you can use an electronic card if necessary. And grab a paper version of it with the company with a compass (if you feel so calmer).

Also, don't forget your medicines and a mini first aid kit just in case.

Collection rules

The search does not always give the desired result, little secrets will help to avoid disappointment and return home with a full basket:

• You should first look for the place of growth. These are certain areas of the forest with optimal conditions for a given species. The ability "by eye" to determine the place will come with time. An experienced mushroom picker often notes such places in his diary and visits them regularly.
• The golden rule is that a mushroom that is too small, overgrown, unfamiliar, of a dubious species or shape remains in the forest, you should not take it.
• Once in an unfamiliar forest, you should not go far from the path or road - there is a great chance to get lost and spend time looking for a way out instead of looking for mushrooms. It is better to look for glades and small meadows along them.
• There is such a sign: having found one copy, you should carefully look around, walk in a spiral. His brothers are almost certainly nearby, because often mushrooms grow in groups - families. Chaotic throwing through the forest will not lead to anything good. It is believed that the mushroom picker finds mushrooms intuitively.
• It is better not to cut the mushrooms, but to twist them out of the ground. Firstly: this will preserve the mycelium, and, therefore, it will be possible to visit this place in a year and harvest again. Secondly: competitors who have passed after them will not be able to find out that there are mushrooms in this place, and will not be ahead of another time.

Irina Selyutina (Biologist):

Opinions on how to pick mushrooms - cut or twist - vary greatly. Someone adheres to the first opinion, someone stubbornly stands his ground: "Just twist!". But not in how you collect speech - it all depends on the culture of collection, in what can be called a medical requirement: "Do no harm." This means that after cutting off or carefully twisting the stem of the fruiting body out of the soil, sprinkle it with earth. What for? To save the mycelium and give it the opportunity for the next season to please both you and other fans of the mushroom with new mushrooms.

• There is no need to make noise in the forest, shout loudly, turn on the music "at full", litter and knock down poisonous mushrooms. If a person cannot eat them, this does not mean that others (slugs, animals) will not eat them. They can be medicine for them.
• You need to learn to distinguish edible mushrooms from very similar counterparts. Before going into the forest, you should look at the mushroom portal and carefully study the distinctive features and appearance of these insidious impostors.
• You cannot eat raw mushrooms. It's not even worth trying. Health is expensive and to restore it after "I just licked!" - it can be very difficult.
• it is better to rake leaves or grass with a stick - this is more convenient and safer. There may be a snake in the grass that will bite immediately if disturbed. Therefore, take the trouble to choose a stick more firmly.
• After a certain time, you need to arrange a little rest for yourself. Choose a suitable location for this. Strenuous peering in the search process leads to excessive eye fatigue, visual acuity is lost, attention is scattered and, as a result, more and more good edible mushrooms go unnoticed. Apply simple exercises for tired eyes (you can also find them on the Internet).
• The mushrooms brought from the forest should be quickly sorted out and boiled. By the way, "faster" usually means 2-3 hours. They deteriorate even faster than they grow. Already in the morning, most of it will become wormy and unsuitable for food. This is especially true for tubular mushrooms.
• In a too dense old forest with tall trees, mushrooms hardly grow. They prefer sunny edges and a young forest with a sufficient amount of light making its way through the leaves.
• Mushroom picking near freeways, industrial plants, busy roads, railroad tracks is a sure way to go to the hospital for a long time. They absorb into themselves all the substances around them. The taste and benefits of such a set of substances are no more than from an old car tire.

Irina Selyutina (Biologist):

All edible mushrooms are divided into groups according to their ability to accumulate harmful compounds, including radionuclides, in their fruiting body:

• Bioaccumulators (active storage): polish, green and yellow-brown flywheel, bitter, common butter dish, larch and granular, thin pig.
• Strong drives: black and white milk mushrooms, pink and white waves, ordinary russula, chanterelles, brilliant green.
• Medium drives: white, gray ryadovki, real chanterelles, ordinary lines, marsh and common boletus boletus, aspen mushrooms and champignons.
• Discriminators: oyster mushrooms, russula, umbrella mushrooms, raincoats and autumn mushrooms. Representatives of this group are the most "pure".

• Mushrooms intended for drying should never be wetted. They can only be wiped off and adhered forest debris removed.
• An experienced mushroom picker often goes to the forest alone. It is preferable for a beginner or an amateur to walk accompanied by a person who understands the intricacies of mushroom hunting.
• It is best to use a basket or bucket for collection and transport. It is better to take a basket from natural materials so that the air can circulate freely. You can put a small piece of cloth on the bottom of the bucket to preserve the mushroom caps. In a plastic bag or shopping bag, the entire crop will be crumpled, most of the harvest will be broken.

In Russia, all seasoned mushroom pickers pay attention to folk omens and successfully use them before going into the forest: birch blossoms - you can collect morels and lines, bird cherry - boletus mushrooms have appeared. Everyone will have their own set of similar signs, and they all work.

The safest mushrooms

Oyster mushrooms, champignons, shiitake grown in artificial conditions may well be an alternative to forest and field mushrooms. In taste and appearance, they are not inferior to their wild counterparts. And you don't need to collect them. It is enough to run to the nearest store. And the price for them is quite democratic. But when choosing them, one should not forget that they should also be of the "highest freshness."

Mushrooms are a delicacy, a dietary and very healthy product. But in everything, measure is needed, and especially this statement applies to mushrooms. Their use is not recommended for people with liver disease and diabetes or other gastrointestinal problems.

But mushrooms are harvested not only for the sake of food (although this is also important). The main thing is a process that includes the instinct of a hunter, gatherer, inherited from our ancestors.