I had to search-out the smallest 'plate' in the house to present my first foraging bounty of the year, otherwise they would have looked just plain silly. The weather has been perfect for Girolles, but, frankly, they're just not growing in the quantities we used to find years ago. I ate the above yesterday morning; when cooked they just about fitted on the end of my fork.
Many years ago, at this time of year and after our current type of weather, I used to go out with a large basket more than once a day, and fill several boxes which were sold to the merchants who travelled from farm to farm in big white vans.
I understand that two of my favourite mushrooms are particularly susceptible to pollution; the Girolle (above), and the black Trompette des Morts, both of which are without question in decline here. One can but wonder if pollution isn't the culprit. Even in an area where there is hardly any industry, pollution has a way of tracking you down.
Maybe next week I'll be knee-deep in mushrooms.... but somehow I doubt it.
Many years ago, at this time of year and after our current type of weather, I used to go out with a large basket more than once a day, and fill several boxes which were sold to the merchants who travelled from farm to farm in big white vans.
I understand that two of my favourite mushrooms are particularly susceptible to pollution; the Girolle (above), and the black Trompette des Morts, both of which are without question in decline here. One can but wonder if pollution isn't the culprit. Even in an area where there is hardly any industry, pollution has a way of tracking you down.
Maybe next week I'll be knee-deep in mushrooms.... but somehow I doubt it.
11 comments:
Was that half a forkful each?
He that findeth, eateth (unless there's enough to share).
Wild mushrooms are my favourite foods - I love field mushrooms on toast. In the field behind our house it used to be full of mushrooms which I picked every day - now there are just one or two patches of horse mushrooms - I never considered pollution being the cause of their demise.
We had wild girolles in the garden once. Oh no, hang on, I'm thinking of giraffes. You just can't get the toast to fit a nice juicy giraffe. Not without a lot of fuss, anyway. Splendid things, girolles; easy to farm. You don't need a sheep-dog with girolles.
There is special delight isn't there in harvesting and then eating a rare delicacy. I certainly notice the scarcity of field mushrooms here (I can usually fill a slice of toast) and attribute their decline to the disappearance of sheep on the land, but pollution could well be a cause.
Our world is changing so much because of pollution, and even though a lot of lip service is given to the subject, not enough is done.
Sad to hear these enchanted little things are being affected.
I have a neighbor who ripped up all the grass in their front yard just because of a few dandelions. They then proceeded to sprinkle huge bags of chemicals all over and then grass seed. Of course, it rained. So all that stuff ran off into the sewers which eventually ends up in the water system again. Now he has a few patches of neon green grass. It's maddening.
I recently saw a whole field like that. I couldn't help but wonder what he thought he was achieving, and what the hell he'd been spraying! It really was Neon, Day-Glo, green.
I don't see any Psilocybin mushrooms woes gone wrong :)
A passerby asked if he could scrape the fungus growing from a dying tree in our front yard. Apparently it's helpful for some cancer patients. I told him he was welcome to it, and he said he'd be back that afternoon after picking some black trumpet mushrooms. He gave me a bag of them as a thank you. I couldn't use them all right away, so dried what i couldn't use. Feels like a real treat.
armillaris luteobobolina?
I'm not sure what they are called in the northern sphere. Great eating when cooked. Nasty on the throat when raw. They look similar to your picture.
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