Mushroom hunting and picking is a good outdoor activity, that will result in a tasty dish. Hunting for a bagful of mushrooms can be a time-consuming undertaking and it may take a couple of hours or more. A good time to start the mushroom hunting session is when the early morning sunlight already allows you to look for mushrooms easily. When you arrive to prospective woodland, mushrooms can be found in damp spots near shrubs and dead trees, especially on areas that are covered by fine needles of spruce and pine. Green moss is also a good indication that mushrooms can be found nearby, because it means that the area is damp enough for mushrooms to grow. When you do see some mushrooms, make sure that they have convex cap. There are different shades of edible convex cap mushrooms, including light yellow, brown and dark brown. Around pine trees, it is quite likely that we will find dark brown convex cap mushrooms. Because edible mushrooms often have yellow and brown colors, they can be rather difficult to find.
When you are looking for wild mushrooms, try to find those from the Boletus family, which are quite delicious. They are favourite among would mushroom hunters. A proper way to harvest them is to use a small pocket knife to cut the mature mushrooms near to the ground. Don’t pick them up, because you may kill dozens of small spawns next to it. You can go to the same place a few days later to get more Boletus mushrooms. The smallest mushroom that you can take should be about 7 cm high and you should never take all of them. Leave at least 10 percent of the grown mushrooms, especially those nearest the tiny spawns. You may leave the older mushrooms behind, because they are no longer as tasty the younger ones. Avoid picking wild mushrooms near commercial areas, streets, manufacturing plants and housing areas. They may already take up metals and other dangerous toxins. Many wild mushrooms are perfectly edible and tasty, but you should avoid picking any mushroom that you don’t recognize. If you are in doubt, avoid picking the mushroom, because the mushroom poisoning can be fatal.
Once we get home, we should immediately continue with the cleaning task. We may store the clean mushrooms or immediately cook them. It is important to know that fresh mushrooms have short shelf life and it should be no more than one day inside the fridge. At the time, it will continue to degrade in terms of texture and flavour. That’s another reason why we should look for wild mushrooms in the morning, so we can cook them at the same day. Mushrooms are healthy, they are low in calories, fat, cholesterol and sodium, while giving us enough basic nutrition. They are rich in various B vitamin components, such as riboflavin, panthotenic acid, thiamine, niacin and folate. They are also the only vegan food with substantial vitamin D.