I doubt Nicolas Evans will be joining you any time soon...
horse whisperer was brutally boring!
We are lucky that our neighbors love mushrooms and has been doing mushroom picking for years! He knows the kind of mushrooms that are edible and if he's not sure, he leaves them alone.
Last weekend, we went to the forest between Baldegg and Birmenstorf and there were a lot of 'Halimasch'.
http://www.pilz-baden.ch/galerie/ostoyae.html
We live in Brugg and 2 weekends ago, we went mushroom picking in Bruggerberg and found a lot of Eierschwamm. I totally agree with you, mushrooms are yummy!
i spent about an hours poring through about 15 different books before arriving at this one. a short review on a book about schrooms.
1 mal 1 des Pilzesammelns (Kosmos) cost me CHF28. one can get it for 15eur from amazon (shipping not included) has got just about everything, and the info is extremely well-organised.
1. begins with the basic terminology (stem, dome, lamella etc) and generalised graphics
2. answers the basic where, when and how to gather
3. mushrooms are organised side-by-side by similarity
4. sign labelled with tasty, ****ty but not poisonous and poisonous
5. colour-coded seasonal calendars on every page
6. descriptions using general terms (#1)
7. ruler on the back page
8. loads of glossy pics
9. fits into back pocket
the only downside is that its completely in german.
so i got the book and the identification evening on mon...so all i need now is insurance.
ok, so, here i am again, updating my own thread hurhur
hsiang reporting back on what really goes on behind closed doors during a Pilzbestimmungsabend (see above). is it really a gathering of schroom aficionados brought together by a love of nature? or a conclave of hippies who consume gratuitous amounts of psychotropic fungi, and who thereafter make gratuitous hippie love all night every monday night?
fortunately/unfortunately, it is the former. seeing that the average age of the participants is roundabout 82, it may be a good thing. or a bad thing, depending on your perspective.
Pilzbestimmungsabend at the Baden Pilzverein lasts from 20-22H, non/alcoholic drinks are available and the lavatory is conveniently outside the Verein. medium of instruction-german. the headcount for the evening was about 20, and the evening consists of 2 parts:
part 1: fresh mushroom specimens are passed around the 8-10 tables with participants, who then use a textbook key to identify them schrooms. incorrect answers are penalised with consumption of the schroom in question.
part 2: specimens are placed under a microscope and image is projected onto a screen for discussions about the spore-y side of the schroom and about how the schroom evolves.
membership at the Verein is about chf40 for the year, which includes various schroom related activities like gathering excursions, cooking events etc.
Where do we find the latter?
Congratulations for taking the plunge and thank you for reporting back. Have you got a location tip yet, too?
Also congratulations on surviving the mushroom identification (or are there some with slow-acting poison? )
good question! i hear the Jura hills of Basel are alive with psychedelia and hippies
thanks and thanks! i have a few locations in mind, but am still hoping a random swiss would take me with
apparently, the most poisonous schroom is the death cap or gruĢner knollenblaĢtterpilz ( amarita phalloides ) and has a nice anise fragrance. . 5g is enough to kill a child, while a whole mushroom can take up to 48 hours to kill a grown up. it works by destroying the liver and the kidney. mild hallicinations may follow...
i am still feeling well today, although the sky seems a pretty shade of purple... hee hee! hee!
What about magic mushrooms??????
"Magic" is illegal in Switzerland and you therefor have to enquire that elsewhere than the forum.
i finally went to the woods today, and blogged about the practical experience, including letting the shrooms get checked at the Pilzkontrolle. it was more a practical experience, as opposed to PnP info, so i put it in a blog instead. enjoy!
that's awesome hsiang! well done..sorry never got back to you on my friend (he never replied either) anyway, interesting blog post...perhaps you could organise a mushroom picking event here at EF?? but i want to look for truffles (and not the Sprungli kind....)
again, well done, the photos look good too...
I wanna go schroooooom pickin? But i know a little about mushrooms I am near basel Dornach anyone i could tag along with??
[quote=Hsiang;271700]does anyone know how or where to find funky porcini?
quote]
I guess you are looking for magic mushrooms. I used to indulge in them a lot. Also Fly Agaric, which are common enough in the UK, but are bloody poisonous and nearly killed me. They are supposed to give you a great hit in Scandinavia where they feed off rotting pine needles but in the UK they are a bad thing. Believe me. I'm not trying to keep you back from a treat. Mr. 4 cherries nearly got knocked off his perch by them things.
I can spot liberty caps but they have got to look like liberty caps for me to touch them.
Here in France we are lucky, as every pharmacy has to recognize any mushrooms brought to them. So you can't be poisoned, except by being very stupid. However, I think some folk are a little naive here. Showing others their favorite mushroom gathering spots is not something that mushroom gatherers do readily. Even between friends, never mind just-met foreigners. May your experience prove me wrong .
Seems a shame to stick to "ceps". For instance, Lawyers wigs (Coprinus comatus) are easy to recognize and very tasty, before they start dripping ink.
I hear the shroomery is a good resource.
hmm...i really doubt if there's sufficient interest on EF, if this thread is anything to go by.
oh, i am looking into the truffle thing. apparently u need either a dog or a pig.
if there's anyone who lives in baden, has a dog and/or pig (no cats, please), i am willing to train, for free, your pet to seek out truffles. i'll throw in a 10% commission on my yield (no guarantee on edibility), plus your pet would learn to find truffles. good deal, no?
or an otter?
you crack me up with your post....i am sure there will be interest...i am interested..maybe try the laksa get together first....
did u see in 20 min about the lady who found that black truffle in the forest with her dog?? it was amazing....worth CHF 500..
sounds bad. did mr 4 cherries come into any permanent conditions as a reuslt of excessive consumption of them things?
ps: porcini is really the italian name for steinpilz, or as Mr Zappa mentioned, "cep."