Can anyone recommend a good guide for the above criteria?
Thanks!
Hey folks!
Speaking from personal experience, it is very difficult for a layman to compare accurately, something growing in the wild to a picture in a guide book - they never look exactly like one picture, but similar to a few different ones, of which at least one could be dodgy.
Also there are different levels of toxins to be found. I know for a fact that some mushrooms that are enjoyed here are marked as semi-poisonous in a book but are fine in small quantities.
Recognition is something that comes from hands on experience - your best bet is to take what you select t one of the official "inspectors", that some Gemeindes/Communes provide or use.
Can't really help you, but there's a mushroom convention about to happen either this weekend or next in Develier, Jura. Can't seem to find a proper link for it. Know it exists and has done for years, heard about it on Radio Frequence Jura ce matin.
I'm not sure you can find a guide in English about mushrooms in Jura, it's quite a specialized thing. (now, perhaps a passionate person could have done it.)
It exists in French, or you can certainly find a guide about mushrooms in English, but I recommend you go for it with somebody who is used to pick up mushrooms, as some of them can be deadly, or can make you seriously ill.
Personally I learnt *mushrooms* with my grandfather and my mum and I limit my choice to a few mushrooms I particularly appreciate.
I have one good Jura mushroom book - but in French. I have lots of mushroom books in both languages for cross-referencing, but like SuisseRomand, i learnt with my dad when very young, and normally limit myself to about 12 species I am absolutely sure about and which we enjoy eating. I also pick 'petits gris' (clouded agaric) although I don't like them, but I take them to an elderly neighbour who loves them and can't go herself anymore. Strangely enough, they are illegal for sale or for restaurant use in CH, as they can make some people ill (not seriously, but unpleasant for some) - and yet they are sold on markets in France and often served in restaurants, without any warning.
SuisseRomand - which one to you pick?
Thanks for all suggestions - I'm well aware of the risks, just looking for a go-to guide, if any exists.
Odile - which book in French would you suggest then?
Les champignons de la montagne jurassienne, by Max André Moingeon,
Neo edition isbn 2-914741-04-9
Also check from your Commune the name and details of your local mushroom checker- and use them for identification. They will teach you a lot.
I strongly suggest you avoid ones that look like these unless you want to become convinced that little people are living inside your carpet:
Now that frosts are with us, the mushroom season will soon be over. A few species cope well with frost and are good in late autumn, blewitts and blue-legs (same family) and the wildest, brightest mushroom, bright orange and yellow, which to most would look very dangerous, but in fact tastes a bit like chicken - Hygocybe punicea, or Hygrophore rouge ponceau. It is an excellent indicator or lack of pollution and lack of fertilisers- often used to prove the very old age of a pasture by the National Trust in the UK. Often found into November in, as said above, very ancient pastures.
Thanks, yes I have visited the ones in Nyon and Gland several times, very useful, but often our schedules don't match up and I end up having to do my own research. Hence the cry for a book.
I'm a fan of the *pied de mouton*, perfect with a raclette. I like also the *trompette de la mort*, once dried they are perfect in a sauce.
also like bolet, agaric, chanterelle and Oronge
Oronge??? Do you really find them near Geneva? None in the Jura - I thought it was a Med type.
'normal' agarics are called 'rosés des prés' in Switzerland, or field mushrooms in England. I also frequently find the related 'sylvatica' with brown scales on top, or wood mushroom. And in the UK I also used to find the 'horse mushroom' - much bigger and fleshier, and delicious. But the un-initiated could mistake all the above for the Yellow stainer - like some friends of mine in the Midlands. Not a killer - but will make you very ill for some days. In the UK I used to find many blewitts and bluelegs - taste is quite strong and texture a bit slimy when cooked, but excellent. Not so many around here.
Also love Parasol mushrooms (lépiotes) which I find both here and in the UK in large amounts. And of course 'écailleux' for pickling and eating with raclette. And so many more. One of my favourites is 'the Miller' (le Meunier)- but again one that can be easily mistaken for many poisonous species.
So Ploymi - what is in your mushroom basket?
They are really rare now. But 20 or 30 years ago...
2 weeks ago was my first experience picking mushroom in the forest. Since I have no experience at all about mushroom I only picked ones that I recognized very well from website I've been reading. I got some mushroom called Coprinus comatus and a big mushroom called giant puffball. It was really a big mushroom. For taste I prefer the Coprinus comatus better.
Mostly just lactaires and champignons at the moment as we just stick to what we are 100% sure of, though just yesterday I picked a number of specimens which I want to research...
Coprinus comatus - or the hairy or ink coprinus. Yes, a good edible species but a bit bland. I cook them with shallots, lardons and a bit of cream and white wine, with a bit of cracked pepper. The key is to pick them young, when they are still closed and with the bottom not 'inked'The parasol mushrooms are not dissimilar, but a bit more tasty.
Careful with its cousin - which is smooth and can really cause great upset in some people, especially if drunk with alcohol.
In the Midlands (central UK) I used to find loads of giant puffballs. Tried to fry them with garlic, herbs, curry, paprika - but never ever managed to make them tasty!
BTW Ploymy, the book also includes local maps and suggested mushroom walks. Do you actually eat 'lactaires'? Really don't like the bitter taste.
Oooh great!
Yes we've eaten many - not my favourites, but with enough butter, I'd probably enjoy pencil erasers.
That was the ink ones. Same as you I found the giant puffball was not tasty.
They are both 'ink' caps - one species smooth and the other hairy - the second is the best and totally safe. Called 'shaggy' ink cap in the UK. Be careful with the smooth one, as said above it can cause great upset in some people, especially if eaten with alcohol (not deadly though )
We saw tons and tons of them growing by the Mway all through the Jura from Besançon.
@Ploymi - isn't life too short to eat non tasty bitter mushrooms though (unless you are starving, of course). We were lucky as when we were very hard up we lived near Richmond Park in London - i used to walk and cycle for miles to pick a basketful everyday- parasols and field mushrooms mostly, and it fed up very nicely for months. Got very imaginative on how to cook them.
That was Shaggy ink cap. Thanks for your guide.