Hunting for 'shrooms

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

I checked off an item on my bucket list this Autumn. Was it learning something substantial, like Mandarin or the oboe? Nope. Was it completing a new physical feat like, say, an Ironman? Heavens, no. Was it reaching a state of higher consciousness, a-la my favorite poets, the Transcendentalists? *Head shake*.

No, the bucket list item that I checked off with zeal was going mushroom foraging in the Czech wilds!

I told my dear friend Mrs. TyVole that I'd long wanted to hunt for houby (mushrooms) like every red-blooded Czech seems to do in the Fall. It's literally a national past-time here. But I'd been afraid to do so because A) I had no idea where to look and B) I figured I'd pick something violently poisonous.

So Mrs. TyVole kindly enlisted her lovely mother, and we all set out into woods 30km outside of the outskirts of northeast Prague. It was a soggy Sunday morning, which was good since apparently mushrooms love wet weather.

And the woods were magical from the get-go.


True, the mushrooms were rife, but everything I picked was either something the ladies knew was unsuitable or something they didn't recognize.



Mrs. TyVole and her mother wove in and out of the mist, identifying mushrooms and imparting wisdom such as, "The crazy Czechs have been out here since 6 a.m. If you see obvious mushrooms, they aren't good." So we looked for 'shrooms that were a bit more hidden. When they found a good one, they'd slice it open with a knife to check for worms.


Underneath some pine I found this "Fly Agaric" mushroom, which is highly psychoactive; I remember reading about it on a Czech horticulture website. But it's beautiful, no?


 Now and then, we'd hit a road and follow that for a while. The setting was enchanting and I enjoyed just wandering, mushrooms or no mushrooms.



The colors, the textures, the earthy smells... straight out of a Hans Christian Anderson story. Gnomes and fairies could have popped up and it wouldn't have surprised me an iota.




Finally, we hit some fungal winners. After hunting for a good few hours, each of us was able to pick enough gems to provide for a solid mushroom entree dinner. Score!



At the conclusion of our hunt we were thoroughly chilled and quite grubby - and toting rather light cachets of mushrooms. So we settled into a 1950s motorest for soup.


Coincidentally, the motorest was near the former home of one of my favorite Czech authors, Bohumil Hrabal. A good Hrabal quote: "I was always lucky in my bad luck."

I agree - some might consider our small harvest bad luck, but for me, it was enormously rich.

*Consult the Czech Mycological Society for mushroom hunting assistance and check out this Prague TV guide for photos. Don't forget a sharp knife, a clean basket and a big appetite.



Linking up for #traveltuesday with Jessie, Camila, Amy and Jessi!

23 comments

  1. I LOVE this! I'm so glad you got to go mushrooming! I'm dying to take part in this national pasttime (it really does seem like everyone does it!) but I think I need a Czech invite. Not only because I'm terrified of poisoning myself, haha, but I also wouldn't know where to go! :) thanks so much for sharing! xo

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  2. Your pics are great! This looks like such a great way to spend a day and I think it's a really cool thing for your bucket list!
    ~ Marcella

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  3. OMG that's awesome!! I finished reading Omnivore's Dilemma and wanted to go hunting for mushrooms. Looks so much fun! I love the "Fly Agaric" mushroom. Looks so pretty! What dishes did you make out of the mushrooms?

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  4. I had heard about mushrooming from Amy's blog since she's also living in Czech Republic - it sounds like such a quaint/weird activity! I love it! I mean that is totally something the locals would do and not a touristy thing - it is well worth checking off of a bucket list :) I'd be so worried to just be picking bad mushrooms though!

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  5. You are living my Czech dream! :)) One day. I just need to be more persistent :) Did you learn to find the good ones? The fairy tale red mushrooms are so pretty. Did you cook anything delicious afterwards?

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  6. Seriously - what is it with the Eastern Europeans and their love of mushrooms?! It's rampant. I actually have never done this, although all your talk of magical woods is kind of inspiring me!

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  7. Wow, sounds cool! I don't like mushrooms, so mushroom picking sounds terrible to me, but wandering in the woods is awesome. Seems like last weekend was a good weekend to go, as you're not the only person I know of who went.

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  8. I've always wanted to go mushroom hunting. My colleagues keep talking about going on the weekends and I really want to invite myself along.

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  9. Great post Em - a wonderful description of a popular Czech pastime. It is something I've read & heard about, many times. You did it the right way, by going with two knowledgeable Czech ladies. I hope you enjoyed cooking what you collected.

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  10. What a fun thing to do. I would have been pretty scared of picking something poisonous - so lucky you had an expert with you!
    Claire xx

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  11. Yes, I have no shame when it comes to admitting what I'm completely clueless about :) Thanks for reading!

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  12. Thank you, Ricky! Unfortunately, the 'shrooms were so waterlogged that they virtually rotted overnight; next time I will ask for instructions on how to deal with wet mushrooms. Learning all the time :)

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  13. You should just ask! My friend was surprised I was so interested when I brought it up. Good luck!

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  14. Yeah, my mushrooms ended rotting anyway, but the time outside was superb. Loving this Central European geography.

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  15. Great question - I have no idea :) It's like very Czech daily has some innate knowledge of mushrooming - or an older relative who's a guru. I think it's very endearing.

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  16. I think I could now maybe identify two kinds for eating out of like 80 :) I was planning to make them eggs and butter as instructed by the Czech gals but they literally went bad overnight! I guess they were waterlogged and I should have done something to preserve them. Yes, you should enlist a Czech friend and go!

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  17. Yes, I found it quite quirky when I moved here too, but now I get the appeal. There's something special about foraging for food in pretty places :)

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  18. Was the book good? Yes, the fly agaric is beautiful, but apparently it induces hallucinations and vomiting, too! I ended up not making anything because my shrooms went bad; they were pretty waterlogged. Next time!

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  19. Cheers! I don't think a person could take a bad photo in those pretty woods :)

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  20. Yay! So fun to have another Czech blog to read :) How is Prague treating you thus far??

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  21. Such an interesting post and great photos!

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  22. I liked the book since I learned a lot about the farm "industry" and where our food was coming from. I'm now more conscious about where I'm buying food from. Yikes! Good thing you knew which ones not to eat! Oh no! So sad ok next time!

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  23. The purple one is edible, but most Czechs won't touch it. I have been mushrooming in the Czech Republic for years now. At first I was in awe of the Czechs' knowledge of mushrooms but now I realize that most Czechs have a quite limited repertoire. I regularly meet Czechs in the forest who are horrified by what is in my basket.

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