Disclaimer: This post should not be used as a guide to mushroom
picking. The purpose of this post is solely to share my experience.
One of my best experiences during my visit to Ukraine was
going mushroom picking with my two uncles, my aunt, and my husband. One of my
uncles and his family live only five minutes away from beautiful pine woods. My
uncle knows a lot about mushrooms, wild berries, etc.
It was a Sunday afternoon, so we didn’t expect to find much
as most mushroom pickers set out early in the morning. Yet we found lots of
mushrooms – edible and poisonous.
The first mushrooms we found were very pretty but deadly
poisonous toadstools.
The next ones were Jersey cow mushrooms. We found plenty of
those. My uncle said they are edible and some people do pick them, but he and
his family don’t. So we moved on.
Then I came across this beauty. Again pretty, but dangerous.
Finally, my uncle found the first edible mushroom – a big,
beautiful porcini.
And soon I found one too!
Once the first ones were found, our spirits were lifted and
we were sure we are going to find more. And we did! My husband and I kept count
of how many mushrooms each of us found, but somewhere after ten, we stopped
counting.
In addition to porcini mushrooms, we found lots of Bay
Boletes. In Ukraine they are called Polish mushrooms.
And my aunt found a few Saffron milk cap mushrooms. I was
quite tired by then, so I didn’t take a picture of them.
Overall,
we collected about a bucket of mushrooms. It was fun finding edible ones,
learning about poisonous mushrooms, and just spending time with my extended
family.
The
next day, it was just as much fun devouring mushroom soup that my aunt made!
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13 comments:
Such an interesting post, Olga! Good to know you were with a knowledgeable uncle.
Olga - Interesting!! I certainly wouldn't want to pick mushrooms without someone who really knew which ones to pick. You were lucky to have someone who knew. How do they know the difference? Just curious.
Judy
Oh dear, I bet the smell in the house while soup was cooking was divine... Beautiful mushrooms, thanks for sharing your photos... :)
Hola Olga que maravilloso paseo me encanta y cuanta diversión, yo jamas sabría cual es cual, pero que son bellos, son bellos te dejo mi cariño.
I am glad your uncle knew which ones to pick. There were some very interesting varieties. I am sure the soup was delicious. xo
Dearest Olga,
Those Boletus Edulus (Porcini) and Boletus Badius, what you call Bay Bolete are indeed delicious species. Very much collected in northern Italy where we also did go into the woods to search for them. Eastern Europe is well known for its variety of wild mushrooms and delicious recipes for them. But still, with all the knowledge, each year there are several death because of some poisonous ones. They might look alike but it is tricky to know for sure. Better go safe with those Porcini varieties!
It was such a pleasure to find this lovely post here; it made my day!
Hugs to you,
Mariette
A wonderful post Olga.
My Ukranian friend's pick some here.. I first thought i would'nt eat them..but they sure know their mushrooms. I like them at christmas on the Ukrainian buffet table.. Golobse! verenike! excuse my spelling. I am always invited to their christmas table in January.
The tray of mushrooms you show look delicious.
I can imagine the soup was too.
thank you Olga
val
Love this post.....I use to hear stories about mushroom picking when my Father was a young boy....he was from the Vinnitsa area. That's good that your Uncle knows which mushrooms to pick....and your Aunt made some delicious mushroom soup.
I so want to go to the Ukraine and see where my parents came from...but haven't made it there yet...but I do go regularly to Istanbul so maybe I should go across the Black Sea....still have a bunch of cousins there.
Thanks for sharing your stories about the Ukraine trip.
I love various mushrooms but you are right ..one needs to know which ones are edible. I watched a squirrel in my garden eat part of a mushroom then began doing flip flops acting strange...I could only watch and pray that eventually it would be ok.
my first stop here!
Hello from a far..I'm in Canada!naturegirl
Mmm, a good haul of mushrooms Olga. I used to go picking with my father when I was young but as you have pointed out; you must be aware of which ones are safe to eat.
Judith
I love mushrooms, it sounds like an amazing day. I bet the soup was delicious!
Wanda Ann
Wow.. you are lucky to live in a country where fresh mushroom is abundant! I live in a tropical country and the equivalent of mushroom is coconut water ( I dunno where the analogy came from but you the thought) and as much as I love gardening, my geography is not very suitable to grow vegetables because we are hit by the typhoon at least 20 times a year. Haaayyy... I just hope that in the future, scientist can invent an artificial grass that can make vegetables grow. Haayy... this is just wishful thinking though but for the mean time, I am researching on hydrophonics.
I used to live in Ukraine, outside L'viv, and I loved to buy hribe from the babuskas at the rynok!
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