The sun is already peaking over the treetops and the air is slowly heating up on this Saturday morning at the end of August. It poured during the night, the forest floor is still damp, the dewdrops are collecting in leaf calyxes. Ideal conditions to go mushrooming.
In the Bergheim district of Augsburg, 30 collectors are on the move that day – led by Günther Groß, the chairman of the Augsburg-Königsbrunn mushroom association. The mushroom-gatherers have gathered around him in a semicircle and are listening to his instructions. One of them is Cornelia Günther from Reinharthausen. “While walking, I met a woman who had her basket full of mushrooms that I would never have dared to take with me. One of them was the witch boletus, which almost nobody knows and therefore everyone leaves behind,” she says. That’s how she found her way here, she wants to know more insider tips like this. She is one of the participants in the mushroom course, which is fully booked, as Günther Groß says.
The association gained five new members this week alone; the run on self-collected mushrooms is great. The chairman of the association has an explanation: “The cause was Corona back then, when many rediscovered nature – fortunately. We’re glad that more people are moving in nature again. We just want to try to get it on track. ” At the mushroom course, he wants to teach people how to identify mushrooms with certainty, because there are also beginners involved. Specification for today’s course: Everyone is only allowed to put one copy they do not know in their basket. Everything in moderation.
Then it starts. Mushroom lovers hike, baskets wrapped around their arms and the desire to search written all over their faces, into the heart of the forest. After a short walk, the participants are given permission to leave the marked path. The squad is already swarming apart. The looks are directed downwards, the eyes scan the forest floor. It goes over the woods and brambles; the collectors care little. Full of zeal they roam through the forest and cry out when they have found a mushroom. Günther Groß observes the hustle and bustle from a distance and lets the mushroom hunters do their thing – for the time being.
Everyone listens carefully when Günther Groß (right), the chairman of the Augsburg-Königsbrunn mushroom association, explains what to watch out for when looking for mushrooms.
(Photo: Sophie Burkhart)
Suddenly, a high pitched sound shrills through the peaceful morning air. With his orange whistle, Groß calls the group back together. There is a Rüffel, a very small one. “You’re going way too fast. If you want to collect mushrooms, you have to walk carefully through the forest,” he says. “You have now left some mushrooms.” Then he points to a small branch on the moss-covered ground. Can anyone identify him? A participant leans forward: “That would have to be a larch”. Correct, Groß is satisfied.
“These are very specific requirements,” explains the connoisseur, who has been picking mushrooms for 60 years. Because the larch is an indication of the larch boletus. “That’s why it’s very important to look around, where you are. You also have to know the trees and then the nature experience comes about. Don’t just throw the mushrooms in the pan,” says Groß. The participants prick up their ears and eagerly soak up the expert’s knowledge. He reaches into a collector’s basket and pulls out a mushroom. He now wants to determine that together with the others.
“And if you lick it, it tastes like shit”
“At first glance, the mushroom here looks like a porcini mushroom. The cap is brown, which fits. But when I look at the fruit layer now, it’s old pink, which means it can’t be a porcini mushroom,” explains the 79-year-old . It’s a bile boletus, not an edible mushroom. Cornelia Günther whispers: “And if you lick it, it tastes like shit. A piece of it can spoil a whole meal.” Identifying mushrooms with all your senses – Günther Groß does the same. Again and again he smells the fruiting bodies; the actual fungus, the mycelium, is underground. Above all, Groß warns against apps that are supposed to be able to identify fungi. But they couldn’t afford it. “The greatest danger is always that people are not willing to take a closer look,” reports the mushroom expert. With the plastic bag on the hunt for mushrooms? This is also an absolute no-go! The mushrooms sweat in it and are broken by the time you get home, says Günther Groß.
According to her own information, Johanna Stegmann has almost no idea about mushrooms. She therefore takes part in the mushroom course together with her father Roland.
(Photo: Sophie Burkhart)
The group meanwhile moves through the forest again, this time more thoughtfully and attentively. Johanna Stegmann and her dad Roland are taking part in a mushroom training course for the first time. She knows her way around with shrubs and fruit, says the 25-year-old. “I’m completely blank when it comes to mushrooms. Sure, I know the mushrooms and king oyster mushrooms from the supermarket, but I’ve never been to the forest collecting mushrooms,” says the Augsburg native. The mushroom course aims to change that.
“You can read up on the basic knowledge, but it’s even better when you get an explanation of how the connections are and what types there are,” adds Roland. Only one mushroom has been lying lonely in her basket so far. But Johanna has already found the next one who can now keep the other company. “We’re in the meantime,” explains Günther Groß. “People thought, because there were more mushrooms 14 days ago – because it rained heavily there – that the mushroom season is already starting.” But they won’t start until mid-September, so there aren’t many to be found at the moment. For a good yield it has to be warm and humid. “When it’s steaming in the forest in the morning, that’s what the mushrooms like best,” reveals Groß.
On the wall is the day’s complete harvest of mushrooms, including Krause hen, Gray Amanita, Pearl Mushrooms and Stinkhorns.
(Photo: Sophie Burkhart)
After almost three hours, he guides the group back out of the forest. A final stop at the parking lot; the mushroom pickers spread their finds on a wall. There is all sorts of things: stinkhorns, a Krause mother hen, pearl mushrooms, the gray amanita and of course the bile boletus. No classic edible mushrooms such as chestnuts or porcini, but no deadly poisonous ones either. However, due to the radioactive contamination of fungi, one still has to be careful. The association recommends that you should not eat kilos of mushrooms you have collected yourself. Because the same applies here: the dose makes the poison.