Introduction
In my previous post titled "Hunting for Morels", I go into some details on mushroom hunting, the various kinds of species and the fact that Morels are Ascomycetes and aren't really classified as mushrooms by mycologists. I explain how to find them by reading the tree's genus and where to look for them.
The following post is about the St. George mushroom, also known as Calocybe Gambosa, called Maipilz in German. Pilz meaning mushroom and Mai meaning the month of May, as it fruits around my geographic location during May.
Being Mindful
Dear Hivemind Communities
This week I went on another trip to hang out with @tandava and go foraging with her. Meanwhile she's been out around her forests scouting the area for wild herbs and mushrooms. She's also really getting better at identifying mushrooms. Since this is an exciting new journey for me as well, I find no better place to introduce this form or sharing and learning to her than right here on #hive. Always feeling so welcomed by the #naturalmedicine/ @naturalmedicine community and the lotus economy. Everyone here is so altruistic, helpful, noble and mindful about others rather than centred on themselves. My journey here has given me much more than just being a part of a community. After all, it's not always about us being the focal point? #mindfullife has helped me in recognising how important is to pay attention to details, stop the frame and not just think about yourself by letting your mind take control of the filmstrip. Our minds tends to have one thought leading to the next. For instance we see someone eating ice cream coming out of an ice cream parlour and our mind is already eating the ice cream before we even moved our head towards the parlour. Staying with one still frame image, can give control over the mind. One can also become more aware of one's own desires, those of others and their feelings.
The reward one gets by being nice, charitable and giving without expectation, can yield many benefits in life. One can get rewarded with so much experience, richness in knowledge and insight from others. All of those insights are more valuable than a bit of hive? This is also the kind of value you give to yourself and to others in the process? I'd like to express my appreciation for what I have learned from other foragers here on @naturalmedicine and the ones I met in life. Firstly my credits go to the posts written here that mirror a part of myself. It's what has helped me to recognise the importance of what everyone does here and that it is of great value to others. By being here, you're making a huge difference. Thank you!
I have learned so much from the posts shared here on foraging, homesteading, gardening, meditation, spirituality, yoga and more valuable knowledge that was shared. From food recipes to DIY skills and other insightful experiences, anyone can share and learn here. The #naturalmedicine approach for upvoting an commenting on other posts before sharing your own is a great rule on their discord channel. It's only mindful to think of your community too. This gave me the idea of sharing my rewards with @tandava. I hope to do this more often and motivate creative individuals to use this amazing repository of experiences and record keeping.
The Trip
A few weeks ago I received a gift from a house owner while I helped clear out his home. The guy I was doing this with is a bicycle mechanic. He saw my joy and decided to improve the bike's condition for me. With only a road bike, I had a lot of trouble to go over rougher terrain and was very happy to receive a bike to go foraging. I got this beautiful gem, a new Wire-Donkey:
@tandava lives around 30-34km away. Since I was avoiding public transportation to save a monthly pass transport, I decided to bike that trip. A train ticket would have costed me around USD 50 return. I have been doing this for longer trips and saved at least USD 300 in the last month. It did result that I had days, I did beyond a 140km.
Interestingly on my way to @tandava's place I stumbled across the most commonly littered trash in Switzerland. Coincidence? Having countless pictures of specifically this kind of litter from everywhere, I wonder if there's a relationship between uncivilised and the fact that exactly the same people who consume this, simply can't dispose of their waste appropriately?
I mean how is it that the same brand of trash lands up in the soil, roads, forests, and within 20 meters surrounding trash bin's instead of in them?
The reason why I mention this, is because I have cleaned up countless lawns and forest with human litter before. I suggest that we can all do our part and be responsible. I would like to encourage anyone to take an extra bag to help keep our forests clean.
Since most places where I live are mostly clean, I guess it just sticks out more when people do litter?
Calocybe Gambosa
Also known as St George's mushroom or Marzolino in Italian, this is a very common mushroom found around spring, which is the month of may in my area. It grows on the side of footpaths in forests, next to lawns and fields and sometimes under rocks. They grow in circles and usually grow back in the same places every year. Sometimes you will spot just one and there's probably more once you strip some leaf aside.
The smell is rather floury and when you rub it, you can even see the way it looks. It smells like flour and rubbing the lamellae, the spores will give white and floury residue as well. Once you have identified one, it's hard to mistake it. Therefore I recommend to have someone show you how to identify it. Best is to get it checked from a qualified individual, so that you will learn exactly how it looks for the next time. It's an easy mushroom to identify. Some say it has a cucumber smell, but i'd give it a very unique smell of it's own that isn't common for mushrooms at all. Definitely a fresh, cool smell and very aromatic.
The spore print is white pinkish in case you'd like to take one. I suggest an aluminium foil for one specimen. The cap has a smooth texture and ridges. The gills/lamella are white and crowded.
The taste is absolutely delicious and there are various ways to cooke them. I'd also recommend them on a pizza. They are quite good to fry with some onions, garlic and adding soy sauce.
Pizza with shitake, green olives, vegan cheese slices, oyster mushrooms, calocybe gambosa, capers, thyme, oregano and a precooked sugo.
Deadly Mistakes
When hunting for white mushrooms I make sure that I don't mistake it for an Inosperma erubescens/ Deadly fibrecap or an Amanita bisporigera/ Destroying Angel. The Deadly fibrecap is a commonly found mushroom around spring. It grows around leaf litters close to beech trees.
Inosperma can be recognised by the rusty brown color, although the gills and shape of the stalk or stipe have common characteristics that give it away.
Source
The destroying Angel is one of the most known deadly mushrooms out there and should be remembered and engraved in your mind before you start mushroom hunting.
Remember: "There are old mushroom hunters and bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old bold mushroom hunters"
Yield
We actually harvested around 1kg of St. George Mushrooms. @tandava discovered just a few growing around 1 meter with in the forest along a path close to a maple tree.
Once in the Kitchen, we cleaned them up and used them for the delicious vegan meals above.
After we cleaned them up, we noticed they were almost flawless. They tasted fresh and really gave a sensation of spring. Maybe it was the long walk until we actually found these that made up the sensation? At times, when I go hunting for mushrooms I find nothing for a while and am about to give up. Then all of a sudden I don't give up and find my first one. A few minutes after my first one, I usually fill my bags. Shortly after I realise that it's always better to endure.
Here are all my previous recipes, in case you feel like trying something else:
'Most do what others do. Then there are those who find their own ways to be different because they develop a taste for what no one did before' - @yangyanje
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