How to look for mushrooms

In a mushroom hunt, the main thing, of course, is not the result, but the process: warm air, singing birds and unforgettable smells of summer and autumn forests. But if you've never enjoyed wandering through the woods with a basket and leaving with nothing, then you most likely made a mistake in preparation. In order not to miss all the most delicious this season, follow our tips.

Find out the route

You need to choose where you will go for mushrooms in advance. This is called a preliminary search, when you come to the forest specifically for reconnaissance to see where mushrooms may be. True, only very experienced mushroom pickers can understand whether it is worth returning to the clearing in the season.

Therefore, the best preliminary search is word of mouth. Ever since the lessons of natural history at school, everyone remembers that we eat the fruiting bodies of mushrooms, and they grow on mycelium (mycelium), and that underground the network covers several square meters. It is logical that from year to year you need to go to the same good places to collect. If you don’t have such locations in mind, ask those who love to go looking for mushrooms for advice.

These are sellers in the markets, grandmothers, neighbors, users of local forums. Look at which of your friends had a mushroom on Instagram last year. Do not think that if everything is already collected in one place, then you will not get anything. The mushroom picker will not run away anywhere, and in a week the mushroom has time to appear, grow and grow old. You've had enough.

Get up early

So, the rains have passed, there is still a good "plus" on the thermometer, it's time to go to the forest. There are several reasons why you need to get up on a mushroom hunt.

Firstly, it is better to walk through the forest in a mushroom picker's outfit before the onset of heat. Secondly, mushrooms shining from dew are better seen in the grass and leaves. Thirdly, it is better to go through popular places in the forefront, so that by the time you arrive, only legs of mushrooms are left.

Preparing equipment

Shoes must be good. The sole should be dense so that you can not be afraid of sharp knots. Running shoes, with membranes, meshes and ventilation, will let moisture through very quickly if it has recently rained or the morning dew has not yet had time to dry.

It is imperative to take a hat with you, simply because this is an important rule for walking along. The rest of the clothes are chosen according to the weather and the situation. The better you close the body, the less you will encounter insects, sharp branches and other delights of nature.

Take a knife with you to cut the mushrooms. By the way, it is not at all necessary to cut them off, so as not to damage the mycelium. It’s just more convenient: you won’t accidentally break a leg and spoil the mushroom.

You will also need a knife to get yourself a stick. Seriously, if you don’t walk through the forest, namely look for mushrooms, you will need a stick to rake the leaves without bending down to the ground each time. If you don't want to train with bends, you have to walk like Gandalf with a magic staff.

You need to take more and not forget about it, constantly monitor the flow of fluid into the body, if you do not want to pay for a walk with a headache from dehydration.

And take a basket for picking mushrooms. Why a basket, basket or other hand-made? In order not to crush or break the mushrooms, which will definitely happen when using bags or backpacks. Buckets and plastic containers will block the access of air, and this will also affect the quality of the collected mushrooms. And since you already have a stick, you should also have a basket: then you can take amazing photos of what you have collected.

Search system

Unbelievable, but true: you can search for mushrooms using a scientifically based method. A. I. Semyonov collected data and structured them into a system back in the days of the USSR. What to do if you just came to the forest?

Depends on which forest you are in. If you find yourself among trees specially planted by a person, then the “comb” route is suitable, when you can navigate along even rows of trunks and not miss a single meter of the area.

A more complex option is called a "comb with a ledge", but on the ground you are unlikely to align your path to the accuracy of a tree, so just take the principle into service.

Another way to search is a wave, or a zigzag. We walk like this, if the forest is transparent, that is, there are few trees.

When looking at the edge of a forest adjacent to a clearing, use the principle of a stretched spring to look around the space around each tree.

Start combing it using the zigzag method. We take our time, enjoy nature, do not run in search of the first hat. Slower, even slower, one step per second - this way you will see a large area and you will be able to notice the mushrooms.

Did you find the first one? Great. Put any beacon (stick or basket) at the place where you found the mushroom, and start moving in a spiral around it.

Choose whether your spiral will twist or unwind, but it is better to go the route in two directions to increase the chances of a successful search.

If you are not going alone (and it is boring to go looking for mushrooms alone), then combine methods. While one person is inspecting the trees at the edge of the forest, the other person follows the same course, but along a zigzag path and a little further into the forest.

Treatment

Fresh mushrooms will not last long. Tubular (butter, white and boletus) in the refrigerator will last three days, lamellar (milk mushrooms, chanterelles, mushrooms) - a day or two more. Then - for processing.

But even in these couple of days, you will lose some of the mushrooms if you store them together. If it is not possible to immediately clean and prepare everything that you have collected, try to lay the mushrooms in an even layer in a cool, dark place to protect them from mold and insects.