Mushroom mania

I've been a bit obsessed about mushrooms since I discovered the ones growing in my backyard are comestible, or edible. It's easy to find them because they grow in an arc or a circle - and where they grow, the grass is slightly darker in color. Apparently, there are 60 different kinds of mushrooms that grow in this formation. The one I have is commonly known as the Scotch bonnet, or the fairy ring champignon!

The past 2 weeks, whenever we go out on walks, my eyes scan the forest floor, around tree trunks, and up into tree braches in search of wild mushrooms! In this area, there are a number of edible mushrooms you can find in the wild. My neigbor Pierre and his son have found trompettes de mort (nasty name but they are not only edible but delicious), chanterelles, fairy ring champignons (marasmius oreades), and a thick oozing mushroom called langue-de-boeuf.

Of the 3,000 or so wild mushrooms found in Europe, only a dozen are edible. Most are not edible, toxic, or deadly. Since I can only identify a few mushrooms, my expeditions so far have only been to search, admire, and photograph strange and beautiful mushrooms.

So it seems that wild mushroom picking/hunting/eating is a national obsession here in France and also in Germany, Poland, Russia and other parts of Europe. But did you know that China is the #1 exporter of mushrooms, both wild and cultured?

Here, as August creeps into September, mushroom mania is picking up steam. There'll be mushrooms fetes springing up soon. And in my town, there's a Mycologie Botanique club - I'm looking forward to learning more about the club and its activities next week at their Open House. Hoping there will be some guided mushroom walks or an expert who can help identify the ones I've found.