h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

These mushrooms are called 'opiata', but they have nothng to do with opium! However, you can get addicted, as they are delicious when 'pickled'(?) - that is, boiled, and served with onions, garlic and spices.(People make preserves for the winter). You can also fry them and serve with chips.
They grow on old tree stumps, and are found in abundance in August.
Am I right in thinking that people don't eat 'wild' forest mushrooms like these in Europe?

Do you mean mushrooms?

i don't think people eat wild one's now i'll only eat the fresh one's out the shop must be organic as well

Hi weirdo07 i didn't know mushrooms were opium?

Nope, we pick our own, too - but it's fallen out of disfavour, since the mushrooms are what absorbs most of the radiation in the ground (remember Chernobyl?) so places like Sweden are better for picking them.

I'll Remeber that Malabarista so if i want go mushroom picking i'm to hop on a plane and travel to Sweden from Uk just to get them

Well, if you like...

Or to Russia for that matter! The forests are infinitely larger - and some (in Siberia, for example) are much farther from Chernobyl ! Welcome, Princess

I can vouch for Sweden being suitable for picking wild mushrooms, since I live there.

The beginning of winter was exceptionally mild - so mild even that people found wild mushrooms as late as end of December. That is *extremely* unusual, though.

Lots of photos of Swedish wild mushrooms here:
http://www.swefungi.se/swindex.html

I seem to recall that Sweden got lots more radiation than Germany at the time, so I'd not go and pick mushrooms there, to be honest.

Both wild plants and wild animals are still tested regularly for radiation in Sweden. The latest recommendations are that it's safe to eat them as long as they are not the main part of your everyday basic food. There are very few people in Sweden who live exclusively on products from wild plants and animals.

In many parts of Sweden, the remaining radiation from Tjernobyl are no higher than the natural radiation.

Well, yes, let's hope so, after all, it's 21 years ago that Tchernobyl blew up.

Hello, everyone
So, which ones are popular in Sweden?
We prefer the Boletus group, other popular species are Cantarellus cibarius and Armillariella mellea

Dear Azahar, I was pedantic enough to look up the Latin name of the mushrooms in my picture: it seems to be Armillariella mellea.
We could offer you some if you drop in on us one day in August...

Ahmm excuse the interuption I am just looking for weirdo07 I have your tea and some exciting news when your free pop back to lils

The number 1 mushroom in Sweden is Cantharellus Cibarius, closely followed by Cantharellus Tubaeformis, simply fried in butter. Another mushroom that is considered a delicacy (especially together with a creamy sauce) is Gyromitra Esculenta.

I'm told the Italians consider the Boletus Edulis to be top notch but, for some reason, it's not so highly rated in Sweden.

we still talking about mushrooms heres

My father gave me a new camera for my birthday, so we went to the perfect place to try it out today - the Zeche Zollverein in Essen, an old colliery that's been turned into a park.

Unfortunately, I managed to erase my SD card about halfway through () but these are the best of the ones I took afterward... Enjoy!

http://public.fotki.com/Malabarista/zeche/

It was really

I took photos, too, of course:

http://public.fotki.com/Malabarista/zeche2/

Cool pics, girls.

Weirdo07, the reason I asked about the mushrooms is that I'm sure I've had them here (in Seville) or at least ones that look exactly like them. They were totally fab.

az

Hi az and everyone

How are you all ?

Hey all,

Doing fine here, though I seem to not be on h2g2 as often as I used to... resulting in a lot of backlog whenever I do drop by.

Anyway, got some pictures from Dan's recent visit here: http://public.fotki.com/LadyPennywhistle/february-2007/