Mushroom clouds

  • 2008-08-27
  • By Adam Mullett

TRUFFLES ANYONE?: Mushrooming can be fun for humans as well as wild boars.

VILNIUS - Though I'm sorry to see summer go, almost before it began, I must admit that autumn has its charms. But while most look forward to the season's changing leaves, I am interested in something more down to earth: mushrooms.

Mushrooms grow in the forest after heavy rains, and Lithuania offers many species that are perfectly healthy to eat. In fact, whether it's an old woman selling mushrooms outside of a supermarket or mushrooms on sale at the market itself, at this time of year, you can bet that they were picked in the forests of Lithuania. It's how some people make ends meet in this country.
Mushrooms grow through most of autumn, after summer temperatures decline and before the frosts of winter set in.

Mushrooming is a simple process: you go into the forest and start looking. Mushrooming is like fishing 's everyone has a spot they keep a secret, lest its yield be taken from them.
My mushrooming colleague Marina says that people do it for a variety of reasons. "I get the mushrooms for myself and my family and we make mushroom dishes all day. Other people go and make a business from that. If you get a bucket of mushrooms, you can make about 100 litas (28.96 euros)," she said.

A bucket of mushrooms can be gathered in just two or three hours if the harvester knows what types to get and where to find them. Some people will take a few buckets in a day and then throw a party with the money they get from selling it at the market.
When going mushrooming, you will need a few things: a knife, a bucket, safe shoes, and jeans to protect against nasties like snakes and ticks. The British will want to don their Wellingtons 's these are ideal for the task.

Finding the right mushrooms is another health issue that may have crossed your mind 's the wrong mushroom will kill you, so it's worth doing some careful homework before you go. There are a lot of different types of mushrooms in Lithuania and depending on the region, around 10 varieties are edible.

The most prized mushrooms in the forest are the Boletus and the Chanterelle. The Boletus is very large and thick and ideal for frying and making into a vegetarian burger patty, and the Chanterelle is often used in salads. Baltic mushrooms that you can buy in the supermarket year-round are also very common.

Make sure you research the region and its mushrooms before you go. Do not trust Wikipedia 's look-alike mushrooms that are edible in one country may be toxic in another, so get local information from a doctor or consult a book on the subject that is specific to Lithuania. It might be a good idea to take a Lithuanian friend with you, too 's who knows, they might even show you their special spot.