Mushrooms!”, the
actor Antonio Albanese exclaims in the film “Uomo
d’acqua dolce” – or
“Freshwater Man”, on returning home after an
absence of six years. A jar of
mushrooms had caused him a heap of trouble and he hadn’t even
tasted them! Do
you remember
what happened to Calvino’s irresistible character,
Marcovaldo,
when he had the fantastic idea of mushroom-picking in the city? And
Alice’s
ambivalent mushroom, which when she tasted it on one side caused her to
grow
and yet the other side caused her to shrink?
If
literature is
full of suspect mushrooms there must be a reason. The term
“mushroom” or
“fungus” covers a multitude of organisms of which
only a very few are good
served sliced in a garlic sauce on a bed of polenta. There are
saprophytes, parasites and symbionts -
none of these words sounds attractive - but the slightly sinister
appeal of these edible fungi
does not stop the connoisseur.
September is a lovely month for
walking in the woods and passing yourself off as an expert mushroomer
for the
day; but beware, not only do you need a compass to guide you but common
sense
and extreme caution are also needed for this particular past-time.
We
all entertain
the hope of stumbling upon a family of Boletus edulis,
(commonly called
ceps or porcini), but the reality is that the undergrowth is full of
less
recognizable mushrooms which are difficult to resist. It is of the
utmost
importance to consult a good manual so you can positively identify the
species
before picking it. Keep the ones you are not certain about separate
from the
others and get an expert to check them when you return. Mushrooms are a
precious gift, not just for our palate but also for a wood’s
ecosystem – so
it’s best to avoid any over zealous or indiscriminate
picking.
Mushrooms
cannot
simply be divided into those which are poisonous and those which are
edible so
it is essential that each species picked is clearly identified: there
are
numerous and important degrees of the two extremes. They can be deadly
or
toxic, or, like Alice’s mushroom they can have opposing
characteristics: edible
when cooked but not when raw (as they contain toxins which are
heat-sensitive).
Unfortunately even the best mushrooms can develop toxins if they are
badly
preserved or infested with parasites. Taste is not a good way of
judging as
some very poisonous mushrooms are also terribly tasty.
There
can be a
black sheep in every family but similarly saints can be born of
criminals. For
example, in the otherwise good Boletus family it is better to avoid the
satana,
and in point of fact not all the Amanitas are bad; the amanita
cesarea, for example, is an
excellent mushroom
for refined palates - perhaps the best and the most sought-after of all
edible
mushrooms. Yet even this pearl of the woods can be misleading: the
young mushroom,
while it is still closed in its universal veil, closely resembles a
young amanita
muscaria, a colourful and poisonous little mushroom, loved by
Trolleyoon
artists which, as it grows, bursts through its veil revealing a
white-dotted
red cap. The similarity of the young mushrooms gives fatally diverse
results
for the unprepared gatherer.
By
now some of
you will have been convinced not to bother with a woodland adventure,
and yet a
walk among the beech trees or the spruces has the unparalleled
advantage of
being good for you - just as long as those lacking the relevant
knowledge stick
to having an innocuous picnic: Mother Nature can sometimes be
misleading! On the
other hand, less active gourmets are
only a ‘click’ away from mushrooms dropping
automatically into their
basket!
