In general, summer and autumn are known as the main pilaf season in Central Europe. However, there are also various types of mushrooms in spring that can enrich your menu. Mushrooms can sometimes be cultivated all year round in a well-insulated cellar.
When is the mushroom season in Central Europe?
The mushroom season in Central Europe mainly extends over summer and autumn. In spring, however, various types of mushrooms such as March snails, spruce cone mushrooms and morel species can also be found. In summer and autumn, porcini mushrooms, mushrooms and chanterelles are typical.
Collect edible mushrooms in spring too
Spring also offers some types of edible mushrooms in some forest areas, although in terms of taste they usually cannot keep up with their summer successors:
- March Snails
- Spruce cones
- Morel species
- bubbly cuplings
After these mushroom species appear in March and April, various types of porcini mushrooms can often be found in the forest from May onwards.
Mushrooms of summer
In summer, mushrooms can often be found in abundance in forests and along roadsides, especially after rainy periods of a few days. Among them you can sometimes find large specimens of the following species:
- Porcini mushrooms
- Mushrooms
- Parasole
Parasole and porcini mushrooms, like vegetables, are also suitable as a he althy meat substitute; they can even be breaded and fried like a schnitzel. All summer long, the chanterelles, the gold of the forest, tempt you with their delicate taste.
Typical mushrooms in autumn
In many places, autumn still has many specimens of porcini mushrooms, mushrooms and chanterelles when there is enough warmth. In addition to honey mushrooms, chestnuts and boviste are types of mushrooms that are typically found from August and September. While there is often an abundance of mushrooms to be found in the forest in autumn, you should not become overconfident despite all your luck collecting. Only take home the mushrooms in the basket that you can safely determine are edible.
Collect mushrooms correctly
Since mushrooms tend to absorb more pollutants such as heavy metals, they should not be collected next to busy roads and industrial facilities. You should also always leave a few specimens in each place so that the mushrooms can continue to reproduce naturally there. If you carefully twist the mushrooms out of the ground or cut them off with a sharp knife, another fruiting body can sometimes grow from the mycelium in a short time.
Tips & Tricks
Mushroom pickers have the best chance of finding large numbers of edible mushrooms when a period of rain is followed by a few warm days. At this point, the fruiting bodies often literally shoot out of the mycelium in the soil.
