I've been picking mushrooms since my early childhood with my grandfather and then parents. This is one of our oldest traditions for Russians/Slavic people for more than a thousand years so far.
The only rule is to pick up only what you know for sure.

Got any pickling recipes?

I want to thank all of you who posted such excellent pictures and discussed what you did with your mushrooms in terms of storing them and actually eating them.

All of you have far more experience than I do,but I'm a mushroom lover myself.

My maternal grandmother Hedvig (Hattie) Carlson Wigand was from Sweden, Uppsala area to be exact. She taught my mother which ones were Ok to harvest and which were not.

There were two sources of mushrooms where I was raised on the farm. Along the Hudson River south of us,there were many who raised mushrooms in natural caves,harvested them and brought them up to the regional market in wooden oval containers that had oval wooden lids with a metal handle. These were the typical white button mushrooms.

My father delivered his produce to that same market and mom was always telling him to bring home some of those mushrooms, and he did. She used them in all sorts of ways, in a cream sauce on toast was my favorite.

I have a metal recipe box filled with mom's recipes,many of them from her mother, several recipes with mushrooms.

Another source was the farm of a distant relative where they raised cows so lots of pasture and lots of what we called cow plops,or meadow muffins,your choice. Yes,the mushrooms grew on top of the meadow muffins, especially after it rained.

A third source I found when I moved up here was an actual HUGE mushroom farm where they were grown inside, I don't know how, the public was not allowed there.

But they had a store where the public could go and buy mushrooms. No way could I ever tell you what they were and they shipped them to many places.

But then a fire started there and burned down the whole place, so there went the mushrooms.

Some of the more upscale grocery chains in my area still sell lots of different kinds already packed in trays with cellophane coverings.

Hmm, my USPS person just came, lots of useless catalogs and nope, no mushroom catalogs either. Yes I know I could buy those kits but I'm not going to do it.I may just put an ad in the local paper and ask if anyone local goes foraging for "Mushrooms in The Forest".:yes:

Carolyn,who notes lots of forests here , I'm between the Adirondack MTs in NYS and the GreenMTs in VT.

[QUOTE=Andrey_BY;667084]I've been picking mushrooms since my early childhood with my grandfather and then parents. This is one of our oldest traditions for Russians/Slavic people for more than a thousand years so far.
The only rule is to pick up only what you know for sure.[/QUOTE]

Sure wish you lived in Atlanta. I have 30 acres of mountain forest with 28 springs, and it is full of mushrooms. I have no idea what to pick!

Oh my, what a great harvest, Andrey. :yes:
Around here there's always a day, usually early September, when I walk out my door and just smell that the mushrooms are out! And time to go looking. But this year that day didn't come. :surprised: Too warm, little rain, and then record dry weather for all of October. So all I had this year were a few handfuls of golden chanterelles.

That was a fun read, Carolyn. Those little metal recipe boxes are so interesting to look through. Have a few of my mom's.

This thread makes me hungry, for some reason..

[QUOTE=bower;670984]Oh my, what a great harvest, Andrey. :yes:
Around here there's always a day, usually early September, when I walk out my door and just smell that the mushrooms are out! And time to go looking. But this year that day didn't come. :surprised: Too warm, little rain, and then record dry weather for all of October. So all I had this year were a few handfuls of golden chanterelles.[/QUOTE]

People here say that if it doesn't rain in August there will be no mushrooms. Too dry around here this year. That makes Andrey's mushrooms look very, very good!

[QUOTE=ScottinAtlanta;670983]Sure wish you lived in Atlanta. I have 30 acres of mountain forest with 28 springs, and it is full of mushrooms. I have no idea what to pick![/QUOTE]

If it was an official invitation I would probably come and teach you what to pick up there:) I always think that it is quite difficult to visit USA. Never been to your side of the world...

All mushroom recipes will be posted in winter time after New Year party.
A bit busy these days...

Great story and memories, Carolyn! :)

Are they edable???????????????????

Yes, they are - most of them on my photoes.

Andrey, you are welcome to come to pick mushrooms here anytime.. I'll recruit you and your family for the coming season!

Never been to Finland, thanks)
I've heard Skandinavia is quite expensive, so we gonna come by foot from Belarus and will take all food with us for the the whole time:D

[QUOTE=NarnianGarden;679010]Andrey, you are welcome to come to pick mushrooms here anytime.. I'll recruit you and your family for the coming season![/QUOTE]

LOL Andrey. You will like it...!
I read an article somewhere saying that while there are many of the same mushroom varieties, the recipes are different in Finland and the Slavic world. It seems that the Slavic speaking nations
use a lot of pickles, while that's not so well known method here..