Mushroom-picking family trips, friendly competitions for mushroom picking or solitary trips in search of porcini mushrooms and peace of mind... Mushroom picking is a way of spending time for many forest lovers. It is also an old Polish tradition passed down from generation to generation, described in many cultural texts (the most famous example being mushroom picking in "Pan Tadeusz" by Adam Mickiewicz).
From classic boletus, through butter mushroom, mushroom and bolete to pine mushroom, which turned out to be a hit in recent years and successfully replaces truffles in French salons. In the Pomorskie forests you can find a whole wealth of mushrooms. The season for mushroom picking is, of course, the end of summer and autumn, but it is worth noting that the first noble species collected by avid mushroom pickers appear even in spring (e.g. chanterelles).
Mushroom, fot. PROT
Everyone loves to pick mushrooms and they love to eat them. Hence the suggestions with mushrooms in the main roles in restaurants and autumn menus. In the Bialy Krolik restaurant in Gdynia, the chef recommends porcini cream and ravioli with chicken yolk. The cream consists mainly of an essential mushroom decoction of boletus caps fried in brown butter and vegetables.
The Correze restaurant in Gdansk offers a steak of ripening tenderloin with purple sweet potato, broccoli, salsify, terrine and mushrooms. The Zafishowani fish restaurant in the Hanza Hotel in Gdansk convinces that mushrooms are the perfect complement to fish dishes. Hence the proposal of eel on potato sauce served with roasted shallots, mushrooms and parsley oil.
The Brovarnia Hotel Gdansk restaurant also focuses on the combination of mushrooms and fish. The chef proposes fresh cod with marinated chanterelles and marinated broad beans, butter mashed potatoes and broad bean purée.
Biały Królik restaurant, photo: Pomorskie Travel
Correze restaurant, photo: Pomorskie Travel
Mushrooms are a delicacy and mushroom picking is a way of life. The most devoted to their passion for mushrooms go even several times a day. Marzena Gornisiewicz, founder of the Rune Forest Village in Borkow Leborskie on the Kashubian Coast, admits that during the season she can be found more often in the forest than at home.
-“Sometimes I go out for mushrooms three times a day. Sometimes I collect so much that I can’t lift the basket, laughs Marzena Gornisiewicz.
When choosing mushroom picking, it is worth remembering few rules. We always collect mushrooms in a wicker basket so that they have something to breathe. Do not cut the legs with a knife, but twist them straight out of the ground. If you are not sure whether a mushroom is edible, it is better not to pick it. And let’s remember that nature is unity – boletus and boletus mushrooms will appear when the full moon is approaching…
