The fruits of autum

Autum is the season of mushrooms. Living in the countryside surrounded by forest, we went mushrooms picking with a friend and her girls. I knew nothing about mushroom hunting so I was glad that my friend taught me a thing or two. Thumb of rule, in case of doubt, don't pick it. Actually, we used a knife to cut off the stem so that the mushroom could grow again. If we picked it, the root would be damaged and there won't be a new mushroom growing from that root.

 

Anyway, most wild mushrooms are not edible. We were looking mainly for cepes (porcino) as they were easy to identity. With our little children, it was difficult to spot the mushrooms further away from the forest trail. Or those that were edible already had worms in them.  

 

Our pick of the day was a coulemelle. My friend told me it was good. Just soak it in water and slice it up and fry with butter and garlic. It was big and easy to identify. It has a little hat just underneath. Seb and I tried it and we liked it. No tummy ache so all was well. 

We tried mushroom picking over the weekend with Seb taking his usual walk with Handsome in the forest. We did not have much luck this time. Most of the time, the kids and I were saying 'No good.' when we spotted the mushrooms.

 

Autum is also the season of chestnut. And being a city girl, I was not able to tell which chestnut fruits were edible. As school holidays started this week, the boys spent their days at the recreation center while I worked. On a lovely day, they went to the forest and picked up chestnuts. The staff at the center prepared a bag of chestnuts for each parent. I boiled them and A1 and I enjoyed them. Seb and A2 were not fans.   

Despite the wet autum season, there are interesting things to do in the forest. To make our kids walk in the forest, we give them a basket and tell them we are going chestnut and mushrooms hunting.