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Wolfgang Bivor carefully empties a basket of freshly collected mushrooms onto a forest floor covered with fallen autumn leaves. Brown-capped porcini and bay boletes are next to sticky purple brittlegills and honey-coloured armillaria – and, among them, the deadly green death cap.
Bivor, one of Germany’s most renowned mycologists, described various species collected in an oak and beech forest on the outskirts of Potsdam in East Germany. There were 20 people around him who were listening attentively, including university students, retired people and others Sugar The couple with their 5 year old daughter.
Across Germany, the traditional forest art of mushroom hunting is enjoying a revival, thanks to coronavirus pandemic restrictions that have pushed people from cramped apartments into the forests, and the growing popularity of the vegan lifestyle. The growing interest in the use of medicinal fungi is also playing a role.
While people in rural areas have been picking mushrooms for centuries, city dwellers are also now discovering its joys.
Mushroom hunting was essential for many people in Germany during the difficult years after World War II, when people scoured the forests for anything edible. But when West Germany’s economy began to boom in the 1950s and economic conditions in East Germany also improved, many people turned away from the practice.
In recent years, photos of mushrooms have gone viral on social media, and a hobby that was once considered cool has become a great lifestyle pastime.
Guided tours on mushroom hunting are extremely popular.
Bivor, a 75-year-old retired meteorologist, said the visit he made on a recent drizzly autumn day was “not primarily about filling your basket – although it’s always nice to find something for the dinner table.”
Instead, he said, it was “about teaching people about the importance of mushrooms in the ecosystem and, of course, about biodiversity.”
Bivores are sometimes sought out by hospitals when they have cases of suspected mushroom poisoning.
He has also been giving mushroom tours in the southwest Potsdam area berlin For more than five decades.
When members of his group showed him mushrooms, he identified them by their German and sometimes Latin names. He talked about their healing powers or toxicity, gave tips on how to prepare some of them, offered historical anecdotes. He invited them to smell and taste things that were not poisonous.
Karin Flegel, managing director of Urania, the Potsdam organization that organizes Bivouard tours, said her classes were filling up quickly.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in interest in mushrooms,” he said.
Bivor said he, too, has seen an increase in interest in his longtime hobby. He started sharing his best discoveries Instagram And Facebook has written books on the subject, and even hosts a popular podcast, Pilz-Podcast, using Pilz, the German word for mushroom.
apprehension of poisonous mushrooms
Many people are approaching their new passion cautiously, afraid of accidentally picking and eating poisonous mushrooms.
While the poisonous red-capped, white-dotted fly agaric is easily recognized, the very poisonous green death cap is sometimes confused with the common button mushroom, or champignon, which is the best-selling mushroom in stores across the country.
Every year, many people die after eating death caps, often immigrants from the Middle East who are not familiar with local mushroom varieties.
Tim Koster, a 25-year-old university student from Berlin who joined the excursion with his girlfriend, said he had never looked for mushrooms in his childhood, and is often content with white button mushrooms in stores. But he also wants to be able to find and prepare his own porcini mushrooms – considered the most popular delicacy among Germany’s more than 14,000 different types of mushrooms.
While in Italian cuisine porcini are often served in risotto or pasta, in Germany porcini, as well as bay boletes, are often fried in butter and eaten on toasted sourdough bread with salt and pepper.
As Koster stood amid the abundant yellow and red autumn leaves, he said the tour was off to a good start. But when asked if he was ready to start collecting mushrooms himself, he said: “I don’t have the courage yet.”
Instead, he said he considered picking the mushrooms and taking them to an expert to verify they were edible. experts They often offer their knowledge at markets or community colleges on fall weekends where people can bring their bounty and make sure they haven’t accidentally picked up poisonous pieces.
Margit Reimann, 42, who took part in the tour with her mother, said she was surprised to learn how many varieties of edible mushrooms there were.
But despite her newly acquired knowledge, she plans to stick to familiar mushrooms – porcini, butter mushrooms, slippery jacks and bay boletes – when visiting the woods with her children. During the excursion he learned that color and grain pattern could not always be clearly determined.
“I think many of them would be great culinary experiences if enjoyed in moderation, but I still don’t trust myself,” she said.