Mushroom Hunting

(Here are a few final posts which never made it to teh interwebs before I left for the US)

On my last weekend in Миасс I had the great opportunity to go mushroom hunting with my friends and dear hosts Артем and Марина. After maybe 1 hour of riding a bus and walking we arrived to birch forest on the outskirts of town. It would be here that we would start stalking our prey.

We walk silently through beautiful larch and birch forests. This process of finding mushrooms is very peaceful, almost a meditation. You slowly comb the floor of the forest looking for the right type of mushrooms.

These are not edible. I am no mushroom expert but I knew it right away because if they were edible then there would not be any left! Mushroom hunting is a huge part of Russian culture and many people take part in it every year. The knowledge is passed down from generation to generation. I heard more than a few stories of people hunting as a child with their parents.

Our first few edible ones!

These mushrooms grow in pairs and live under the moss and grass. (Скажите мне, пожалуйста, имя этого гриба)

Examine the stem to see if the mushroom is healthy.
If it is brown or has holes (not good) then cut away at the stem to see how far the decay goes.

Finally we walked far enough away from the town to find some real quality mushrooms in this beautiful, lush grove of trees. I fully expected a hobit or gnome to appear and tell us to get off his lawn.

Now to the really fun part: eating! First wash the mushrooms.

Then fry in a pan with oil. For these small mushrooms the preparation is pretty simple. The big mushrooms which grow in pairs must be soaked in water for a few months before they are ready to eat!