Mushrooming or mushroom hunting has a very long tradition - for inhabitants of Czechia it is almost a "national sport" and it is similar also in Russia or Poland - it seems it is connected with the slavonic nations.

Some statistic says that in Czechia go to forrests for looking after mushrooms over 6 million people - mostly in summer and autumn but there are also heroic mushroomers who find some eatable pieces even in early spring.

 Exhibition of mushrooms - quite traditional

I have read that Americans go to the forest only with a mycologist, they listen to a specialist lecture about each fungus found at the site of the find, but they do not take it home. If they get a taste for mushrooms, they go to the supermarket to buy them. It's safer for them…

And this mushrooming tradition in Europe goes back to past. Already in 1818 In the Czech lands, there were various decrees and regulations regulating the sale of mushrooms . They usually had only a regional or otherwise limited validity. The reason for their existence was mostly to protect the population from poisoning. Significant was the Decree No. 13318 of the court chancellor of 30. July 1818, which banned the sale of species russula as these can be easily mistaken for some poisonous species. In 1819, the court chancellor issued Decree No. 19773, which prohibited the sale of harmful, unknown mushrooms, rotten mushrooms, pickled in oil or salt etc.

Regulations on mushrooms sold in the open markets continued in Czechoslovakia. In 1937 Czechoslovak Codex Alimentarius was pubslihed were 58 mushroom species were allowed for selling on the markets. Another list of market mushrooms, created by a wider circle of mycologists and connoisseurs, was formed in 1953 and as well after year 1960.

Kostrzewski, 1860, mushrooming

Edible mushroom species serve as a food with a low caloric value or as a snack. They are rich in vitamins and minerals. Poisonous species are not numerous, but dangerous for the content of steep poisons.

Raw brown mushrooms are 92% water, 4% carbohydrates, 2% protein and less than 1% fat. 

According to the Microbiological institute of Czech Academy of Science over 6 million of species of mushrooms exist and about 10000 of them are found in Czechia.

So really the choice is extremely rich - have a nice time in the woods !

                                                                                                                      Margaret