Edible wild mushrooms

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truthseeker

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Anyone got any good locations to recommend as edible mushroom hunting sites (or even non edible, identification is half the fun anyway)?
 
I've just booked a hunt will Bill O'Dea at Avondale House in Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow [broken link removed] - there are 2 hunts on Saturday, 29th September and Saturday, 6th October. I know someone who went last year and really enjoyed it. There's a wood open to the public in the vale of Clara near Avondale House where it should be good to find a few and that's where I'm going to try after the guided hunt.

Also going to the Irish Mushroom Festival at [broken link removed] in County Leitrim in October.

I want to go with someone who knows what they are looking for initially as some of the mushrooms will literally kill you if you eat them!

Went with my sister-in-law who's been collecting for around 20 years and was surprised that some of the fungi I picked up thinking they were Chanterelles, were actually poisonious!

My other half is a chef, so I think I'll try whatever I find out on him first! :D

“There are old mushroom hunters and there are bold mushroom hunters but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters!"
 
Yeah I was thinking of doing one of those hunts with Bill O Dea - pricey though.

I know what you mean, Id be very wary myself, more into it from the side of identification tbh, I remember a neighbour coming across a Giant Puffball in a nearby field as a child and the wonder of it all!! She was very interested in wild mushrooms and showed me a few edibles but that was long ago.

I was in Waterford towards the end of September last year, at a wedding in Waterford Castle which is on its own island and I saw tons of different varieties of mushrooms growing all over the place so got interested all over again.

Thanks for the links, never even knew there was a festival!
 
truthseeker said:
Yeah I was thinking of doing one of those hunts with Bill O Dea - pricey though.
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Yes, I couldn't afford to go last year, but made sure I can this year. The price also includes coffee/tea and scones in the morning and sandwiches etc. after the hunt.

There's another group in the north that do organised hunts for free, am hoping to go to the Silent Valley hunt in the Mourne Mountains in November.

We use a lot of wild mushrooms at home in sauces, soups etc., wild mushroom risotto made with Chanterelles or Yellow Boletus is to die for. We buy them dried in mainland Europe when we're visiting there and re-generate them, but I'm hoping to find some fresh ones here.

Favourite one is the Morel, which is apparently available in Ireland, a kilo costs around €100.
 
Thanks delgirl, I found [broken link removed] place in Roscommon too -and they do a wild food forage in May (not just Mushies!).

Ive ordered a lovely Opinel mushroom knife on amazon ;)
 
Also ordered the Opinel knife on Amazon yesterday, the professional looking one with the brush on the end!

At least I'll look the part, even if I haven't much of a clue yet what I picking up. :)
 
This thread is bringing back a lovely memory I have of myself and my dad going for a big long walk on a summer's evening when I was about 6 years old. We came across a gigantic (to a 6 year old boy) mushroom. Dad is into all this kind of thing and was overcome with excitement. I carried it all the way home and we took it out to the garden and Dad took some cool photos of it. Thanks for this thread!
Firefly.
 
delgirl said:
Also ordered the Opinel knife on Amazon yesterday, the professional looking one with the brush on the end!

At least I'll look the part, even if I haven't much of a clue yet what I picking up. :)
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Yeah thats the one I ordered too. The right costume and accessories is half the battle lol!!

Firefly - thats exactly the kinds of memories I have from an old neighbour. Where I grew up was all farmers fields, we were the last estate before the countryside started. Of course these days its all been built up but Ive never lost the wonder at nature that I developed in childhood.
 
truthseeker said:
Firefly - thats exactly the kinds of memories I have from an old neighbour. Where I grew up was all farmers fields, we were the last estate before the countryside started. Of course these days its all been built up but Ive never lost the wonder at nature that I developed in childhood.
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Sounds like where I grew up too. Scouting for tadpoles was another favourite passtime of mine along with capturing (and releasing) bees in a jam jar, playing glassy-alleys (marbles), and chessies (chestnuts on a string). Think I might go up into the loft later on and try and find a few photos :)
 
Firefly said:
Sounds like where I grew up too. Scouting for tadpoles was another favourite passtime of mine along with capturing (and releasing) bees in a jam jar, playing glassy-alleys (marbles), and chessies (chestnuts on a string). Think I might go up into the loft later on and try and find a few photos :)
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We had a stream nearby, so we used to catch sticklebacks and keep them in a jar for a few days. Watching the life cycle of frog spawn was another favourite, amazing. We used to get a lot of butterfly chrysalis's on our back window ledge for some reason and one wonderful summer morning I had the pleasure of watching a butterfly emerge for the first time. There was a farmers field behind our road where there was a stout post that was as smooth as anything from cows rubbing their heads on it, that was my first introduction to cows actually, theres ones in a field behind where I live now and its very nostalgic for me when the moo-ing gets going lol.

For a while as a kid I got interested in classification of plants, trees etc but I didnt keep it up which is a pity, never too late to indulge my interest again though.
 
Incidentally Delgirl. I enjoyed the talk on foraging in Powerscourt thanks to your tip off. I need to take this to a new level with some sort of field trip though.
 
SoylentGreen said:
Incidentally Delgirl. I enjoyed the talk on foraging in Powerscourt thanks to your tip off. I need to take this to a new level with some sort of field trip though.
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The place I linked to in Roscommon does foraging field trips - on the link I gave they did one in May.
 
SoylentGreen said:
Incidentally Delgirl. I enjoyed the talk on foraging in Powerscourt thanks to your tip off. I need to take this to a new level with some sort of field trip though.
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The talk on foraging was ok and you can't really complain as it was free.

It would have been great if he had brought some samples with him to pass around - he said that some of the plants he talked about were found in abundance in the local area.

Considering it was his first talk, he did very well.

Very much looking forward to the fungi hunt at Avondale on 6th October and hope the weather's not too miserable!

Darina Allen does general foraging courses at Ballymaloe.
 
delgirl said:
Very much looking forward to the fungi hunt at Avondale on 6th October and hope the weather's not too miserable!
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I am having difficulty booking this through the website. I have also emailed Bill about this but no reply. Also trying to book a local B&B for a night. Again no reply.
They are not making it easy.
 
Laramie said:
I am having difficulty booking this through the website. I have also emailed Bill about this but no reply. Also trying to book a local B&B for a night. Again no reply.
They are not making it easy.
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I agree! I emailed too and didnt get a reply for a couple of days. They DO reply though. Im booked now.

I emailed freda@mushroomstuff.com but the reply came (written by Freda) from bill@mushroomstuff.com - she included a phone number 087 2632750 - if that helps.
 
That's good. However I need to tie up a B&B with either the 29th Sept or 6th. October. No point in booking accommodation if the hunt is booked out on either date.
 
It wasnt booked out for the 6th at 8pm yesterday evening and the email said to let her know if it was more than just me so she could give names to the person at the door - so there were definitely places.
 
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