Edible wild mushrooms

I went on Saturdays Hunt and found it very enjoyable. The weather was fantastic which was great. Pricey at 65 euro though, dont think it was worth that much. But it was fun and it has encouraged me to go mushroom hunting myself.
 
Two of us wanted to go but €130 was a bit steep for us. We also wanted to stay overnight in a local Bed and Breakfast in Rathdrum but the price for the Friday night stay increased to €70 from €60 for Thursday night. In a way I am sorry I didn't go but it just looked a bit expensive overall.
 

A number of people on it mentioned that it was very expensive for what it was.

The day ran as follows:
9.30am-10am - meet up and tea/coffee/pastries

10am-11am - Presentation slideshow with Bill O Dea talking about mushrooms - a lot of it was very interesting but it was a bit information overload and honestly I think it would have been more useful after we had been collecting.

11am-1pm - we were set free in the grounds to mushroom hunt. A few people mentioned they were surprised that Bill or his wife didnt come with the group - but there were too many people for that. People went off in 1s and 2s and while it was nice, they didnt give you a map so although Bill mentioned good spots to hunt, none of us knew where or how to get to those spots.

1pm - 2.30pm - back to house to taste cooked mushrooms, Bill and his wife and another mushroom expert had a look at what was collected and took out some good stuff for cooking, meanwhile there was a chef cooking some that they had brought along outdoors. It was nice and chilled out, then into the house for lunch. Lunch was nice. But for the price I thought it could have been better. It was sandwiches (very nice gourmet sandwiches but sandwiches none the less!), mushroom soup and profiterole dessert.

2.30pm - 3.30pm - mushroom identification, we all laid out our finds on tables and books were produced and the experts went around identifying things. There was too many people for it to be truly comfortable, people were gathering in big bunches around the experts so it was easy to get left out on the edge and not be able to see or hear properly. But it was fun interacting with the other people and trying to identify things yourself.

So yeah, it was good, but yeah, it was pricey.
 
Enjoyed the day out, but as Truthseeker said, it would have been better with a map and a shorter introductory talk to allow more time for hunting.

We thought the price was reasonable considering what was on offer. The normal entrance fee to Avondale House is €7.50 for an adult.

I'm sure Bill had to pay to hire the hall for the talk - breakfast was also provided and there were 2 or 3 people involved in the prep and serving who, I assume, would have been paid.

The two chefs preparing the mushrooms outside would have had to be paid as well and then the lunch, although quite rustic, was good.

Not sure if the other mushroom expert(s) were also paid, probably or at least their expenses. The English guy wasn't that great - at the end of his evaluation of our 'find', we still weren't sure if some of them were edible or not.

I have to say that Bill's fungi knowledge was excellent and that, along with the above, was worth €65.
 
Delgirl, Ill be interested to go on one of the cheaper ones next year and compare, one of the ones I mentioned earlier on the thread is only 30 euro and much the same format (talk, hunt, lunch, identification).

Im not sure if you mean 7.50 euro to visit the house itself as well as parking? The cost of entering the forest park is 5 euro per car. I didnt do the tour of the house at the end because I was tired at that stage (not much interest either).

They definitely need to provide a map - Id advise anyone doing it to print the map from coillte ourdoors.

Im heading back there this week for a wander, will do a small bit of mushroom hunting - just for identification purposes.
 
Yes, it's good to compare - I'm going to the Mushroom Festival in Killegar next weekend - it's €60 per person and it'll be interesting to compare the experience.

The forays are guided by an expert, which should hopefully lead us to more edibles this time! We ended up with 1 and when we got it home to 'the chef', he didn't recognise it and wouldn't cook it!

Also hoping to do the free one in the Silent Valley, Mourne Mountains in November - weather permitting.
 
Did anyone think the pieces in the paper over the last few days warning of the dangers of mushroom picking was OTT?

Seemed to me that they were basically saying don't eat anything you find outdoors, obviously if you don't know what it is you've found that makes sense but it you know what you're doing it should be fine.

Actually the FSAI press release makes that point but that seems to have been ignored in the press items I read.

[broken link removed]
 
Thanks Truthseeker for your review of the day out. It would be nice to get a few like minded people together to have a wander and get together and share a picnic while discussing finds. But for free!
Incidentally did you stay over in Rathdrum or was it an early start from Dublin?
 
@SlurrySlump - I drove in from D24 - so less than an hours drive which was grand.

I was running in Marlay Park this morning and I noticed a lot of mushrooms, some edibles too!! I brought a puffball home and put it out the back in the hope the spores spread and I get them growing right outside.

@dereko1969 - totally OTT!

@delgirl, Id be delighted if you could review the Mushroom Festival for us here afterwards?
 
truthseeker said:
@delgirl, Id be delighted if you could review the Mushroom Festival for us here afterwards?
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Will do.

dereko1969, it's a dangerous passtime, my father was very ill after eating what he thought were field mushrooms. It's crucial to be 100% sure of the identity of the mushroom before eating it.

Even one of the 'experts' who was at the hunt on Saturday at Avondale wasn't sure if we had 10 yellow stainers or 'something else' and advised us not to eat them.
 
delgirl said:
it's a dangerous passtime, my father was very ill after eating what he thought were field mushrooms. It's crucial to be 100% sure of the identity of the mushroom before eating it.
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+1000 - unfortunately some of the more hysterical news reports were insinuating that there were no safe mushrooms growing wild - at all.
 
There is a great programme on TG4 on Thursdays at 10.p.m. called Dul i bhFiain. It's about two lads foraging their way across Ireland. You can catch the first two episodes on the TG4 player if you have missed them. The show is on tonight.
 
ParkLane said:
There is a great programme on TG4 on Thursdays at 10.p.m. called Dul i bhFiain. It's about two lads foraging their way across Ireland. You can catch the first two episodes on the TG4 player if you have missed them. The show is on tonight.
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Thanks for that.

@delgirl, how was the mushroom festival?
 
truthseeker said:
@delgirl, how was the mushroom festival?
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I haven't posted about the festival as I don't want to be negative about a fundraising effort to save Killegar House, which is in a dreadful state of disrepair.

This was the timetable for the event. There were no guided forays on the Saturday as stated on the timetable.

To concentrate on the positives, we went on the Saturday and the weather was great. Bill O'Dea was there and did his talk and slideshow, same as the one at Avondale, then we went off on the hunt.

As the house is on private land, unlike Avondale which is open to the public, there were hundreds of mushrooms to be found in the grounds. We returned to the house after about 40 minutes as the basket was full.

Found quite a few edibles, loads of puffballs, deceivers and amethyst deceivers and lots of charcoal burners which we took home and cooked on Sunday. Also found the beautiful Fly Agaric.

Food was provided - soup and sandwiches, mini savoury pies and biscuits.

Brian McDermott, with a stage, mircophone and big screen, did a good cookery demonstration of various ways to prepare wild mushrooms and a few samples were passed around.

The Fungi, forestry and trees walk with Diarmuid McAree was very informative focusing on the identification of trees, the symbiotic relationship between fungi and trees, and which fungi that can be found near which species of tree, extremely useful if you're targeting a particular mushroom.

The American Lesliejo Meyerhoff also gave an interesting talk on the facts, myths and legends of fungi.

We enjoyed the day, but won't be going back next year.
 
It actually sounds great! (I have a vision of a big carpet of mushrooms a la willy wonkas chocolate room!!)

Id be interested to know what the negatives were (besides no guided forays), if you dont want to post them on thread maybe you could pm me?

It was something I was considering doing next year, but Id like a balanced review before I decide.
 
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