Concerning baskets

Basket - ready to take another season

Despite the doubts concerning the weather (still no rain in the foreseeable future), I took out my mushroom basket from its cupboard for inspection. My father brought it to me from Ukraine 3 years ago, and amazingly it looks like it'll be good for yet another season.

Outside of mushroom season I use it for storing vegetables and bird feed, so it has seen some regular use over the years. Not one twig out of place! That's what I call good quality.

It is made in authentic medieval style, 100% willow, no plastic anywhere. Not that it makes any difference to the mushrooms, as all kinds of baskets provide the same sort of support and breathing for the collected fungi, and they can all spread spores equally well since, obviously, they all have small holes. However, willow is much easier on the hands than plastic, and it makes a big difference if you have to carry home a big crop.

All right, all right, I won't bore you any more with this. To summarise: I have my basket ready for the mushroom season. Yay!

Update from the frontline

The new bit of equipment

I was away this weekend, so today's post is delayed slightly. In fact, I have only just back come back from the forest, and what a trip it was! A good crop of chanterelles, and some wildlife spotting. The said wildlife was even kind enough to pose for the camera, but I will save this for another time.

But let me not digress. Revenons a nos champignons.

The season is definitely picking up - I got at least 500g of chanterelles, even though the ground in the forest has been fairly dry. It was actually raining rather heavily all the past week - where did all that moisture go to, I wonder? In any case, chanterelles did not seem to mind.

I also got the first chance to test out a new mushroom knife that I got as a birthday gift recently. I think it's going to become my new favourite - very convenient grip, nice blade, a brush is a useful extra, too. The only issue with it is that because the blade is so sharp, it tends to slice right through the slugs instead of moving them away. I guess I'll just have to be more careful.

The day's result (with slugs removed). There is enough for a quiche!

Essentials and trinkets

As promised, today's post is about the mushroom hunting kit. There are many things that can be useful on a trip to the forest, and it's only too easy to get carried away and end up looking like a guerilla fighter. It may look cool, but is usually unnecessary.

Fortunately, this early in mushrooming year there is no need to carry much. The only quarry to be found are early chanterelles; the spots I am planning to visit are all on the verge on the forest, easily accessible and the round trip is only 5 km or so. The whole yield will fit in a small plastic fridge container. Therefore, the only essential bit of equipment this time will be a mushroom knife.

Lakota knife, say no more

I took out my knives last night to check that they are ready for this weekend. Over the years I have accumulated quite a collection, as my friends and relatives are aware of my obsession, and most of them think that a knife makes for a great Christmas or birthday gift. Not that I disagree in principle, but their ideas of what constitutes a good mushrooming knife are vague and occasionally bizarre, so my knife drawer contains a few monstrosities that are better suited for hunting bears. Luckily, some gifts turn out to be reasonable, and two such items have served me well over the years.

Lakota Rostfrei mark on the blade

Lakota knife. Bought by my father for a dollar in a car boot sale in the US in 1998. Amazingly comfortable handle, very light, high quality steel that I never needed to sharpen. It accompanied me on all my hunting expeditions as first choice. Its only downside is that it is a lock knife, so I have to remember to take it out of the bag after each mushrooming expedition, as despite the small blade size (2.5") it is not legal to carry in public without reasonable cause (a list of guidelines can be found on the GOV.UK web site). How fortunate that I do not suffer from memory lapses.

Swiss knife: mundane but useful

Swiss pen knife. I was presented this about 8 years ago, and it cost about £10. It has a 3" blade and it's light and compact. I bring it out occasionally, when someone else asks to be taken along for a foray. It does a reasonable job, but can be hard to clean because sand and grit tend to get into the folds for additional blades and utilities.

Heavy, but impressive features

Mushroom knife. I was presented this contraption a couple of months ago and haven't yet tested it out in the field. It features a specialised blade which looks like it will be good for cutting ceps, although I am not so sure about smaller prey, such as slippery jacks or chanterelles. The brush and jagged back of the blade should be very useful for cleaning the finds. It's quite heavy though, and I am not convinced that the screwdriver and can opener would serve a good purpose, but I'll give it a try.

I'd better wrap up here. This post is already too long, and what's more, has little to do with fungi proper. So the plan for tomorrow is to remedy this and present a new topic in this blog: cooking with mushrooms. See you soon!