The past week was no gardening week. Out of 7 days, 5 were rainy and they kept me away from the garden completely. But, the 130 liters we got so far this month and the last couple of warmer days brought out the mushrooms. Although it’s still too cold for boletuses, the parasol mushrooms are growing like mad. The parasol mushroom season is short so yesterday my hubby, Srećko, and I went mushroom hunting. 

Parasol mushrooms always grow on the same spot, in a valley between two steep hills so the climb up and down is a struggle, especially when wet but totally worth it.

The valley was filled with parasols and it wasn’t too difficult to fill the bag. Some of them were really wet, but that doesn’t bother us. We just leave them to dry on the paper towels, then freeze them whole and they are as great as the dry ones. We also harvest small ones which we bring home and leave in the water over the night. They open up and are as big as the fully opened ones. 

Magpie incap

Parasol mushroom too small for harvesting

Ramaria

In the end, we brought home a bunch of big parasol mushrooms, a few smaller ones, and a couple of sweet tooth mushrooms. I gave a couple of mushrooms to my mum to fry them, made a couple today with baked chicken, froze the rest and I’ll make sweet tooth stew on Monday. 

If the morning temperatures don’t drop too low we’ll be hunting some more. The season has just started.