Just wanted to know whether anyone has any idea where I can pick prawdziwki in Australia? I was told they might grow in the wild around Canberra. I'd appreciate feedback from anyone with some experience/knowledge.
The most famous mashroom picking area is around Oberon, on the other side of Blue Mountans, approx 3 hrs drive from Sydney. I think there are prawdziwki there but.. I'm not game enough to try them as some of my friends got the runs when they tried.
I don't know which Polish mushrooms the Oberon mushrooms are like but I just wrote this up in a Polish community thread and am copying it here.
I went to Oberon, in NSW and found a lot of Saffron Milkcaps (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffron_milkcap) in the pine plantation areas. I didn't go in a Polish group but I saw a couple of groups of 30+ people who could have been Polish at rest stops. I also heard that a Polish group rents a bus to go to Oberon. You can get to decent picking places by car but a 4WD will get you to places that haven't been stripped bare by other mushroom hunters. I'm not sure when the season starts but heard that it ends in April.
The mushrooms are easy to identify. I was told not to pick the red ones with white spots or any of the brown ones. There are two orange topped mushrooms there. One has an orange set of gills underneath. The other has white gills. I was instructed to ONLY pick the one with orange gills. The stem is even orange so if I saw white I left it.
We came home with two boxes of mushrooms, maybe 5 kilos - we're taking more boxes next time! Don't freak out but the mushrooms stain green and look moldy when handled and look scary by the next day. They're fine. I dried 3/4 of our treasure in a dehydrator and filled two 400g Moccona coffee jars. We ate our fill for dinner with friends, just fried in butter. The rest I'm experimenting with as the mother of a Polish friend told us to remove the stems to make them more like steaks, parboil the mushrooms for 2-3 minutes, let cool and then freeze individually. You can thaw as many as you want for dinner, crumb them (the regular egg and bread crumbs combo) and fry them. Can't wait!
We've been eating them raw, fried and dried and no one has felt unwell in any way. We're all eager to go back for more. Hope you find them, too.
I don't know where did you get that info from but porcini as they call it in Italian and borowik or prawdziwek in Polish suppose to grow in most area in Europe.
From the Wikipedia: Boletus edulis (commonly known as porcino) has a cosmopolitan distribution, concentrated in cool-temperate to subtropical regions.[46] It is common in Europe—from northern Scandinavia, south to the extremities of Greece and Italy—and North America, where its southern range extends as far south as Mexico.[33] It is well known from the Borgotaro area of Parma, Italy, and has PGI status there
I know this well, I have them in my garden here in Italy. The issue is that in Italy they are relatively scarce, but very appreciated and valued. That's why they import them. On the contrary, in Finland there are many more porcini and much less eaters, besides they are so common that they aren't valued as much.
There isn't a Wikipedia page on him in English, I hope Google Translate is enough: Loreno Dalla Valle.
I am Italian and I have also heard there are fresh porcini mushrooms in tasmania I would just love to know if anyone knows who is the distributor of fresh porcini for Australia
There is a well documented case regarding an occurence of Boletus Edulis (Porcini) close to Adelaide (Karina, who originated this discussion does not need travel to Canberra). Just get to google.com and enter following keywords in search window: Boletus Edulis Australia and you will find an article from Adleaide University, which descibes the findings in great detail with pictures included. Apparently the location is situated in Adelaide Hills and is known to local mashroom pickers for some time.
Unless your exper All gilled mushroom r best avoided.except maybe for "Kanias" which in my parts were called "sowy" the owls. Any hint of blue pink or purple i avoid. My favourite are maslaki sine the are shiny and sticky and have butter coloured underside. For prawdziwki you need grassy floor and decideous trees. Unlike the "owls" prawdziwki like sunlight.
I have found Boletus Edulis (Porcini) on a property in the Adelaide hills 3 or 4 years ago when visiting family. My Mother-and-law, who is at the property, sent me a picture of two today! I also found lots of Lactarius deliciosus or the Orange-latex Milky/Saffron milk cap/Red pine mushroom which we also harvested and ate. I know my way around mushrooms, make sure you do too if you plan on eating any you find.
