Rydze - mushroom hunting in Poland - Help I need to find these suckers!!!

Hi all,
Looking for a mushroom specialist/s to help out. I am a South African in my third season on mushroom hunting in Poland. I can only do it on weekends at our summerhouse in Bory Tucholskie so I don't have a lot of time. I have had great success with borowiki, sowa, kurki, podgrzybek. But no rydze!!! I know they like Sosna but... What season, weather conditions? Is now a good time? I am leaving after work to go to the forest. for the weekend and am itching to find these buggers. Any help from a seasoned Polish picker?

I am hopelessly addicted to this pursuit, and spend a ridiculous amount of weekend time doing it. If I find a ******** of Rydze I might be able to get rid of the obsession for another year.

Help!!

James

I don't know, but I know this song about rydz (Lactarius deliciosus) by Helena Majdaniec which you may find nice::

Był sobie raz zielony las
A w lesie jakby nigdy nic
W zielonej chustce na jednej nóżce
Stał sobie rudy rydz

Rudy, rudy, rudy rydz
Jaka piękna sztuka
Rudy, rudy, rudy rydz
A ja rydzów szukam
Rudy, rudy, rudy rydz
Mam na rydza smaczek
Rudy, rudy, rudy, rydz
Lepszy niż maślaczek

My closest friend is a professional mushroom picker and even he tells me they are quite rare, though he does find a few and gets a good price. Do you like kanie? A bit early for them but delicious...

Hi Jon357, yes Kanie are my favourite. Abundant in my area. Kotlet style of course. Thanks for the tune Ziemowit, just listened on Youtube. Old Polish songs also now my favourites.

Cheers

You're lucky - and yes, always kotlet style :-)

Where I live, on the edge of Kampinos Forest there's overpicking, despite it being forbidden. In the area nearby though there are always gąski late in the season but not everybody likes those.

My mushroom picking friend travels a lot to go to the best places and also uses internet forums that say what's where when, though some of the best sites are jealously guarded secrets...

... yeah. I know, fortunately we have vast tracts of forest around us ( and only a few farmers and villagers to compete with) and if I get up early morning in September I can usually find more Sowa than we can eat. We also have a huge lawn which gives us buckets of Borowiki if the conditions are right. This year we have had a real drought and the real rains have only just arrived now. Hopefully this weekend will bring me luck.

James season for Lactarius delicious is early to middle September in Moscow but it really depends on weather conditions, type of forest and even a year (last year I managed to find some this year none yet).

In 15 years of shrooming i think i have only ever found about 20 rydze.

Look out for trompettes de morte - poles dont really eat them but they are really tasty - polish name is lejkowiec i think.

Thanks Sasha and cms for tips.

Hi. I am looking for someone who knows song bout picking mushrooms and how to tell the poisonous ones... it's for a friend who grew up in poland but can't remember the words. Wanted to surprise him. I think it's a child song or maybe not but probably in polish.

Hi, maybe jon357 knows such a song. I do not.

Naturally. It goes something like: Kiedy w lesie Pani Jesień chodzi w dal po dróżkach, małe grzybki rosną sobie, na grzybowych nóżkach. Kapelusik każdy ma. Then there's various tralala stuff and a bit about the poisonous ones. It doesn't tell you much though and no substitute for a handy illustrated guidebook.

a handy illustrated guidebook can kill you too, the best advice for the beginners is to stick to only a few most common types of mushrooms that are ulikely to confuse with the deadly ones.

Although not really a beginner (or an expert), I only really pick them with a friend who does it for a living, unless it's indeed kurki, maybe gąski. Even then, there are false kurki....

Exactly, I would reccommend that anyone picking up wild mushrooms sticks with things that are very easily recognisible and, if venturing for more treats, take someone experienced with you. The people you see out in Poland picking mushrooms have the benefit of generations of advice on what to pick and what not to. You don't want to munch down to a delicious smelling dinner only to be making friends with the toilet bowl an hour later (or worse).

Yes. Some will just make you feel bad, others will shut down your Central Nervous System - and not all have antidotes...