Fresh mushrooms: harvesting seasons, identification, edibility, preparation

When is mushroom season?

You can pick fresh mushrooms from spring to autumn, depending on the weather, the region and the variety of mushroom.

Here are the harvesting seasons for each variety of mushroom:

• Porcini mushrooms: June to October
• Yellow chanterelles: June to November
• Morels: April to June
• Slippery jack: July to October
• Fairy ring mushrooms: April to June
• Black trumpets: September to December
• Hedgehog mushrooms: August to December
• Chanterelles: September to November
• Caesar's mushrooms: August to October
• Milky agarics: September to October
• Grey agarics: October to November 
• Shiitake: all year round (cultivated mushrooms)
• Oyster mushrooms: all year round (cultivated mushrooms)

How do you recognise them?

• The porcini: thick, firm, white and pleasantly fragrant.
• The yellow chanterelle: yellow to orange in colour, with a round, slightly curved corolla. The flesh is creamy white to pale yellow, firm and slightly fibrous.
• The morel: generally brown in colour, they have a characteristic conical, slender shape with alveoli covering them. The flesh is beige and fairly thick.
• The slipppery jack: similar to the porcini, but with a different appearance. The slippery jack is often larger, with a flatter cap and a less round shape than the porcini.
• The fairy ring mushroom: its cap is 2 to 5 cm in diameter, cream, pale ochre or russet-orange cream in colour. The stalk is very thin, hard and rather fibrous, and should be reserved for other culinary preparations. The fairy ring mushroom is well rounded and made up of numerous strips.
• The black trumpet: its flesh is black, thin and membranous. The black trumpet has a flared cap in the shape of a hollow funnel down to the base of the foot. The tube thus formed holds the foot. It can grow to between 10 and 15 cm in height.
• The shiitake: its flesh is thick and whitish. It is light brown in colour, with a cap 5 to 15 cm in diameter and a white base.
• The oyster mushroom: their cap is about 5 to 15 cm in diameter, fan-shaped or shell-shaped. The flesh is white, thick and firm. Oyster mushrooms are more or less dark grey in colour, with strips and a small foot.

Which mushrooms are edible?

In autumn, the edible mushrooms you can pick in the woods are: porcini, slippery jack, chanterelles, black trumpets, hedgehog mushrooms, milky agarics, grey agarics and caesar's mushrooms.

In spring and summer: porcini, slippery jack, chanterelles, morels and fairy ring mushrooms are the stars of the season, and can be used in all kinds of dishes.

Shiitake and oyster mushrooms can be harvested all year round, as they are cultivated mushrooms.

If you are in any doubt, ask your pharmacist if the mushrooms are edible.

How to clean mushrooms?

Would you like to clean and prepare your freshly picked mushrooms? Nothing could be simpler.

We do not recommend running them under water, as wild mushrooms are like sponges and absorb everything.

The steps to follow to clean your mushrooms are as follows:

1. Cut off the stems of the mushrooms
2. Rub them gently with a damp cloth
3. Do the same with the mushroom caps if there are any
4. Dry the stems and caps with a clean, dry cloth or absorbent paper (or the brush of a mushroom knife, for example).

If the mushrooms are too earthy, rinse them very quickly in clean water and dry them with absorbent paper.

How to prepare the mushrooms?

Once the mushrooms have been cleaned, you can prepare them according to your chosen recipe.

We suggest that you cook them in a pan. Start by cutting the mushrooms into strips or pieces. Put a little butter in a hot frying pan and fry for around ten minutes until golden brown. Add salt and pepper to taste (garlic and parsley, for example).

You can also cook the mushrooms directly in the pan without cutting them if they are not too large.