Mushrooms

I am in Brittany with Sabine. It is the hunting season in France and yesterday we went hunting, not for killing, but for gathering mushrooms. Not any old mushroom but the highly prized cepe properly named Boletus Edulis or somtimes the Bordeaux Cepe. But first a picnic at Lake Guerladan which is near the  forest of Quenecan owned by their friend Stephane. It was a perfect sunny autum day. I made some pumpkin soup which we carried in a big heavy pressure cooker to keep it warm which we drank from mugs. This was followed by boiled eggs, ham and other goodies.

We drove along a private road through the forest and started looking for mushrooms. There were plenty of poison or undesirable ones but the cepe was very elusive. The forest was exquisitely beaufiful, with tall trees with moss covered trunks and dappled sunlight falling on the damp soft ground. I have never seen such leaf mold and it was inches deep. It was also the exact same shade of brown as the cep. Sabine found one and I found two, tiny but very rewarding. We also found girolles and pieds mouton two other edible types and a beautiful mauve coloured one. Gilles found the most enormous cep so it was quite a good hunt. We ate the cepes for dinner and they were delicious.

our one big cepe

Mushrooming is something every French person seems to do. Many of them are poisonous and every year there are some deaths reported. Every Pharmacy has someone who can identify them for you if you have any doubts about your pickings.