No. 22 Swedish Summer Style

Life in Sweden

No. 23 Mushroom Picking

2001/09/29

In Sweden, one of the most pleasant thing in Autumn is, surely mushroom picking. Actually, it has been quite common in Japan too, but nowadays it became a previledge for those who are living in the country side. In contrast, even in the very vicinity of Stockholm, there are a lot of place left for mushroom picking for everybody.

The biggest danger of mushroom picking may be poisnous mushrooms. Like elsewhere in the world, there are various kind of poisnous mushrooms in Sweden, and some of them look like popular edible mushrooms. An atlas of mushroom is a must, but pictures on the book may not be always sufficient. To avoid such problem, I joined in a guided boat tour for Stockholm archipelago. A mushroom specialist conducted the tour, giving short lecture aboard and helping people finding the right mushrooms.

People getting aboard are equipped with boots and baskets.

This time, the destination is an island named N確do, which is located in the outer part of the archipelago, taking 2 hours ride on boat.

The water is really clean here.

In the forest of the island, mushrooms were found everywhere. The most common one was a mushroom called Trattkantarell, a small brown mushroom. This is very typical Swedish mushroom and can be easily identified, but it is important to avoid a similarly-looking poisnous one named Falsk kantarell, i.e. faulse kantarell. This one is very toxic and can cause severe renal failure, so it is recommended to ask somebody who are used to mushroom picking if you are not familiar with mushrooms.

Mushrooms can be found among the carpet of moss.

Trattkantarell.

Eventually, all the participants could get decent amount of the mushrooms within two hours stay at the island. On the way back, the guide helped them to select the right mushrooms so that everyobody can have pleasant dinner!

The harvest.

Back to Index of "Life in Sweden"