Saturday, May 31, 2008

Mousseron mushrooms

I talked about how I've been mushroom hunting. This morning Rene brought me to hunt for mousseron mushrooms (also known as fairy ring mushroom so called because they grow in a fairy ring or an arc which means when you find one, you'll find clusters of them). Within 1 hour, we had already collected 5 kg of these babies. I'm not as familiar with the mousseron but I'm a huge fan of mushrooms so any kind is fine by me.

It doesn't have the same thrill of the hunt like for cepes but it was still fun anyway. At least it was until it was time to clean them. What do you do with 5 kg of mushrooms ? Wash, dry, cook & freeze them. I'm already thinking of all the ways I can use them.

How do you eat them ? With meat (watch next post for lamb with mousseron), fried with garlic, parsley & butter or in an omelette (the French love eating wild mushroom omelette).




Girolle mushrooms
We found some of these along the way



Mousseron mushrooms



Cleaning to remove the grass & dirt


This is what 5 kg of mushrooms look like

Update : Read next post - Lamb Chops with Mousseron Mushrooms on how to prepare them.

4 comments:

Aka Pamela S. said...

whoa! I love mushrooms.. but how do u know the difference from edible mushrooms and those that look like toadstools?

petite fleur said...

I'm very much a novice at this. Usually I go hunting with people who know what they are doing. In France, you can bring mushrooms that you find to the pharmacy & they are trained to tell you if they are edible or not.

I guess you really have to know what you are looking for. When in doubt, I just don't pick them.

Beau Lotus 涟 said...

When FIL was alive, we used to go to the forest in the Vallée d'automne together to pick mushrooms. He was the only person who knew which ones we could pick etc.

Nothing beats cooking and eating your own hand-picked mushrooms ah?

petite fleur said...

Did you enjoy it ? What kind were you picking ?

You're right, there is nothing quite like it. I'm so obsessed with picking mushrooms now. Can't wait for the cepes to start showing. They are my favorite but so elusive.