Poland Travel: I took my husband mushrooms hunting

We went back to Poland for three weeks, and the weather this time was pretty nice. I decided to take my husband mushroom hunting. This year hasn't been too wet in this region, so we probably won't find much. He has never been mushroom picking in the forest before. In Taiwan, no one does that; people only buy mushrooms in shops. I hope it will be a nice experience for him.

Mushroom hunting (in Polish: grzybobranie) is very popular in Poland. It's one of the activities families enjoy from July to September. Even kids enjoy running around the forests, often showing any kind of mushroom they find to their parents. It's like a tradition that has been passed down from our grandparents to our parents and now to us. However, it seems like people might forget about it soon, as kids these days don't want to do it anymore.

People often don't have time, but when the weekend comes, they prepare everything and go mushroom picking, often very early, around 5 am. Why? Everyone wants to be the first to have a chance to find them!

As a kid, I was always excited whenever my family talked about picking mushrooms. I didn't care if it was 5 am or 10 am; every time was good. We often went with a few family members. Older people didn't care, but for us kids, it was kind of a rivalry. Everyone wanted to find more mushrooms than the others. Sometimes we spent a few hours in the forest trying to find any, but there was almost nothing. But we didn't give up because mushrooms grow every day, so every day is another chance to hunt for them.

Poland is rich in forests, which cover 30% of the territory, and most of them are accessible to the public. Many people pick mushrooms to sell them. If you travel around Poland, you will often see people near the road selling mushrooms.

In other countries, it's not as common to pick mushrooms. Why? In many places, you need to pay or there are limits on how many you can pick. And most importantly, people are afraid of picking poisonous mushrooms. Since childhood, I have picked a lot of mushrooms every year, and I would say it's not hard to recognize them. Mostly, I only pick the ones with a sponge under the cap as they are safer. Picking mushrooms is free, and there is no limit on how many mushrooms you can take, so if you are lucky, you will leave the forests with full baskets.

Unfortunately, we weren't lucky at all! After nearly one hour, we had maybe 10 mushrooms. Such a pity. My husband got bored in the end. Anyway, he found a lot of mushrooms, but they weren't edible (or at least my family never picked them). I still cooked a meal for him using the mushrooms we found because he really likes them.

So, how do people keep mushrooms for a long time? After we clean them (which is the worst part of mushroom hunting), we can freeze them (after cooking them first), dry them, or pickle them. Mushrooms are full of vitamins and minerals, and 100g of mushrooms contain only 15 kcal.

The tradition of homemade pickles has been known in Poland for hundreds of years. We pickle mushrooms with a mixture of boiled water, vinegar, and some spices. They are served as a side dish or as an accompaniment to cold hams or sausages. Unfortunately, it's not as common anymore since we can easily buy them; many people won't waste time making their own.

People here are soup lovers! We have many kinds of soups, and one of them is mushroom soup. You can use fresh or dried mushrooms to make it.It's really easy to make and full of flavor. Mushroom soup is also one of the traditional foods served for Christmas.

Mushrooms can also be used as stuffing for dumplings or cabbage rolls (gołąbki). You can make a very aromatic sauce using them or add them to your salad. There are really many dishes that involve mushrooms!