A Weekend Spent Chasing Mushrooms

On Saturday, my girlfriend and I joined a mushroom-picking trip—it was my first time experiencing Munich's mushroom season. We'd packed everything the night before: paper bags, cloth bags, gloves, and a small knife.

It took us about an hour to get there, and then we arrived at our meeting point, Neupullach Gasthaus. Our group of about a dozen included mostly Chinese students, along with a few older ladies.

After a short wait, our guide showed up—everyone affectionately calls him "Brother Fang." He led us straight into the forest. It was peak mushroom season, and the forest floor was dotted with all kinds of mushrooms—some delicious, others definitely not for eating. Since many in the group were beginners, Brother Fang walked us through the basics on how to tell edible species from the toxic ones.

Even though it was my first real trip, my girlfriend had already taught me a few basics on our hikes, so I could recognize some common edible types. Instead of sticking close to the group, we searched the forest on our own.

After about an hour and a half, crossing through two patches of forest, our haul was pretty decent—we managed to fill up a big bag. To catch the return bus, we decided to wrap up and head home.

Once home, we went through what we'd picked: mostly Bay bolete and Red-footed bolete, plus a few Chanterelles. That night we cooked up a feast—two stir-fries that turned out delicious. We didn't find the porcini or honey mushrooms we'd hoped for, but with honey mushroom season coming up, we're already excited to try again.

Actually, next weekend's trip is already planned. After this week's rain, the forest should be bursting with mushrooms—can't wait to get back out there.