Aude 2015

[LancsRover]

Hi Charles, how lucky you are to only lose 2 stone when away on your hols, we can't afford to eat in restaurants(coming from the poor north) and we have to forage off the campsite and local fields for anything to eat and usually come back to England half our body weight
A few examples below.
Russ

[Charles Nicol]

Hi Charles, how lucky you are to only lose 2 stone when away on your hols, we can't afford to eat in restaurants(coming from the poor north) and we have to forage off the campsite and local fields for anything to eat and usually come back to England half our body weight
A few examples below.
Russ

hehehe mirin' your Stone Age diet Russ

a slug a day helps you work rest and play

i saw quite a few interesting fungi in France but was not brave enough to nibble

[Charles Nicol]

the real challenge is to stay at the new weight now i am back here

Indeed, Charles. Sadly, we don't have the same temperatures which lend themselves to walking long distances and seeing the pounds fall off!

i have resisted microwave meals so far since returning...

[LancsRover]

I thought my diet would appeal to your sense of humour Charles, I must admit I only tried the blackberries , your fungi look very interesting, that red cap looks deadly, but "I know nothing" as manuel would say.
I'm now in the Pyrenees and found this fungi at Lac d'Estaing today.
Russ

[Charles Nicol]

I thought my diet would appeal to your sense of humour Charles, I must admit I only tried the blackberries , your fungi look very interesting, that red cap looks deadly, but "I know nothing" as manuel would say.
I'm now in the Pyrenees and found this fungi at Lac d'Estaing today.
Russ

this chart may help:

http://img.over-blog-kiwi.com/0/72/52/6 ... les-ma.jpg

the skull and crossbones indicate are NOT to be eaten

In France you can take your fungi to the local chemist for advice about whether it is comestible or non...

[Sylvie_h]

Hi Charles,

Your red mushroom is a russula. I am not sure about the other two. In order to identify mushrooms, it is essential to check the gills and the stem and you will need of course a good book. The color of the spores is also very important in the identification process, especially when the mushroom is similar to another species. You will need to pick one specimen and leave it overnight on a white sheet of paper. The spores will stick to the paper and will confirm your identification when you look at them in the morning.
Sylvie

PS: I use 'Mushrooms and Other Fungi of Great Britain and Europe - Paperback – by Roger Phillips' which is good for identification.

[Roger Gibbons]

I believe (but correct me if I'm wrong) that you can take any mushroom to a pharmacy and they will tell you if it's edible. You often see posters of mushrooms in pharmacies. Not that I've ever tried this.

Roger

[Sylvie_h]

Charles,

Roger is right, anywhere in France, you can take the mushrooms to a chemist (pharmacien) and they will tell you if they are edible (comestible) - if this is what you want anyway.
Some mushrooms are very much alike, a good example is the chanterelle (which is edible and delicious by the way) and the false chanterelle (which is poisonous), they are both the same colour and the same shape...
Sylvie

[Charles Nicol]

Merci Roger & Sylvie...

i am too cowardly to try out mushrooms which don't come from Tesco

[Tony Moore]

Mon Pauvre Charles,

You really don't know what you are missing. The first time you taste a dish of freshly and personally collected Ceps (Boletus edulis), which have been cooked gently in cream with a little garlic, salt and pepper.... C'est formidable.
I considered suggesting that you would think that you had died and gone to heaven, but in the event of an ID mistake, that might be too near the truth for comfort .

Antoine M.

[David M]

I considered suggesting that you would think that you had died and gone to heaven, but in the event of an ID mistake, that might be to near the truth for comfort

LOL!

Must admit, until Sylvie mentioned it I never knew chanterelles had a toxic lookalike. Like Charles, I prefer to leave the sorting to the experts!

[Charles Nicol]

Mon Pauvre Charles,

You really don't know what you are missing. The first time you taste a dish of freshly and personally collected Ceps (Boletus edulis), which have been cooked gently in cream with a little garlic, salt and pepper.... C'est formidable.
I considered suggesting that you would think that you had died and gone to heaven, but in the event of an ID mistake, that might be too near the truth for comfort .

Antoine M.

merci Antoine... you are a fun guy