Every Czech's Dream Photo

Photographer’s Note

My mushroom theme continued... this time with something edible: a tray-full of Boletus Edulis, which is commonly referred to as "porcini" in English, waiting to be cleaned and sliced up.

This mushroom is considered to be one of the tastiest and most "valuable" by most mushroom hunters. It is normally found in coniferous forests and can grow to a diameter of 25 cm (cap) and a weight of 1 kg. But finding one of such a size in the Czech Republic is quite unlikely, as it would normally get picked as soon as its cap peeks out of the ground.

As I indicated in my previous post, Czechs have a bit of a passion for mushroom hunting. Passion is indeed the right word, because what else would make you get up at 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning to dress up in old sweats and rubber boots, grab a basket and a knife and rush to the forest to make sure no other mushroom picker beats you to "your" spot! Children take part in this maddness from an early age (although perhaps with kids, one would not get up till 6), and most of them enjoy the adventure - although their baskets have to be checked of course, to make sure that all of their "finds" are edible. Although, as the old saying has it: All mushrooms are edible, except some only once.

According to the Czech version of Wikipedia, over 70% of Czechs go out mushroom hunting at least once a year and in 2006, the average weight of the mushrooms collected per Czech household was 8.2 kg! This picture happens to come from that year. It was the most plentiful year in terms of mushrooms that I can remember. You were guaranteed to come out of the forest with a full basket every time you ventured in. I wonder what the statistic would say this year, because it was incredibly dry and mushrooms "did not grow" at all.

P.S. Vasilis made me go on the web and find out that in Greek, the name of this mushroom is βασιλομανίταρο. Their name in French is "cepes", as Patrick noted below.

BennyV, Clementi, vasilpro, nicol_g, Vasa, chinchini, kLe, leo61, westcoastgirl1, TOMLEVMB trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

Clementi (44761) 2009-10-23 7:58

Ciao Dagmar,
very beautiful these mushrooms, but I would prefer to taste them rather than to look at them in photo....
Giorgio

BennyV (4835) 2009-10-23 7:59

Hello Dagmar,

Well, thanks, this taught me something about Czechia. (So far I only knew you invented pils.) And I share your passion. These look really great, excellent close framing and good colours, maybe just a bit too light, especially in the white parts. I also enjoyed your informative note.

Bon appetit.

Benny

yquem46 (8273) 2009-10-23 8:04

Nice close up of these "cèpes" as we say here
maybe the colors could take a little accentuation, for my personal taste
Is that your personal catch ?
Another good reason to go to Czech Rep.
have a good WE
best regards
Patrick

delkoo (34574) 2009-10-23 8:28

hi dagmar
i would have liked the one who found these mushrooms!!!

nice close up and interesting note.

didier

vasilpro (9162) 2009-10-23 10:59

Hello Dagmar,
Very nice composition with these mushrooms (what is their kind?, very good frame with nature colors.
Have a nice evening, Vasilis.

sacimar (7552) 2009-10-24 10:07

Hi Dasha,

interesting picture and note, I like the composition with all of these mushrooms, great details and sharpness, well done,

Have a good weekend too,

Sergio

delpeoples (6471) 2009-10-24 20:36

Hi Dasha, I have learned something new frmo your photo and Note. The idea of mushroom hunting is completely unknown to me, but it sounds like so much fun and almost your national "sport". I like the tightly cropped photo here, the tones and textures are beautiful and you've captured the light so well. I always pictured an Australian's dream of a Czech's dream would be your wonderful and world famous beers, but I'm happy with the mushrooms and a great look into your fascinating culture. Warm regards from a very rainy Sydney, Lisa.

Vasa (6004) 2009-10-25 1:39

Dear Dasha,

your note is logic support to your thematic picture. My wife, specialist for mushroom, gives you two points. Two smiles from me, friend, also.

Branko

pajaran (3604) 2009-10-25 23:13

Zdravo.
Mnogo lepe i mogu da budu opasne, dobre boje i rad.
Pozdrav, Paja.

chinchini (27721) 2009-10-26 13:58

Hi Dagmar,
You are also passionate than me for the mushrooms ;o) Your collection is superb. These are beautiful "bouchons de champagne", young specimens of "Bordeaux cèpes" that you as in the basket. Bravo! And good appetite.
Regards
Pierre

emka (22009) 2009-10-26 15:50

Hi Dasha, Wonderful photo. Is it result of your hunting? I love collecting mushrooms, although rarely have time to go to the forest. this year there were quite a lot of mushrooms but I collected them only on the market. In Poland Boletus edulis is considered as the most wanted because one dry them and then use for Christmas Eve dishes. ythe dishes with mushrooms are obligatory. in Polish they are called borowiki (they grow in bór - dense forest) or prawdziwki (they are real mushrooms).

regards

Malgorzata

kLe (2039) 2009-10-27 14:37

Hi Dagmar
I enjoyed a lot your note. Really interesting and funny! It remembered me one day in my childhood when I went (only once) to hunt mushrooms. Those were not these Boletus Edulis but Lactarius Deliciosus which (as the Latin name says) have a very nice taste. I can remember how the adults had to examine the specimenes we found.
Beautiful is also your picture in which the colors white and brown dominate and the shadows create a warm effect.

leo61 (43476) 2009-11-01 11:20

HI Dagmar!
DELICOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The best year for these ones I had three years ago.
This year it was too dry and I found only a few ones and posted a photo here.
Great shot,taken with good lightmanagement.
Regards,leo

westcoastgirl1 (1457) 2009-11-12 2:20

Hi Dagmar

I love mushrooms too! Great clarity in this shot. I love all the dirt you can see on them still. They look very fresh and yummy to eat. Good perspective and presentation.

Take care,
Tosca

marcdemoulin (1591) 2009-12-14 12:20