“In five minutes I filled a basket”: November porcini mushrooms delight the pickers of Tarn-et-Garonne

“Mushrooms are a whole: a beautiful stroll, a childlike joy in discovering a mushroom and a treat.”
Patricia, a Montalbanaise, perfectly summed up the contagious pleasure of a leisure activity that has kept a lot of Tarn-et-Garonnais running since All Saints' Day.

Yes, we still find porcini mushrooms at this time of year, but also trumpets of death, chanterelles, chanterelles, orongs, so many varieties of edible mushrooms… and even delicious as long as we know the ones. cook.

Obviously, in this non-exhaustive list, it is the porcini mushroom… and more precisely the black-headed variety with its inimitable scent that makes us dream the most. This “ideal porcini mushroom”, with subscribers absent in 2023 in our woods and forests, has been pointing its hat for around ten days, particularly in Quercy. Very beautiful specimens made in 82 enrich the photo library of the Facebook group “Champignons Midi-Pyrénées”… and the comments of curious little ones knowing more about the area (“Where is it in 82?”) where they were collected they also flower.

The storm rains which irrigated the east and north of the department, and the very mild temperatures which followed (it was still over 20° at the end of last week) favored this growth which we no longer expected. at this time of year. Usually, the porcini mushroom season is September and October… in this Olympic year, it is November which deserves the gold medal for the most beautiful baskets.

I found a lot of chanterelles and a few sheep's feet. I am already happy with my picking because in 2023, there were zero mushrooms.

This Monclaraise completed one in five minutes, this Tuesday, November 12 afternoon. “As soon as we find them in Vaïssac, we know that here in Monclar we can also find them. After a hard day of work, a walk in the forest is good. Plus, when we come back with some pretty porcini mushrooms, it “is happiness”, says Karima. However, Vaïssac, this village which welcomes you with a giant boletus (a fake one) planted in the middle of a roundabout, has not opened its famous porcini mushroom market this year… which does not prevent the boletus from grow here and there, at the foot of oaks and chestnut trees, and even on paths or in ditches at the edge of the woods where it is not rare to find them.

Daniel did not bring back any porcini mushrooms from his exploration of the Grésigne forest near Bruniquel. “It was last week. I found a lot of chanterelles and a few sheep's feet. I'm already happy with my picking because in 2023, there were zero mushrooms. And then the chanterelles, you know, are very, very good. How do you prepare them? You can make them in a pan or add them to a delicious omelette, to enjoy as an aperitif.” Enjoy your food !

Since All Saints' Day, porcini mushroom pickers have been busy near Lafrançaise, Cazes-Mondenard or in other mushroom woods in Quercy or the Pays de Serres. “An acquaintance of mine told me that we brought her so many that she couldn’t cook them all,” confides Claude. If you have any left over, we'll take it!