Eat me, eat me… or not, teach mushroom lovers

“We started our operations at the beginning of the week…

“We launched our operations at the beginning of the week,” says Yves Cestac, president of this company that hasn’t stopped growing since Covid turned upside down. Close to 180 members today versus 120 a year ago. “I made a schedule based on potential harvest locations. We chose Thursday and Friday. On Friday morning, the room was prepared and the fifty pickers were brought in. On Friday afternoon, we began to identify the species and put them on the tables. Saturday noon, it was still in A mess. But at 2 p.m., it was perfect!”

Displays a row of mushroom tables by family. “This year, we have 350 species, and maybe we’ll reach 400,” the organizer slips to the innate photographer who explains this report. Then large families are divided into genera and species somewhat reminiscent of the dinosaurs that were exchanged in schoolyards. Take this family of polypores that grow mostly on wood. We find there piptoporus, and abortiporus, and pycnoporus …

Deadly, giant, strange…

“In general, there are now 10,000 species visible to the naked eye in France,” continues Yves Sestac. I am able to identify maybe 500 of them but for the others I have to undergo a microscopic examination. Since its beginnings in 1961, the Society for Mycology’s database has grown to 2,500 species.

The profane visitor is particularly drawn to more imposing models such as this giant puffball captured near Laruns. Edible at the beginning of growth but not after that. There are also these strange species placed under the glass on the Amanita table.

“Amanita phalloides, a lethal species. It juxtaposes with its more palatable cousins. Caesarea amanita favored by Roman emperors or Amanita muscaria is more commonly called a “fly agaric” because it was once used to scare away flies on farms.

This year, the company has also associated itself with Fête de la science by presenting an exhibition on the effects of climate change. We learn that growth is delayed by increasingly hot summers or that exotic species are getting better and better accustomed to our increasingly temperate climate.

The company suggests continuing the discovery with three months of theoretical training an hour and a half per week and excursions every 15 days. She answers the harvesters’ questions every Monday evening from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Pau’s office at Henri IV School.