Summer

Summer favorites

1. "Rye porcini" (the first porcini): In late May and June (when the rye is coming into ear), the first wave of Porcini (Boletus edulis) appears, including the reticulated form (Boletus reticulatus) that grows under oaks. They appear suddenly and disappear just as quickly.

2. Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius): This is the main symbol of the summer forest. From July through the end of August (if there is rain), chanterelles carpet the moss in coniferous and mixed forests. They handle the summer heat very well, drying out a little but not spoiling.

3. Slippery jacks and Brittlegills: Huge families of slippery jacks appear in pine woods. Brittlegills in every color of the rainbow become the most common gilled mushroom of summer.

4. The poisonous elite: It's at the height of summer (July-August) that deadly poisonous mushrooms start growing en masse — the death cap and the panther cap. They love warm soil and broadleaf forests.

The problem with summer foraging: Worms

M.Ya. Zerova always warns: the forager's main enemy in summer is the fungus gnat.

In the warm season, insects multiply at a frantic pace. Flies lay their eggs in a mushroom while it is still a microscopic bud underground. Very often a forager finds a perfect, beautiful young porcini or slippery jack, cuts it and sees that the whole stem inside has turned into a "sieve" from larval tunnels.

That's why in summer mushrooms must be processed (or the spoiled ones thrown away) immediately after you get back from the forest. The only summer delicacy that is almost never wormy is the chanterelle: insect larvae hardly ever touch it.