{"id":7380,"date":"2019-11-25T05:15:22","date_gmt":"2019-11-24T23:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/udaen.info\/?p=7380"},"modified":"2019-11-25T05:15:22","modified_gmt":"2019-11-24T23:45:22","slug":"if-you-go-down-to-the-woods-today-dont-come-back-with-mushrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/?p=7380","title":{"rendered":"If you go down to the woods today \u2026 don’t come back with mushrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you go down to the woods today \u2026 don’t come back with mushrooms<\/h2>\n
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On a bright November morning in Epping forest, the fading contours of late mushrooms are poking through rotting leaves and hanging from tree stumps.<\/p>\n

The forest, on the edge of London, boasts more than 1,600 fungi species across 2,428 hectares (6,000 acres). It is always tempting for illegal commercial foragers, and this year is no exception.<\/p>\n

While picking wild mushrooms for personal use is acceptable and permitted in most parts of the country, fungi foraging in the protected woodland is not. Commercial operations are illegal.<\/p>\n

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But for those who want to make make some quick money and know what to look for, the riches of mushroom season often prove irresistible. The City of London Corporation, which manages the area, has warned that Epping Forest\u2019s biodiversity is threatened by foraging gangs that harvest huge numbers of fungi with the aim of selling them on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge our visitors to leave the fungi how they find them \u2013 untouched,\u201d says Graeme Doshi-Smith, chairman of the corporation\u2019s Epping Forest and Commons Committee. \u201cOur job is to protect this ancient woodland for everyone to enjoy. Hoovering up fungi on a large scale is ecologically damaging and is simply unsustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, park officials posed with confiscated hauls weighing up to 49kg. They warned that commercial pickers do great damage to the protected ancient woodland due to the quantities they take, depriving insects and other animals of food, threatening rare species and risking the health of ancient trees in the forest.<\/p>\n

As the desire for fresh and wild ingredients has grown in Britain, so too have concerns about nationwide fungi raiders. In October 2018, the Royal Parks issued a warning about mushroom and chestnut \u201cpilfering<\/a>\u201d in Richmond Park and other areas they manage. The New Forest, a vital site for more than\u00a02,700 species of fungi<\/a>, including some protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act, is frequently targeted, as are National Trust properties across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just take everything,\u201d says Mario Prati, the exasperated founder of the Borough market truffle importer Tartufaia, as he reflects on the commercial fungi foragers accused of plundering Epping Forest and selling their bounties to the capital\u2019s markets and restaurants.<\/p>\n

As well as its stocks of truffles, seasonal wild mushrooms are an important part of the Italian\u2019s offerings. But though many wild mushrooms are native to the UK \u2013 about\u00a012,000 varieties<\/a>\u00a0swellto impossible shapes and sizes \u2013 the mushrooms at Tartufaia are overwhelmingly sourced from Europe, all checked by an ecologist before they go on sale. Prati, a former chef, does not purchase from the commercial foragers who occasionally try their luck at the market with overladen plastic bags.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wouldn\u2019t take it,\u201d says another market trader when asked about illegal commercial foragers trying to sell produce. \u201cI\u2019ve worked in restaurants before where people would. It\u2019s the same with wild garlic as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UK has an uncertain relationship with wild mushrooms, says Prati. \u201cIn Britain, people are really scared about picking mushrooms by themselves. There isn\u2019t that much knowledge. From what I gather, it\u2019s a knowledge that used to be here. Mushrooms like ceps, chanterelles, girolles \u2013 they\u2019re all mushrooms that are native from here, but somewhere along the way the knowledge has been lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

The porcini, pieds de mouton and girolles piled high at the flagship market are imported from countries where fungi foraging is an established part of life. They are typically from areas of Bulgaria, Poland, Russia and Croatia with much more woodland.<\/p>\n

Prati\u2019s friend Claudio Bincoletto, a former chef turned ecologist, says illegal commercial foragers in the UK do not know how to pick sustainably.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are taking advantage of the lack of rangers to police the natural environment. I\u2019ll give you an example. I went to Sicily and picked mushrooms on Mount Etna. I did 12 hours\u2019 training, six in the classroom, six outside, I paid \u20ac12.50 (\u00a310.70) a day. If I\u2019m caught with more than 3kg or undersized species or rare species, I get a \u20ac500 fine,\u201d says Bincoletto, who used to advise the restaurateur Antonio Carluccio on wild produce.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Italy, we have 35% of forested area. In England it\u2019s less that 5%. If we have 2 million foragers out of 10 million Londoners, do you think many fungi that are taken easily will remain? We as humans are the cause of extinction of most species through eating them. If a wild boar eats a mushroom, he\u2019s going to deposit the spores in the right environment. If we humans eat a mushroom, we eat it cooked so there is no spreading of a new generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foraging<\/a>\u00a0experts tend to agree with Bincoletto\u2019s analysis but dispute the scale of commercial wild fungi picking in the UK, insisting foraging for personal use is a very different operation. Fred Gillam, aka Fred the Forager, runs courses through his company the Wild Side of Life in south-west England.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking too many mushrooms will harm the ecology of the forest as a whole, removing food sources for many other creatures,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we forage, we must remember to act like true foragers \u2026 the hunter-gatherers that were our ancestors until very recent times in mankind\u2019s evolution. Nomadic hunter-gatherers take a little from here \u2026 a little from there \u2026 they do not take too much of any one species because they have fabulously diverse diets and know how to use many species as food and how to use every part of a plant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another foraging expert, John Rensten of Forage London, says: \u201cThe main threat to mushrooms and forest ecosystems is loss of habitat. It\u2019s not people foraging. It really isn\u2019t. It\u2019s a real cottage industry. Tesco buy their chanterelles from Russia for \u00a36 per kilo. It takes a while to pick a kilo of chanterelles.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Since we published our pledge\u2026<\/h2>\n

\u2026 focused on the escalating climate crisis, Guardian readers from more than 100 countries across the world have supported us \u2013 thank you. Many of you have told us how much you value our commitment: to be truthful, resolute and undeterred in pursuing this important journalism. We are galvanised by your generous support as it makes our work possible.<\/p>\n

The Guardian made a choice: to keep our journalism open to all. We do not have a paywall because we believe everyone deserves access to factual information, regardless of where they live or what they can afford.<\/p>\n

We will not stay quiet on the escalating climate crisis and we recognise it as the defining issue of our lifetimes. The Guardian will give global heating, wildlife extinction and pollution the urgent attention they demand. Our independence means we can interrogate inaction by those in power. It means Guardian reporting will always be driven by scientific facts, never by commercial or political interests.<\/p>\n

We believe that the problems we face on the climate crisis are systemic and that fundamental societal change is needed. We will keep reporting on the efforts of individuals and communities around the world who are fearlessly taking a stand for future generations and the preservation of human life on earth. We want their stories to inspire hope. We will also report back on our own progress as an organisation, as we take important steps to address our impact on the environment.<\/p>\n

Sabhar<\/p>\n

The gaurdiam<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you go down to the woods today \u2026 don’t come back with mushrooms On a bright November morning in Epping forest, the fading contours of late mushrooms are poking through rotting leaves and hanging from tree stumps. The forest, on the edge of London, boasts more than 1,600 fungi species across 2,428 hectares (6,000 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7380"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7380"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7381,"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7380\/revisions\/7381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}