A guide to mushroom hunting in Luxembourg

If you do not know your mushrooms, purchase a quality guide or go with a seasoned mushroom hunter for your first few trips!

When: Peak mushroom season starts at the end of summer and goes into autumn, usually after a few days of rain when the sun comes back out.

Where: Luxembourg’s many forests.

How: Wear shoes and clothes well suited for the forest, as you might have to walk off the beaten path. A sorrel basket is the mushroom hunter’s best friend in order to preserve finds. To cut them from the ground, best use a knife and brush (to clean them up).

What: Only pick healthy, grown mushrooms. Be careful not to pick them too young or too old, if they start decomposing it will be harder to recognise them. Check your basket once more for any bad mushrooms before taking them home. Once at home, peel the bottom stalk with a knife and cut off any damaged parts. Do not put them into water, but lightly clean the heads with a humid wipe. If you are planning to cook with mushrooms, eat them shortly after your trip.

Legality: Luxembourgish mushrooms are protected! Here are the rules to follow: "Only three specimens per species and per person can be taken for study purposes. The harvest is limited to 1kg per person and per day for the edible species (55 species)."

Guided tour: The perfect way to learn about mushrooms is to participate in an organised guided tour with an expert. The Luxembourgish society of naturalists sometimes organises them, keep an eye out here.

When in doubt: Call this service by the Luxembourgish naturalist society to check on any mushroom finds (active from the end of summer until autumn): Permanences mycologiques | Société des naturalistes luxembourgeois.

Common mushrooms in Luxembourg

Common edible (or conditionally edible) Mushrooms

• King Bolete (Boletus edulis)
  
  A large, chestnut-brown cap with tubes (not gills), a thick barrel-shaped stem with a net‐like pattern, often found in deciduous & coniferous woods from summer into autumn.
  
  
• Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius)
  
  Bright yellow-orange funnel-shaped mushroom, wavy margins, with smooth ridges (not true gills) underneath, often fruity (apricot-like) smell, in mixed woods from June through autumn.
  
  
• Oak Bolete / Neoboletus luridiformis (sometimes called “Oak Bolete / Boletus erythropus” in local guidebooks)
  
  A medium to large bolete with brownish cap, rusty/brown stem with small dots, that bruises blue when cut, growing under oak, beech, spruce; requires good cooking. Conditionally edible (must be cooked; raw or undercooked may cause gastrointestinal upset).
  
  
• Hydnum repandum (“Hedgehog” or “Wood Hedgehog”)
  
  Irregularly shaped pale ochre-to-cream cap with spines (teeth) instead of gills underneath, often in beech or spruce woodland on mossy or calcareous soil, August–October.
  
  
• Russula species (e.g. Green Russula, Edible Russula)
  
  Mushrooms with brittle white flesh, caps varying in colour (greens, browns, etc.), often in mixed or deciduous forests; some are tasty, some are inedible or mildly toxic, so tasting a tiny bit (carefully) helps for ID. Some edible, some not – those named “edible Russula” are edible; others (bright red, bitter ones) are inedible.
  
  
• Autumn Mushroom / Honey Fungus (Armillaria mellea group)
  
  Clusters of honey-brown caps on stumps, tree roots etc., with ring(s) on stem; appears in autumn (Sept-Oct), causes wood rot; tasty if young and well cooked. Conditionally edible (must be well cooked; raw or old specimens may cause illness).
  
  
• Parasol Mushroom (Macrolepiota procera)
  
  Large, tall stem with snakeskin-pattern, cap that opens broad like an umbrella (“parasol”), typically in grassy forest clearings or woodland edges from mid to late season.
   

Common poisonous or dangerous mushrooms to watch out for

• Death Cap (Amanita phalloides)
  
  A pale green to yellowish-gray mushroom, with white gills and a volva (cup) at the base of the stem, found under deciduous trees (oak, beech etc) in summer-autumn; extremely toxic (amatoxins), often fatal even in small amounts.
  Poisonous (deadly).
  
  
• Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria)
  
  Bright red cap with white spots (warts), white gills, often under birch or conifers, late summer to autumn; causes strong gastrointestinal and neurotoxic symptoms.
  Poisonous.
  
  
• Yellow Mushroom / Yellow-Skin Agaricus (Agaricus xanthodermus)
  Looks superficially like edible champignon mushrooms (white cap, ring on stem), but when cut or bruised, especially at the base, turns bright yellow and gives off a chemical / phenolic smell; causes stomach issues.