Ethno-mycology: Spring fungi
Ethno-mycology is a branch of Ethno-botany which studies popular knowledge about fungi. Castilla y León, in the interior of the Iberian Peninsula, is traditionally a mycophobic region. The term refers to the popular knowledge and interest in fungi in a certain human population, relating to the ancestral fear or phobia of these mysterious living beings, fungi.
Over the last 30 years, groups of amateurs have managed to arouse much more interest in knowing about fungi, based on spreading fungal science. In Segovia specifically, where our research was carried out, we could say that until mycological exploitation was boosted, the area was clearly mycophobic and only a few species were collected as edible fungi, those that were well-known to be safe locally, some of them spring fungi whose names vary from one place to another and sometimes intermix as we shall see.
As regards certain rare spring fungi of the ascomycetic group, there is some knowledge about certain edible species, more than we had expected, which has always attracted our attention. They have been exploited in certain villages since long ago, and they still retain their vernacular names and ways of preparation which we include in this article. They are, for example, brain mushrooms, crown fungus, elf-caps, fairy rings, morels or cagarrias.
On the borders of the province of Segovia with Valladolid lies the emblematic sanctuary of Henar, where we met María (María del Carmen Berzal Cano, 74) with her dog, looking for mushrooms in the poplar grove at Cuellar. She would always come with her husband or alone in the mushroom season to look for brain mushrooms or elf-caps. She prepares them by boiling them well with salt, in scrambled eggs or omelettes, or she adds them to meat dishes.
Of a total of over twenty existing species from this group of fungi, we know of at least three species from three different ascomycetic genus used for food (Helvella, Morchella and Mitrophora), all in the table below, with their vernacular/local names and characteristics.
The species Helvella and Morchella and probably others contain toxic hemolysins which destroy red blood cells. To avoid this, the locals know that lengthy boiling is required or even drying them previous to consumption as they are thermo-labile, in other words, the heat eliminates the poison.
Sometimes the topic of the popular local names is complicated because they are disappearing and also vary from village to village. In addition, another species which is picked in spring (but also appears in the autumn) belonging to the basidiomycetes group, is sometimes called by the same name. We are referring to Marasmius oreades, the well-known senderuela, whose name in the province we have recorded as pucherete, pucheruelo and musarón. The question remains for future interviews and research. We include some photos of these species which are of ethno-mycological value. Bon appétit!