• Hiking: eight secret routes through the Sierra de Madrid

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Only 0.07% of the fungi are usable, about 980. Of the million and a half species (cataloged about 14,000) there are thousands that are poisonous.

Mortals

.

So small is the proportion of those suitable for consumption that, if you are not an expert,

the safest thing is to go out into the field with a mycologist

who helps to recognize the good ones.

After a four-hour guided walk, the basket weighs one kilo.

Until the cold starts, it

's mushroom season

.

The Sierra del Guadarrama reservation center (Madrid) organizes educational routes to know how to identify and start or cut the different species.

This atypical year, prepare outings in Guadarrama, Los Molinos, Manzanares el Real, Miraflores de la Sierra, Moralzarzal, Collado Mediano, Buitrago de Lozoya and

Cercedilla

.

In the latter municipality, the guided route with the

mycological guide Raúl Villar

begins at the Casa Cirilo parking lot, the only bar at the foot

of the Fuenfría valley

.

At 10:00 hours the educator appears and asks a couple of trick questions to check the level of knowledge of the staff, in times of Covid reduced to

nine hikers plus monitor

.

During the next three hours (about 10 kilometers of walking) he directs the excursion that stops every two minutes if any mushroom appears.

The most popular in Sierra de Guadarrama, to name a few with their popular names,

the chanterelles, the boletus, the champignons and the thistle mushrooms

.

The group of hikers with the guide in the Fuenfría valley, in Cercedilla.

The guide, partner and member of the board of directors of the Madrid Mycological Society, describes each specimen and explains how to extract it "if it is of interest, because it is edible or interesting for the subsequent explanation of the different varieties", he details.

This fall, with even more mountaineers on the weekends due to movement restrictions,

there is an abundance of mushrooms

.

This is assured by the mycologist, that every weekend and until December 8 (in principle), he conducts these days of environmental education suitable for families.

RAPID GROWTH

The hiker must go out into the field prepared.

It is mandatory to go warm, with your head covered

as recommended by the guide, and with appropriate footwear.

In addition, for the collection, it is essential to walk with a wicker basket and a knife.

Toxic 'Clitocybe', difficult to identify because it is confused with the Molinera. IV

On rainy days it is more difficult to collect mushrooms.

"The water washes the cuticle, the skin of the fungus, very useful for its recognition", explains the expert.

"Unless you go to jack, horse and king, that is, you know about mushrooms, it is better not to go out," he recommends.

Patience, if one day there are no mushrooms, as they

take four to eight days to emerge

, as the expert reveals, the next weekend if another does not arrive before, the field may be full.

SAFE CONSUMPTION

Mixed forests

abound in the Community of Madrid

, "due to the continuous repopulation", explains Villar, a forest firefighter when the mushroom season ends.

A typology that increases the chances of finding fungi.

In the Valley of the Fuenfría de Cercedilla, with a typical Eurosiberian forest, one can get a good handful of chanterelles, pardillas, amanitas, boletus (edulis, pinícola, slimy).

Part of the collection of all hikers

V.

After leaving the field, the guide gathers the whole group to identify the harvest of the day.

If the excursion takes place in Cercedilla, under the tent of the Casa Cirilo bar (its hot soup is appreciated while listening to the class, 2.5 euros), remember one by one each of the species collected (also the poisonous ones) and

check the basket for basket, unit by unit

, that all the stored copies are fit for human consumption.

"In the five years that I have been doing these outings, no one has been poisoned," jokes Villar.

For added peace of mind, the ticket for these mycological conferences includes civil liability and accident insurance.

Diploma that 'certifies' the knowledge acquired in the mycological course.

If you are lucky and skilled, you take home a one or two kilo basket of mushrooms.

"No more, because we advocate responsible consumption," the educator argues.

At the end of the experience, if the student

passes

, the monitor gives him a diploma that

certifies

the knowledge acquired.

But beware:

it is not a guarantee of success on the next outing

and consuming wild mushrooms can pose a great risk to health.

MYCOLOGICAL DAYS

Guided routes through the Sierra de Madrid, with the Sierra del Guadarrama reservation center.

Didactic activity of

four hours, 20 euros

(children up to 12 years old, free).

Groups of nine hikers plus mycological guide.

The price includes

accident and civil liability insurance

.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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