The first mushrooms in June

Hi everyone! Last weekend we went to the countryside to visit our parents. We were planning to pick strawberries, as rumor had it they were ripening early. We decided to take a boat across the Volga and check out our berry-picking spots.

And what would we do without fishing? A river, a boat, a motor… Of course, we also stocked up on fishing rods and baskets for berries.

Place and time of collection

The trip took place on June 11, 2021. We didn't get up early. We slowly launched the boat at 9:00 AM. The weather was hot, but it had rained for four days the day before, giving a strong feeling of heat and high humidity. It felt like a greenhouse.

It's cloudy... I decided to capture the moment - a neighbor's boat got into the frame.

Location: Samara region, near the city of Oktyabrsk.

We used to think that mushrooms appeared somewhat later, especially in August, when the autumn rains approached. So we didn't even think about mushrooms.

We fished first, and the zander were only biting sparingly. Then we swam to the other bank and went looking for berries. All our spots were bare. I mean, the berries had just shed their blooms and still needed another 1-2 weeks to fill out and gain color. It's way too early. Although they're already selling buckets of strawberries at our market. Where do they get them if it's still too early?!

We were disappointed at this point, as we'd filled a ton of baskets, hoping to snatch some berries, but there were none. We headed to the boat, hoping to see other places, maybe we'd stumble across a ripe berry. And then, suddenly, we looked around—and there were tons of mushrooms all around us! It's a shame I didn't take a picture of that moment (they were growing like a carpet). There was no time for photos. We all rushed off to pick! I'm honestly not very knowledgeable about them, but my husband and dad said they were all good (white ones) in that patch, so we could pick them.

Size and quality of mushrooms

The specimens are certainly impressive! The mushrooms are simply enormous to me! And what's great is that they're fresh, clean, and worm-free.

We picked them quickly. Five mushrooms were already a full basket! We also found some small ones, but mostly the big ones.

And the mushrooms are beautiful. The white ones are just like something out of a fairy tale—tidy and even!

On the shore

I'll take a short detour from the mushrooms and show you our spot where we keep our boat and other fishing gear. While the "boys" were closing the boat, bustling about and getting ready, I snapped some pictures of the area.

There are other boats moored next to ours. It's a cozy spot, everyone knows each other. They've even set up chairs:

On the other side are iron boxes containing all sorts of fishing gear—fishing rods, life jackets, life preservers, jackets, motor oil, etc. All the boxes are steel and heavily locked. It seems like there's nothing to steal from there, but even here, some people manage to steal things (old jackets with holes in them).

Here are the insides of our "rich" safe:

It's all rusty, but everything's neat. Dad always tries to keep it tidy. On the shelves are little things like ropes and spools. By the wall are jars of various liquids (oil, gasoline), plus various spare parts—an oar, boat seats (simple pieces of foam rubber). For me, girls are junk. But for men, these are things they'll need at any moment.

And what about life jackets? The rules require them on boats. Or, more precisely, on passengers on boats. Otherwise, you'll get a fine.

After fishing, you need to tidy up the boat - sweep it, wipe off dust, dirt, and scales:

And here's our humble little motor. It's tiny and slow. But it's easy to carry and transport.

The engine is called a Honda 2.3. It's noisy, but it's been running smoothly for 8 years now!

That's what we ride on. We have other motors, too, old Soviet ones. But they're really heavy, and our boys have stopped lugging them around. Yes, they're four times faster, but they're a real pain, and we don't need to travel far anyway.

We picked a lot of mushrooms. Two baskets, a sack (potato sack). Plus we scattered some more into bags.

And they caught some fish:

By the way, people are successfully fishing from the shore by boat. You don't even have to go anywhere.

Processing and cleaning

We barely made it home with all our belongings. And then we had to process the mushrooms—wash, sort, cut, and cook them (since there were so many of them, they simply wouldn't fit in the freezer raw). Cooking them shrinks their volume by a third. Picking them is fun, but dealing with them afterwards is a pain, especially when there are SO MANY of them!

So I sat down in the bathroom and started washing, cleaning and cutting this beauty:

I went through five of these bowls! I struggled all evening and cooked all night.

I liked this "small" mushroom the best. You can feed the whole family with just one:

There were also small ones, like toys:

And then the cutting started:

I also came across these mushrooms (my dad collected them):

They turn blue and red when cut. When pressed, they turn purple. They seem like good mushrooms, but I threw them away. I don't like taking risks. Dad was upset, saying they were tasty and safe. But I don't take risks in such cases.

Preparation

I scattered all the sliced ​​mushrooms (4 pieces) into 10-liter pots and simmered them overnight, stirring constantly. By morning, I was exhausted! But I had made the preserves. Then the mushrooms cooled, and I "poured" them into bags and frozen them individually.

These are the servings:

And the freezer is classic, at the bottom of the refrigerator:

It's convenient to take out single-use packets for frying or mushroom soup.

At our market, these mushrooms cost 600 rubles per kilo. And champignons cost 250. But, as you can imagine, porcini mushrooms are the best!