Mushroom Hunting And Memories of My Childhood
Picking mushroom was something I enjoyed doing when I was a little girl. Going around in the rubber plantation with my little brother and cousins, trying to find dead rotten rubber trees that might had mushroom on was one of our activities during rainy season. Our favorite that time was kulat sisir. Another favorite was kulat taon as we called it. Kulat taon is best to make clear soup with onion. I could see see and smell it until now.
I love the smell of earth after rain and mushroom often gives me that pleasure. The forest and earth smell they have, give me a kind of joy I still don't understand until now. It is not the same joy when I go to the mall and buy something I like or something I wish for. It is just a different kind of joy.
My father knows how much I love kulat sisir, so he will go in the rubber trees areas to find them for me every time I go home to Malaysia. Or he will got to pasar minggu in Tasek Gelugor to buy it. It cost around RM3 per can. They use condensed milk can to measure it. Owh the joy when I see and smell it, I don't know how to explain.
Looking for mushroom evokes the child in me. I remember running around with my brother and cousin brothers between the rubber trees. The wet grass didn't seem to bother us at all. Snakes? Nope, was not thinking of that either. It was only the joy of finding mushroom that we all had on mind that time.Usually we would come back with a bag full of wild kulat sisir which my mom would fry with turmeric and chili or made curry with papaya. She would still make that now when I go home.
Now in Norway, it is autumn, means it is mushroom season! My husband, being a city guy does not know much about mushroom, even though he is often in the forest during the weekends. So, the only safe thing we can do is to just collect the mushroom we know, that is Chanterelle! It is quiet difficult to spot them under blueberry plants or they are hidden under moss and dry leaves.
The one mushroom we must avoid is called the fly agaric or fly amanita mushroom.
(pic from google image)
This mushroom was used by the Vikings in the old days so that they became crazy and not afraid to go to war. There are some people still consume this mushroom now as alternative to drugs or alcohol.
This autumn we took few trips in the forest to look for chanterelle. I took it as a walk back into my childhood memories even though it is a different type of forest and different type of mushroom...but the smell of it is the same. The same joy I feel as I share it with my husband and my children.
You can watch the videos of us hunting for mushroom below.
Aku suka kulat sisir gak...rasa macam dagin
ReplyDeleteSyoknyaa.. teringat masa kecik2 kutip kulat sisir
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