In the rainy months of winter, the forests of Stellenbosch are filled with many combinations of light and texture. These are favourable conditions for wild mushrooms to flourish in, said Nora Sperling Thiel, director of Delheim Wines in Stellenbosch, who forages wild mushrooms on Delheim’s winery during the winter months.
According to Sperling Thiel, the abundance of wild mushrooms in and around town draws a community of over 150 Stellenbosch-based wild mushroom foragers to hunt for these fungi during season.
“I had the privilege of growing up mushroom hunting with my mother […] I still pick mushrooms and lay them out in the Delheim wine shop to give visitors an idea of what’s edible and inedible,” Sperling Thiel told MatieMedia.
Nora Sperling Thiel foraged for edible, inedible, and poisonous mushrooms around Delheim in Stellenbosch to display in Delheim’s wine shop. PHOTO: Kimberley Schoeman
Optimal conditions
The weather conditions in July and the Stellenbosch-specific vegetation played a role in the varieties of mushrooms that foragers went in search of, explained Sperling Thiel.
“You have to wait for the weather to be right; a little bit of rain, and warmth. This winter has been a good time because it has been warmer on the weekends. Autumn and winter are the seasons, but when it gets too cold mushrooms don’t like it. So, you have very few mushrooms left,” according to Sperling Thiel.
Mushrooms found in Stellenbosch, like the blusher mushroom (pictured above), grow after rain and warm weather, according Justin Williams. PHOTO: Kimberley Schoeman
Specific tree types in Stellenbosch are also conducive for certain varieties of wild mushrooms, explained Justin Williams, who hosts the mushroom foraging workshop at Boschendal Winery in Stellenbosch.
“Stellenbosch has many pine trees and oak trees, which are what you look for in an area to potentially forage mushrooms. You need at least 20mm of rain because this moisture shocks the fungi system underground, which fruits mushrooms as a result,” illustrated Williams.
Edible or poisonous?
Indicators of which wild mushrooms are edible and which are poisonous differ, depending on where you are in South Africa, according to Sperling Thiel.
Edible mushrooms such as oyster mushrooms (pictured above), favour the pine trees and oak trees that grow in Stellenbosch because these trees provide a direct line to nutrients mushrooms favour, including moisture and warm shade. PHOTO: Kimberley Schoeman
“Edible mushrooms specific to the Western Cape have “sponge” under their caps, whereas mushrooms that are likely to be poisonous have gills under their caps. A poisonous mushroom is also attached to a “cup” underground, which is why you dig the whole mushroom out of the ground instead of cutting it,” Sperling Thiel told MatieMedia.
“Mushrooms that are bright red can be extremely poisonous. This is a level of intelligence that we are only starting to understand now. It is a two-way dialogue between the mushroom and any hunter that comes in contact with it,” according to Justin Williams. PHOTO: Kimberley Schoeman
An example of an edible mushroom found in Stellenbosch is the “blusher mushroom”, according to Williams.
“Blusher mushrooms are slightly pink and found all over Stellenbosch. It is edible, as long as it has been cooked because you cook away the toxicity,” Williams explained.
Research and preparation are important when foraging mushrooms, according to Rory Jarratt, chef at Fool’s Gold Social Bar in Stellenbosch, who forages mushrooms for recipes.
“You need to have a mushroom book with you to be absolutely sure of the mushrooms you identified. Nature is the best teacher, so you have to visit the places mushrooms grow and learn what mushrooms grow there,” said Jarratt.
*First-time foragers are advised to forage with an expert.