The creators of the site “chasseursdechampignons.com” have created an algorithm which, depending on the presence of trees, the acidity of the soil, the altitude or even the exposure, determines the areas favorable to the development of mushrooms.
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If the gloomy weather of mid-September is enough to make us lose our smile, with all this rain, mushroom pickers, themselves, are in heaven. While in general, they like to jealously guard the secret of their favorite picking spot. The site “chasseursdechampignons.com” claims to reveal the best mushroom spots, absolutely everywhere in France.
The principle is quite simple, the creators of the site relied on mycology specialists to create an algorithm, which depending on the presence of trees, the acidity of the soil, the altitude or even the exposure, determines the areas favorable to the development of morels, porcini mushrooms, chanterelles, and other chanterelles. Result this site “chasseursdechampignons.com”, which claims a community of 200,000 members, reveals the best mushroom spots throughout the territory, therefore also very close to you, thanks to paid interactive maps.
This promise seems credible, according to Marc André Selosse, professor at the National Museum of Natural History. He believes that the combination of these factors can create environments favorable to fungi, but it does not guarantee finding any.The determinism of the environment allows the growth of mushrooms, but does not impose it”, explains this specialist. These maps therefore reveal potential mushroom spots, but without any guarantee of filling your basket. Moreover, in addition to the map, you also need to have an eye for spotting a porcini mushroom or morels in the undergrowth.
You should also not rely on your smartphone to keep an eye on things for you, the risk of error is too high. The instructions from the French Food and Environmental Safety Agency (ANSES) are very clear on their website. You should not eat mushrooms identified using these smartphone recognition applications. If in doubt, you should show your harvest to a pharmacist or a mycology association.
Every year, poison control centers record more than a thousand cases of mushroom poisoning. Some can be fatal. According to the latest available report, from 2022, there were even 1,900 people poisoned by mushrooms in France in one year. Among them, around thirty had wrongly relied on their cell phones.