Spring is the ideal season for a mushrooming expedition, and the Cadí-Moixeró Natural Park offers a unique setting. You can enjoy its splendid meadows and woods where at this time of year you will find different types of mushrooms including the carrereta, bolet de Sant Jordi and highly-prized black morel, Morchella elata (colmenillas).
Make your way from Barcelona to Bellver in the Cerdanya region to meet up with your guide, Isidre Ricard, a local livestock farmer. After a breakfast of tasty bread with tomato and embutidos (sausages), go on to the village of Riu de la Cerdanya where you set off on the track that will take you to Penyes Altes in Moixeró (The track is usable by any kind of vehicle).
Park at the Shelter in “El Serrat de les Esposes” (1.511 m.) and set off on your search for wild mushrooms in the local meadows.
Calocybe gambosa (Dicholoma georgii)
Common names: moixernó, bolet de Sant Jordi, perrochico, etc.
Description:
Cap: creamy white, smooth, convex and thick.
Gills: white then cream.
Stalk: sturdy.
Smell: flour.
Edibility: Many mycologists consider this to be one of the most tasty mushrooms. To cook, fry in oil with a sprinkling of garlic, or it also goes nicely in an omelette or scrambled egg.
Habitat: woods, copses and meadows, where it makes tell-tale circles or rings on the outskirts of woods.
Comments: Not to be confused with the toxic Inocybe erubescens and Inocybe patouillardii.
Morchella elata
Popular names: colmenilla cónica, murgola…
Description:
Hat: conical and hollow in the shape of a honeycomb.
Stem: pale flesh colour, hollow and rough.
Habitat: forests.
Edibility: Excellent, it must be cooked beforehand (raw it is toxic). A delicacy if we fill it with Foie Gras and bake it with milk cream.
Comments: Do not confuse it with Gyromitra esculenta (Bolet de Greix).
Parque Natural de el Cadí i el Moixeró
Distance 130 km from Barcelona.
Road: E-9 (C-16) BCN – Berga – Bellver de Cerdanya (por el Túnel del Cadí) . Toll road. (C-17) BCN – Vic – Ripoll – Puigcerdà.
www.gencat.cat/parcs/cadi
