Where to Go Mushroom Picking in Valčianska dolina
If you love mushrooms and are passionate foraging enthusiasts, a stay at a mountain chalet wouldn’t be complete without a good haul. Valčianska dolina offers many great spots for collecting delicious mushrooms. In addition to the popular porcini, you can also find parasols, boletus, bay boletes, saffron milk caps, slippery jacks, blue caps, and chicken mushrooms. We recommend going mushroom picking early in the morning, as you may encounter local foragers from Valčany who could beat you to the best spots. So get your baskets and knives ready, and we’ll show you where to go mushroom picking from the Woodpark.sk chalet in Valčianska dolina.
Always keep your eyes open in the forest — there are plenty of mushrooms to find. The best spots are mainly beech and oak forests. And when it rains, believe us, you won’t want to leave them.
The first recommended spot is just a short walk from the Woodpark.sk chalets. You can either head left toward the stream and enter the forest just beyond the road, or turn right along the road and cross the meadow up the hill, where you can find saffron milk caps and chicken mushrooms. They usually grow in groups in coniferous or mixed forests, often in grass, moss, or grassy areas near young spruces. Keep in mind, these spots tend to be picked quickly.
Another spot we recommend is just a 15-minute walk from the Woodpark.sk chalets. It’s located just above the Valčianska dam. In recent years, this area has undergone changes due to the ski resort, but despite that, it still provides a good base of mycelium, where you can find some excellent mushrooms. This part of the forest is mainly composed of spruce trees, with less frequent trees like oak and beech. Here, you can find boletus, bay boletes, and, if you’re lucky, porcini and parasol mushrooms. The hill is quite steep, so be careful while foraging.
The final recommended spot is at the entrance of the Šindolná Valley, about three kilometres from the Woodpark.sk chalets, and you can also reach it by car. (From this area, you can access the partisan bunkers.) The forest here is mainly composed of oak and beech trees, with fewer spruces and firs. You can find the popular porcini, blue caps, bay boletes, and boletus. In grassy areas with fewer trees, you are almost guaranteed to find parasol mushrooms.
In this area, we managed to fill an entire basket of these mushrooms in under 30 minutes.
We do recommend that you stay cautious and only pick mushrooms you are certain about. In Valčianska dolina, you can encounter poisonous mushrooms at any time and anywhere, such as the green or red amanita, the red bolete, and the commonly found webcaps.
After a great trip and a successful mushroom foraging, you’ll usually only manage to use part of your harvest in a scrambled mushroom dish or soup. We recommend processing the remaining mushrooms as soon as possible, because if you simply store them in the fridge, they will last at most two days. The rest should be dried or frozen for later use.
Drying Mushrooms
Clean the mushrooms and slice them thinly. Lay them close together on a well-ventilated, dry surface. At the chalet, you can use a baking tray for this purpose. In a pinch, paper can also be used for drying mushrooms. Partially dried mushrooms can then be finished more quickly in the oven at a maximum temperature of around 50°C, but it’s better to leave the oven door slightly open. Do not put fresh mushrooms directly into the oven, as they will blacken and lose quality.
Freezing Mushrooms
Another quick way to process mushrooms at the chalet is by freezing them. Cut the mushrooms into smaller pieces and place them in salted boiling water. Let them cook for about eight minutes, skimming off the foam that forms on the surface during cooking. After boiling, drain the mushrooms, rinse them with cold water, and let them drain completely. Then, simply place the mushrooms into a plastic freezer bag or a sealed container and store them in the freezer.
The Woodpark.sk team wishes you a fun and enjoyable mushroom picking experience. 🙂
