One of the mushrooms that is usually quite secretive when it comes to knowing about their characteristics and properties for harvesting are the marzuelos. His scientific name is Hygrophorus marzuolus and it seems that it is only available to a few who know much of the mysteries of mushrooms. And it is that the marzuelos are mushrooms with enough difficulty to be able to find.
In this article we are going to reveal all the secrets about marzuelos and what you must do to collect them.
Key features
It is a mushroom that is considered an excellent edible. If you are one of those who loves to collect mushrooms, you may know that, if you manage to collect some good-sized specimens, you will be able to enjoy them in the kitchen. To be able to recognize marzuelos at a glance, you need to know well what their characteristics are.
The marzuelos hat usually measures between 3 and 13 cm depending on the state of development. The youngest usually have a convex shaped hat and, as they grow and reach their adult stage, they end up having a flat shape. The margins of said hat go from curved to smooth or flat. They usually have a fairly characteristic color that ranges from specimens with a completely white color to gray tones in which they are already more developed. In some specimens that spend in their advanced adult stage, they usually have an almost black color.
As for the foot, it usually has a fleshy, thick and short appearance. It has a white color that turns gray as it develops. One way to distinguish them from other specimens is the small gray tabby blemishes found on the foot. They have widely spaced and diverse blades in young specimens with a white and greyish color in adults.
Its meat is quite tender and white in color. It can be recognized because it has some gray tones under the cuticle. It is considered a great edible and for many fans of mycology it is one of the most delicious mushrooms to collect.
Where to collect the marzuelos
This type of mushroom is often associated with snow. This is because we can find numerous photos in which we see how this mushroom is surrounded by snow. This makes us quite like this. One of the determining factors for it to be able to develop in marzuelo in large quantities is that there have been heavy snowfalls during the previous months. However, this is not what makes you have to be under the snow.
What this type of mushroom prefers is not the snow itself but the thaw. As soon as the ice water begins to melt, the mycelia are activated and their appearance after a few days is usually associated with somewhat higher temperatures throughout the day. It is not affected by the fact that there is snowfall since it may be camouflaged under it.
Marzuelos usually appear first at lower elevations and rise to a medium elevation as spring progressed. During the fall season it is just the other way around. The dates of its growth are usually not exact. In northern areas such as Navarra and the part of the Catalan Pre-Pyrenees tend to grow a little earlier than normal. At low levels, they begin to emerge during the last weeks of February.
After a few weeks they already begin to appear by the Soria mountains, points of Guadalajara, Burgos, Picos de Europa and the Pyrenees. Already at the end of March is when we practically find it in all the places where we find it in the Iberian Peninsula.
Secrets to be able to look for the marzuelos
Now we are going to tell you what are those secrets so longed for by mushroom pickers with respect to marzuelos.
- If you want to find these specimens you have to bear in mind that the altitude levels go from low to high. That is, you have to look for them first in lower areas and, as time goes by, look for them in higher areas.
- The type of soil is determining. They appear in greater quantity in acidic soils. To serve as an indicator, we can look at some types of mushrooms that grow in these acid soils such as Boletus and chanterelles.
- The forests are the areas where they tend to grow in greater quantity, especially if they are made of beech and pine forests.
- They are more difficult to find since they do not appear. You can only see the hat of a blackish color.
- In pine forest areas they associate quite well with pygmy trees and shrubs such as bearberry.
- They tend to prefer slopes as a higher degree of incline and washed.
- One of the most recommended tricks to find marzuelos is to look for them in areas where the Boletus pinicola. With this species of mushroom they usually share the same habitat, the same soil pH but a different time of appearance.
- If you find a marzuelo, the most normal thing is that you find some more around. This is because they are usually found in groups, what happens is that they camouflage themselves very well.
- You should be aware that animals are the first to find them marzuelos. It is likely that, when you find a specimen, it already has parts chewed by an animal.
- One of the main conditions for them to appear are temperatures. They should be between 0 and 15 degrees and at least for about 10 days.
- They don't like hot days at all. If some days with higher temperatures arrive suddenly, you can cut their growth period or make them disappear.
If you want to find this mushroom, look for the areas where they are most likely to grow. The first regions of the year are usually the northern areas such as Euskadi, Navarra and the Pyrenees. Already at the end of January or beginning of February they usually appear in the mountains of Burgos and Soria. You can also find them in Madrid, La Rioja, Guadalajara, Teruel and Cuenca.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about marzuelos.