At this time of year the Finns head out mushroom picking.

This weekend will see thousands of Finns heading into the countryside to collect mushrooms, especially as this year has produced such a good harvest, probably all of that rain They are spoilt for choice as hundreds of edible mushroom species can be found in Finland, and a few non-edible so they have to know their stuff!

Even though mushroom picking is a popular pastime among the Finns they only manage to pick a small percentage of the estimated 1000 million kilo annual yield.

The most popular mushrooms are Ceps (Boletus edulis), milk-caps (Lactarius trivialis), chantarelles (Cantharellus cibarius), trumpet-shaped chantarelles (Cantharellus tubaeformis), hedgehogs (Hydnum repandum) and sheep polypores (Albatrellus ovinus).

Finland’s excellent Everymans Rights allow people to pick mushrooms anywhere, as long as they respect the immediate vicinity of someone’s home or farm.