Mycologist Guðríður Gyða Eyjólfsdóttir researches Icelandic fungi, their species, and their distribution.
She was in the capital area on a mushroom research expedition when IÐAN Education Centre spoke with her.
“You can hardly see any mushrooms up north,” says Guðríður Gyða, explaining the growth cycle of mushrooms, which can remain underground for years before they pop up. “What you see of the mushrooms are the fruiting bodies. The body of the mushroom is somewhere in the ground, for example, wrapped around the root tips of trees with which they form a mycorrhiza, and from there, fine threads extend into the soil to collect nutrients from it. When they decide the conditions are right to reproduce, they create a fruiting body. These protect the small cells that will divide and form spores, which are the mushroom's offspring, and they also see to spreading them into the air. Molecular biology shed light on the ecosystem of fungi; it became possible to sequence organisms in the soil, and then it was revealed that there was an abundance of fungi that no one had known about before,” says Guðríður Gyða, reminding us that fungi have diverse and significant effects on our lives and, for example, play a major role in protecting against climate impacts and in protecting trees.
Mushrooms are very different organisms and serve different purposes. Many mushrooms grow in symbiosis with trees and receive the carbon they sequester. “The mushrooms live on the root tips of the trees and provide them with water and fertilizer; they act like living tubes that can transport substances back and forth. This is an old symbiosis, and the trees don't really thrive until they have connected with their mushrooms,” she says, adding that certain types of mushrooms grow with Icelandic trees. We have mushrooms that grow with the Icelandic birch, mountain avens, and also mushrooms that grow with the Icelandic willow species. “The roots of a larch are like a sharpened pencil; they just use the mushrooms instead of root hairs. There can be a multitude of mushrooms connected to the root system of a single tree. The tree then has the ability to respond to anything with the help of the mushroom—drought, wetness, and various stresses, or to defend against insect attacks.”
Of the fungi that grow in symbiosis with Icelandic trees, Guðríður Gyða specifically mentions the yellow-drop brittlegill, Russula intermedia, which grows in old birch forests. “It's large and red, but as it starts to age, a depression forms in the middle that turns yellow. I have seen the yellow-drop brittlegill with old birch in Hallormsstaðaskógur forest and also in Skorradalur.” She mentions that the age of forests matters and creates great opportunities for biodiversity. This is in line with the changed methods of recent years in the cultivation of commercial forests in Europe, where care is taken to allow a certain percentage of the forests to age. “Dead trees create great opportunities for the biodiversity of fungi and the animals and other microorganisms that accompany them and participate in the decomposition process. For example, very special mushrooms grow on ancient and dying oaks abroad,” she mentions.
Guðríður Gyða herself prefers to eat pine and larch boletes. “Sometimes I try to pick birch boletes, but the maggots are quick to get to them. I find it best to either dry them or freeze them boiled in their own juice. Then they are just ready for a stew.” She is also fond of chanterelles, like many others, and says they are being found more and more widely around the country. “Lately, people have been finding chanterelles all over the place; they grow in the Westfjords, West Iceland, in Aðaldalur valley, and in the northern outskirts, for example, near Kópasker. They often hide under heather, but the effort is worth it because these are top-class edible mushrooms.” And then there is the king bolete, Boletus edulis, for which she has a certain fondness. The king bolete was first found in Vaglaskógur forest around 1960. “When people were complaining about how expensive the Vaðlaheiði tunnel was, I was of the opinion that it was worth it because now there was a direct route to the king bolete lands for us Akureyri residents.”
Although many people throw their mushrooms straight into the pan after a good harvest, many want to save some for the winter. As Guðríður Gyða mentioned, she prefers to boil them in their own juices and freeze them, or to dry them. She says there's no reason to struggle with drying them using homemade methods, as very high-quality dehydrators are now available. “I own three dehydrators. Kokka sells top-class products, a Swiss design that I'm fond of. It's much safer to use a good dehydrator because you need to be careful. With a good dehydrator, there's less risk of the mushrooms overheating and turning into black blobs!
Guðríður Gyða runs the Facebook page Funga Íslands - sveppir ætir eður ei (Fungi of Iceland - edible or not) where she is very diligent in answering inquiries from enthusiasts about mushroom foraging and cooking. People are active there, sharing photos of mushrooms they have found on their travels around the country, wanting to know what species they are and whether they are edible or even dangerous. A deadly poisonous mushroom, the funeral bell, Galerina marginata, grows on wood chips in Iceland. And another dangerous poisonous mushroom is the brown roll-rim, Paxillus involutus, which grows with birch but is more likely to be found in a garden in Reykjavík than in a forest. Those who are starting to forage mushrooms for food are advised to begin with boletes such as the larch bolete, pine bolete, and king bolete. Boletes in Iceland are good edible mushrooms, except for the pepper bolete, which is best in very small quantities.
Usually, North Iceland has been a good mushroom region, but the mushrooms are late to appear this year as the constant drought is delaying them. In East Iceland, there are usually plenty of larch boletes in Hallormsstaður. Now, however, most mushrooms have appeared in the Westfjords and West Iceland. There are fewer mushrooms in South Iceland, but good ones can still be found in the birch scrubland. “Many of the mushrooms are associated with specific tree species; the larch bolete only grows where there is a larch forest, and the birch bolete accompanies birch trees,” says Guðríður Gyða, reminding us that it's not possible to make precise plans for mushroom foraging and cooking. “You have to wait for the right moment to pick mushrooms; you can't just say, 'I'm going to go in the first week of September and pick pine boletes.' The mushroom grows according to conditions and weather, and the growth can be very different in each region. The weather here in the south holds good promise,” says Guðríður Gyða cheekily, as there has been a lot of wet weather in the south recently, and it's likely that mushrooms can be found one to two days after a downpour.