Autumn and mushrooms in many parts of Madrid go hand in hand. It is an ideal time of year for excursions through the mountains and collecting one of the most sought-after products of haute cuisine.
However, with this gourmet gastronomy product you have to be especially careful, especially with poisonous mushrooms that can even be deadly.
The Community of Madrid offers more than ten places to pick mushrooms between autumn and winter. At the foot of beech trees, pine trees and forest areas, the best varieties of mushrooms such as chanterelles, mushrooms or boletus proliferate.
The collection of mushrooms in the Community of Madrid is provided for in Law 16/1995, of May 4, Forestry and Nature Protection in its article 76 which informs that to collect firewood, fruits or plants requires the “tacit consent of the owner of the mountain.” Even so, in no case will the payment of any type of fee be required to carry out this activity.
In the particular case of the Sierra de Guadarrama in Madrid, the natural areas considered as “Reserve Zones and Type A Restricted Use Zones” will be excluded from the collection of mushrooms (Article 59).
The Community of Madrid has a network of Environmental Education centers spread throughout the province that regularly organize routes to distinguish edible mushrooms from toxic ones, facilitating collection in a safer way for public health.
It is recommended that all those who do not have knowledge in mycology choose to take this type of excursions with professionals trained in the subject. In Spain there are more than a dozen different varieties of poisonous mushrooms that can even cause death.