The months of October and November are the best time to forage for wild mushrooms in Mallorca. Especially with the masses of rain ten days ago, the scrumptious fungi are now proliferating everywhere, if only one has the patience and the intuition to spot their hiding places under the trees. People say that setas, bolets, ceps, esclatasangs and picornells are best found in the mountains of the Serra de Tramuntana, and I do not disagree. But in my experience, wild mushrooms can be found anywhere in Mallorca, in the woodland, in the hillsides, even in the pine and juniper forests of Mallorcan dunes.

Our son brought home a large cesta full of marvelous setas yesterday. After checking his find against an online source of Mallorcan mushrooms, we thought it wiser to not take any risks and discarded the white specimen in the photo (above). But I chopped up one brown seta for my lunch, and we all had some for supper. Tasty, succulent and delicious they were.

If you do not trust your own instincts or if you simply can’t find the little gems, do not despair. Mallorcan wild mushrooms now sell in the markets, and imports from the Pyrenees and from abroad are on offer as well. The Mercat de L’Olivar in Palma is particularly well stocked now with Setas de Cardo, Llenguas de Bou, camagrocs and trompetas, as well as picornells and esclatasangs.

The photo was taken in Felanitx, Spain. The date: October 22nd, 2010. The time was 13:28:15.