Mushrooms are a delicacy - hiking tour to Heiðmörk this weekend

Mushrooms are a delicacy but it is better to know the good from the bad and the poisoned! The University of Iceland and the Children touring Association offer their annual hiking trip with science tips to Heiðmörk to gather and study mushrooms on Saturday 1 September. The hike has become a part of autumn activities for families to enjoy nature and the beauty in Heiðmörk, whilst learning about Icelandic fungi. It is vital to be completely sure which mushrooms can be gathered and which not.

Gísli Már Gíslason, professor in biology at the University of Iceland leads the hike with students who have specialised in Icelandic mushrooms.

It can be complicated to find edible mushrooms, as around two thousand types of mushrooms, and seven hundred types of lichen, grow in Iceland. Lichens are composite organisms that arise from algae and fungi. Of all those fungi there are only around 30 types of mushrooms that are edible and tasty in Iceland. Thereof only 10 that are consumed on a regular basis.

You can find edible mushrooms all over Iceland so we can assume a good crop on Saturday as Heiðmörk is an excellent habitat for mushrooms. The best places to gather mushrooms are in the West, in Borgarfjörður and Snæfellsnes, as well as the Westfjords where you may find porcini and chanterelles.

Participants will not only gather mushrooms during this hike but also learn about them, how to handle them and cook. Mushrooms normally grow near trees.

It is vital to know if the mushrooms you are cooking are of an edible kind! The second most important thing to bear in mind is the cook mushrooms thoroughly as they may cause stomach ache if they are undercooked.

Rendez-vous is at 10 am in private cars at Rauðhólar, from where we drive to into Heiðmörk. The hike takes about 2 hours. Participants are encouraged to bring books on mushrooms and containers.

The tour is a collaboration between the Icelandic Touring Association and the University of Iceland under the heading "Hiking trips with science tips." The collaboration began in 2011, when the University celebrated its centennial, and have been very popular. The aim is to create interest in science and outdoor activities by combining the knowledge of the guides from the Icelandic Touring Association with the knowledge of the teaching staff and research scientists at the University; creating short but interesting tours in the vicinity of the capital for the general public. The trip on Saturday is a collaboration between the university and the Children touring Association, an affiliation of the Icelandic Touring Association.