Mushroom Hunting in South Africa

Mushroom Hunting in South Africa Mushroom hunting in South Africa. Mushroom Hunting in South Africa is an informative dive into safely gathering wild mushrooms for the plate.

Written by an avid mushroom forager and fungi enthusiast, the ebook shares tips, stories, mushroom identification and folklore about some of the prized wild edible mushrooms that can be found around South Africa. Learn from the comfort of your mobile phone, tablet or desktop computer.

On Saturday we spent a sunny autumn morning exploring the hidden world beneath our feet - the realm of fungi! Gathered ...
26/05/2025

On Saturday we spent a sunny autumn morning exploring the hidden world beneath our feet - the realm of fungi! Gathered in one of Cape Town’s richest fungal hotspots, our Veld and Sea mushroom foraging journey took us from the deadly to the delicious, intertwined with mystery, magic and mycelium.

The woods rewarded us with an impressive bounty of introduced (non-native) fungi. Rising through the pine needles were Panther Caps (Amanita pantherina), Copper Spikes (Chroogomphus rutilus), Granular Stalk Boletes (Suillus granulatus), Camembert Brittlegills (Russula amoenolens) and Deceivers (Laccaria laccata), among many others.

In the poplar grove, we stumbled upon an impressive cluster of prized edible Poplar Boletes (Leccinum duriusculum). Meanwhile, bright flashes of red from the dainty Ruby Bonnets (Cruentomycena viscidocruenta) caught our eyes on the sides of fallen branches - tiny but vibrant!

With so many remarkable species to encounter and stories to share, the morning flowed effortlessly. Thank you to all our wonderful guests for joining us and to for capturing these stunning moments on camera!



We have a few spaces available for more upcoming mushroom foraging events! Visit this link for bookings: https://www.quicket.co.za/organisers/2495-veld-sea

Fun in the forest at today’s Veld and Sea educational mushroom foray 🍄 Through storytelling we learned about fungi ecolo...
10/05/2025

Fun in the forest at today’s Veld and Sea educational mushroom foray 🍄 Through storytelling we learned about fungi ecology, mycelial networks, identification tips, and cooking techniques with these wonderful organisms!

From lichen to lovostatin, and from porcini, pines to penicillin, come join us for a delicious season filled with educational mushrooming adventures! Bookings via Quicket: https://www.quicket.co.za/organisers/2495-veld-sea

The leaves are turning yellow. Acorns are falling. March Lilies are popping out. Mornings are cooler. Mushroom season is...
17/03/2025

The leaves are turning yellow. Acorns are falling. March Lilies are popping out. Mornings are cooler. Mushroom season is around the corner!

It has been 9 wonderful years of offering seasonal mushroom foraging experiences in Cape Town with Veld and Sea and this year we’re back! Join us over the months of April, May and June for some educational fungi events in the forest! Bookings via Veld and Sea below 👇

https://www.quicket.co.za/organisers/2495-veld-sea?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaY00vRr9Il9NTg696r2-AzuzyHkYv5AInwhkras2HBAaBAtLdcYoOM4WNg_aem_Trllpeg84lR8QsoecDH6aw

World, I’d like to formally introduce you to Morchella capensis - the first morel mushroom recorded as being endemic to ...
27/02/2025

World, I’d like to formally introduce you to Morchella capensis - the first morel mushroom recorded as being endemic to the African continent 🌍

After a few years of research, field and lab work, our findings were finally published today in the Canadian Journal of Microbiology 🍄

I am very grateful to Breyten Van Der Merwe, Elise Le Roux and Prof. Karin Jacobs at the University of Stellenbosch for their hard work and dedication as co-authors on the paper. And of course, homage must be paid to co-authors Arthur van Staden and George Lawrence, original residents of Red Hill as well as my teachers in morel hunting, who were invaluable in providing traditional knowledge around the “papalellekos” mushrooms. We also have the Simon's Town Museum to thank for preserving the legacy of this once thriving community, and lastly the writings of Edith Stephens and Lawrence G. Green last century.

So what does this all mean? Aside from Africa’s first endemic morel, we now have an official record of a Cape heritage food in the form of a mushroom. We also now have the first finding of a morel that is associated with a member of the Protea family. Take a look at how the mycelium is embedded in the rootstock through microscopy! We don’t yet fully understand the relationship between the two, but it’s an exciting breakthrough nonetheless 🌿

It’s been ten years of finding these lovely mushrooms - the last photo was taken during an early morel foray in 2015! While I do enjoy savouring these tasty mushrooms, my focus has shifted to the conservation of them and their habitats - which are at the extreme risk of invasive alien spread and urbanisation.

Check out the link below for full access to the paper 👇

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JZQAbvwZCc5UBwR9rhLuQiiJnpkEUEDU/view?usp=drivesdk

A spectacular sight to behold - Chicken of the Woods! Summer is marching on and autumn in the Cape can’t be far away.
05/02/2025

A spectacular sight to behold - Chicken of the Woods! Summer is marching on and autumn in the Cape can’t be far away.

It’s official - the Western Cape is home to a rare species of Oyster mushroom that is new to science and not found anywh...
06/01/2025

It’s official - the Western Cape is home to a rare species of Oyster mushroom that is new to science and not found anywhere else in the world 🤩

In 2016 I was invited by friend and fellow mushroom hunter to meet a strange mushroom near Gansbaai that was being eaten by one brave local who mistook them for Omajowa - Namibia’s national (and extremely delicious) mushroom. We returned home with a good haul, ate them and survived to tell the tale. I was convinced that they were not Omajowa, so at the time I sent up samples to South Africa’s only scientist specialising in mushrooms, who could tell me that we were onto something new, but then the trail went cold.

Until recent years the state of mycology in South Africa has been lacking, but fortunately things have changed thanks to my friend and co-author - a knowledgable fungi expert and honours student from the University of Stellenbosch. We connected over these mystery mushrooms a few years back and in 2023 embarked on a road trip together to meet them. In the lab it was clear that this was a new species from the Oyster mushroom family. Further studies revealed that they too are carnivorous fungi, trapping and consuming nitrogen-rich nematodes. The implications of discovering a new edible and medicinal mushroom could be profound.

Fast forward to the present moment, and we are ecstatic to have been published last month in the peer-reviewed open access journal Fungal Systematics and Evolution FUSE 10, describing the endemic Pleurotus overstrandensis. A huge moment for mycology in South Africa!

Special thanks to Professors Karin Jacobs and Georgios Zervakis as co-authors on the paper, and of course to Breyten for his passion for fungi and pursuing this project. If you would like to read the paper, the link is here: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=pleurotus+overstrandensis&btnG= =gs_qabs&t=1736174049614&u=%23p%3Ddz2nuKcR78gJ

In May 2020 during hard lockdown, I self-published a digital book called Mushroom Hunting in South Africa, a resource de...
15/07/2024

In May 2020 during hard lockdown, I self-published a digital book called Mushroom Hunting in South Africa, a resource dedicated to the choice edible fungi found around South Africa with a focus predominately on those occurring in the Western Cape. It’s a blend of storytelling, scientific fact and info about how to prepare wild mushrooms, with a section dedicated to toxic fungi too. The positive feedback from readers has truly exceeded my expectations!

But four years later, it seems like many people still don’t know that Mushroom Hunting in South Africa exists! So for those who are keen to download a copy, please head over to the link below 🍄‍🟫

https://www.learningmushrooms.com/product/mushroom-hunting-ebook/

Learning mushroom gill arrangements, stipe attachments, annular rings and other useful mushroom identification tips! A f...
19/05/2024

Learning mushroom gill arrangements, stipe attachments, annular rings and other useful mushroom identification tips! A few snaps captured on film by the talented photographers 📸 Pieter van Zyl and 📸 Gigi Birkett at a recent Veld and Sea educational mushroom foray 🍄

One of my absolute favourite local wild edibles to find, Fairy Ring Champignons (Marasmius oreades). Now that the rain h...
10/05/2024

One of my absolute favourite local wild edibles to find, Fairy Ring Champignons (Marasmius oreades).

Now that the rain has well and truly set in, the circular formations of these little brown mushrooms with big flavours are beginning to emerge from grassy meadows and pastures. I’ll be preparing a ‘dirty rice’ dish tonight using these fungi as the hero.

A couple Bronze boletes (Boletus aureus) filling the basket this autumn 🍄‍🟫 Every year they are among the first Boletus ...
06/05/2024

A couple Bronze boletes (Boletus aureus) filling the basket this autumn 🍄‍🟫

Every year they are among the first Boletus to begin appearing, being partial to warmer temps. I love the rich and creamy flavour of these forest delicacies. Finished off with a splash of soy sauce in the pan at the end of cooking, they are every bit as good as meat!

A happy memory suggested to me this morning - this day in 2016 we were filling baskets with beautiful cepes!
14/04/2024

A happy memory suggested to me this morning - this day in 2016 we were filling baskets with beautiful cepes!

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