Wild mushroom enthusiasts gather in Jimena for the annual Mycology Workshops

The full programme, in English, is below

JIMENA Jimena's annual Mycology Workshops (that we have called Mushroom Days in the past) get under way on Friday, November 23, and ends on Sunday, 25th. This is an event that attracts wild mushroom enthusiasts to the village every year. They come from all over the country to look for and learn about them. You may not see many wild mushroom pickers about, but you will be able to sample wild mushrooms (or setas) at local restaurants, most if not all of which make an effort at having them on their menus for a few days. Aside from the actual picking out in the cork oak forest, and a visit to the first mushroom market in Spain (yes, it's in Jimena), there are lectures and discussions, as well as a full programme for children. (See full programme below)>>>

Jimena Mushroom Days dates

Chantarelles, THE local delicacy

Parallel events include gastronomy and children's activities

JIMENA The 15th annual Mycology Workshops, to give them their official, translated name, are scheduled for November 23, 24 and 25. The event attracts people from all over the country and abroad, and includes not only going out into the countryside to pick wild mushrooms but also learning to classify them. Bars and restaurants throughout the town offer special tapas including these delicacies and parallel children's activities are included. We will keep you informed, so watch this space. (We hope budgetary restrictions don't make us wrong about the activities.)

A reminder: it is forbidden to collect pine cones from the Nature Park

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR At this time of year, and further into the summer, it used to be a custom to head out into the forest, particularly where pines were to be see, to collect pine cones, be they to be used for fire starters or Christmas decorations. This applies to all nature parks, apparently, but we'll concentrate on our local ones, including the largest, of course, Parque Natural Los Alcornocales. The nature protection unit of the Guradia Civil, SEPRONA, wil,l certainly confiscate any large amounts and subject you to heavy fines for it. We dare say - but don't quote us - that just a few of them  on the car floor may not elicit any of the above. However, if you carry almost 500 kilos of it in a van, you might attract their attention, as happened to some people in Jimena last year. But it's as well to know that it is also forbidden to remove any kind of vegetation from the parks, also. Mushrooms, though, seem to have a law unto themselves.

Garlic is good for you - and a poison detector, too

(From JimenaPulse, March, 2007) Aside from its ability to bring good luck, protect against evil and ward off vampires, there are other benefits to this marvel of Spanish cuisine, sometimes known as ‘the stinking rose’ thanks to its therapeutic value. There is hardly a dish available in Spain that doesn’t contain it in one form or another. Just in case we’ve forgotten, here is a short list of some of its benefits: Provides Vitamins B6 and C; lowers blood pressure and LDL cholesterol (the bad one); increases HDL cholesterol (good); helps prevent atherosclerosis and diabetic heart disease; reduces risk of heart disease and strokes; inhibits coronary calcification. But, there's another useful thing it does, specially in these parts: it is a toxin detector: if you have any doubt about any wild mushrooms you might have collected, boil them for 15 minutes in water with two large cloves. After that, remove them with a wooden spoon and cut each in half; if the insides are white, there is no poison in the mushrooms, if not, chuck the whole thing out (from http://noloseytu.blogspot.com, so don't blame us if anything goes wrong!). Any wonder why the famous Mediterranean Diet works? Or is that just another good reason to live here? Prospero is off to the kitchen…

Jimena's Mycology Days begin today

JIMENA This year's Mycology Days, in their fourteenth edition, get under way this evening with their official opening by the new President of Diputación de Cádiz, José Loaiza García, and the equally new Delegate for the Environment of the province, Silvia López Garrido, who will be introduced by Mayor Guillermo Ruiz. There are also four lectures on the subject of wild mushrooms planned for today until Sunday and tomorrow, Saturday is the day to head off into the Los Alcornocales Nature Park to collect them - and Sunday is for eating them. There are all sorts of mushroom-related activities for the children at the Aljibe primary school just a bit further up the hill from the Reina Sofía Cultural Centre, which is the hub of it all. See the full programme for the 14th Jimena de la Frontera Mycology Workshops (or Days, whichever you please):>>>

This year's Mycology Days: November 25, 26, 27

JIMENA This year's edition is the 14th for Jimena's annual Mycology Days are scheduled to be held over the weekend of November 25th to 27th. Many details are yet to be worked out, according to the 'Chantarela' Mycology Society, which will be working with the XCouncil. Among decisions to be made are whether to move the main venue from the Reina Sofía Cultural Centre in Estación to the Casa de la Cultura in the village, with other events and activities, such as those dedicated to children, to be held at the Misericordia church just below the castle. In any case, below is the programme of activities for 'Chantarela' for the next few months.>>>

Wild mushrooms create a €12 million business for Andalucía

ANDALUCÍA (Agencies) At the 4th Feria Gastronómica at El Andévalo in Huelva (Food Fair, basically) the provincial Environment delegate for that province, Juan Manuel López, announced that this was the latest figure that emerges from the balance made at the end of the last wild mushroom season. He added that a significant part of it came from Spain's only mushroom market, in Jimena. He also said that Andalucía is the autonomous region that offers the largest variety of mushrooms and truffles in the country. The fair at which he made the announcement specialises in white truffles, a species that is much appreciated and which fetches excellent prices.

Mushroom market closes at the end of it best season ever

JIMENA (Agencies) Sunday marked the end of the 2010/2011 mushroom season, which has been classified as the best this unique enterprise has had yet. Owing principally to the kind of weather so far, the Lonja Micológica has seen some 40,000 kilos of a variety of mushrooms sold at the plant. Most of it was the star product of the wild mushrooms available in Los Alcornocales Nature Park: the chantarelle (photo), which fetched an average price of €6/kilo. This represents production of €240,000. Other varieties have also been sold there but never in similar quantities.>

Rain does not stop play...

...if by play you mean going out into the countryside collecting mushrooms as part of this year's thirteenth edition of the Jornadas Micológicas (a title we have difficulty with: variously translated as Mycology Workshops, Mushroom Days, or a new one we were given last night, Mushroom Fair). Anyway, according to a town hall press release, 28 groups of hunters wet out early this morning in as many vehicles, despite the rain. Each group had with them a person who knows the area well, although some routes had to be changed at the last minute because of heavy fog at some of the highest destinations. Before departing, Mayor Pascual Collado (an enthusiastic walker and collector himself) offered words of advice about the weather conditions, which could prove dangerous to those who do not know the local countryside. Shortly after the adults set out, the children, with their own plans, headed out to the Pozos de Majarambú, near Castellar, where the terrain is a lot kinder. As we write, the vehicles are just beginning to return. This afternoon and evening's programme is as follows:>

Wild mushroom cookery book to be distributed tomorrow

JIMENA To coincide with the opening of the XIII Mycology Workshops (see full programme here), the Council is to distribute a cookery book with some of the municipality's restaurants' favourite mushroom recipes. Titled Setas y Fogones (loosely translated to Mushrooms and Cooking) and only in Spanish, its aim is that it should be used as a tool for tourists. The booklet contains recipes from Restaurante Cuenca, Hostal-Restaurante El Anón, Restaurante La Tasca, Restaurante El Ventorrillero, Restaurante Las Rejas, Hostal-Restaurante Los Arcos, Restaurante La Vía, Restaurante Mesilla de Los Ángeles, Restaurante Cacholla and Restaurante La Estación, both these in San Pablo. Look out for it at any of these establishments and, please mention you saw it here first!

Jimena's Mycology Workshops coming up this weekend

Although the weather looks none too sunny, this year's edition of Jimena's annual Mycology Workshops (Mushroom Days to friends) are scheduled for this weekend, as we first announced here earlier this month. There is a full programme of activities for adults as well as children, all related to wild mushrooms and centered mostly at the Reina Sofia Cultural Centre in Los Angeles. These include field trips to collect and identification sessions, as well as cooking tips, and more. You can see the whole programme here but we have also set up a sidebar feature for daily checking.

'Excellent year for mushrooms' as market reopens

JIMENA (Agencies) The only existing wholesale market for wild mushrooms is doing excellent business this year, after being closed last year for several reasons. Generous rain is making mushroom collectors of many of the unemployed in the area, forced by circumstances into the activity. "Some 500 or 600 kilos of setas (wild mushrooms in Spanish) are coming each day," says Fernando Gomez, Councillor for development. "They are principally chanterelles (photo)." These are the main delicacy served up in Los Alcornocales Nature Park. The annual Mycology Workshops, an important event on the subject, is scheduled for the weekend of November 26 - the full programme will be available here this week.

Spain's first mushroom market reopened this morning

The first, possibly the only, market (lonja) in Spain that deals exclusively with wild mushrooms is located, believe it ir not, in Jimena de la Frontera. And it reopened its doors this morning after a year in suspension owing to the construction of a new local police station next door as well as to last year's bad season for chantarelle mushrooms (photo) - the specialty of Los Alcornocales Nature Park. The species that will be sold this year, as well as chantarelles, are amanita cesareas and boletus. The auction system here is 'in reverse', that is, the starting price per kilo is usually between €15 and 16 and goes down until a wholesaler decides on a price he wants to pay. Bids are done electronically, which opens this market to other places in the area.

Jimena's Mycology Workshops programme includes field trip, exhibitions and more

JIMENA Jimena's annual Jornadas Micológicas (translated to Mycology Workshops, but we call them the user-friendly Mushroom Days) are scheduled for the weekend of November 26 to 28. The programme this year (see it complete below) includes five technical talks, the customary field trip, children's activities, an exhibition and identification of wild mushrooms by experts, as well as a tribute to expert Fernando Palazón, who was instrumental in setting up what is officially called Jornadas Micológicas del Parque Natural Los Alcornocales. Wild mushrooms having acquired an increasing interest almost everywhere, this year's edition, the 13th, follows a schedule that has become the established way of doing it (see the complete programme below). The poster is from a collage by students at the Aljibe Primary School in Estación.

13th edition of Jimena's Micology Workshops set for November 26 to 28

JIMENA The annual Jornadas Micológicas del Parque Natural Los Alcornocales (Micology Workshops, really) have been set for November 26 to 28 next. People come from all over the country and beyond to take part in what has become one of Jimena's main attractions. With children's activities included, enthusiasts head out into the countryside to search for wild mushrooms. They are brought back for identification and then cooked by a well known invited chef. Lectures and round tables on the subject take place and village restaurants and bars prepare special mushroom menus for the event's three days duration. Councillor for the Environment Fernando Gómez also announces a specific website being set up at this moment. Photo of the prized chantarelle, with which Los Alcornocales Nature Park abounds and that has been a pillar of the local economy for years.