At this time of the year, wonderful mushrooms grow all around the area that you can pick and eat. Mushroom picking can be a fun and delicious family activity—but if you don’t know what you are doing, it can also be dangerous and even fatal! Many people die each year from eating poisonous mushrooms. Therefore, educate yourself before heading out and be sure to get your pickings “inspected” before you eat them. There are actual mushroom inspection (“Pilzkontrolle”) centers in the area, set up for just this purpose.

One such “Pilzkontrolle” is located at Kannenfeldstrasse 2 (entrance on St. Johanns-Ring) in the Kantonales Laboratorium Basel-Stadt (tram 1 or 3; Burgfelderplatz). Between September 2 and October 28, they are open Monday to Friday from 8:30-9:00 and 16:30-17:30 and on Saturday from 16:30-18:30. From October 30 onwards, you can call them at 061-385-2500 to set up an appointment and come with your collection to have an expert check your loot (cost is a symbolic CHF 1). For “Pilzkontrolle” centers in Allschwil, Binningen, Münchenstein, Muttenz, and other parts of Baselland, visit https://www.vapko.ch/de/eine-pilzkontrollstelle-finden?search=allschwil&searchRayon=20 or https://www.pilzverein.ch/pilzkontrolle/. You can also view a German-language video clip on their website that describes the most important guidelines for collecting mushrooms (https://www.pilzverein.ch/pilz-wissen-videos/sammeln-und-kontrollieren).

Advertisement