Mushrooms: the truth from the false

"Mushrooms are essential for life on earth ... The moon strongly influences their growth ... They make you fat ...", or "They grow in a second ... They are sexed ... You can use them to cure ...", when it is "Some emit light ...".

The list is endless!

For the fungal reigh, sayings and beliefs intermingle, science and phenomenal discoveries jostle. And often perfectly righteous assertions are alongside dangerous against-truths for the one that listens.

Because this enchanting, mysterious and magical world engenders thoughts, pushes to many excesses, but also houses some extraordinary secrets!

Let's try to unravel truth from falsehood, and put some order and pragmatism within assertions often heard.

 
Photographer and writer, Benoît Peyre, lives according to mushrooms growing. Enthusiast mycophile (= mushrooms lover) since childhood, he tracks down and crunches curiously the strange world of little beings undergrowth. Not satisfied with the quality level of pictures reproduced in books by major publishers, he chose to publish his very finest books himself. Each of the pictures reproduced in his books is treated with a selected varnish, making a masterpiece of each. We had never seen before such a level of excellence in the picture rendering: you feel like having in hands an album of photographic images of very high quality, not a book. We do not hesitate to say that the Benoît Peyre books are works of art in themselves.

 
"My name is Benoît Peyre. Married with 4 children, I live in a Gods blessed land on mushrooms: Corrèze, in the French South-West part. Inveterate mushrooms picker, fascinated since childhood by all that relates to the fungal reign, I decided there are more than nine years to stop my insurance agent's career to devote myself full time only to mushroom . To find out and let the greatest number of people discover the immense richness and infinite variety of fungal kingdom: this is the mission that I set myself. Through photography, poetry or fiction writings, I emphasize the unusual and curious aspects of our little undergrowth elves but I remain pragmatic. Besides my mycophile liberal activity (self-publisher, conferences, photo exhibitions, etc.), I am also "mushrooms" project manager in the Economic Chamber of Corrèze. Somehow a general specialist of mushrooms!

 
Everyone has no time (or inclination!) to step down and look under the small colorful hats of our friends in the undergrowth. Photography allows me to present the mushrooms in a new light, the shots are most often made at ground level. Patience and approach are stealthily: some mushrooms are tiny, hard to find. In addition, very small animals are present on or under the mushrooms: redouble discretion is the absolute rule to associate fungal reign and animal reign! I especially love photographing transparent or translucent mushrooms. A wonder of nature! In short, it is not always an easy task as mushroom picture hunting! Certainly mushrooms do not move too much (although some coprins!) but all the same: vigilance, vigilance!

In our new millennium, mushrooms world remains enigmatic to many of us. There, right under our feet, at the reach of our eyes, is a surprisingly varied universe, sometimes mysterious, often majestic: the mushrooms. Unusual shapes, incredible growing places, playing with light and transparency: the mushrooms do not have only good taste. For the simple eyes pleasure, they can look like stars or lace, adorn themselves with bright colors, weigh several kilos or be as soft as velvet. With a little patience, we can find small wonders far more often than we imagine. "

Benoît PEYRE

Discover our other mushroom products:

- Mushroom powders,

- Dried mushrooms,

- Pickled mushrooms,

- Mushrooms in brine,

- Truffles in brine,

- Condiments and culinary preparations (salts, oils, vinegars, mustards, butter, sauce base, creams, spreads, pesto, honey, liqueur),

- Quick preparations (soups, sauces, pasta, rice, savory cake, meat terrines).

And let yourself be surprised by our selection of nice objects:

- Mushroom knives,

- Books (mushroom identification, cooking mushrooms, beautiful mushroom pictures),

- Stuffed mushroom toys,

- Carved wooden mushrooms,

- Humorous mushrooms ceramic figurines (mushrooms in love).