Wild mushroom season

Truffle trouble

The traditional pastime of foraging for edible wild fungi now has commercial potential, but there are questions about its legality

Peter Marren
Wednesday August 16, 2006
The Guardian (c)

Having caught Tee-Hillman picking mushrooms on Forestry Commission land, it [DEFRA] confiscated her basket of "brown chanterelles worth £28", and prosecuted her for theft.

The case was heard in Bournemouth crown court last spring, with Defra arguing that taking products from the forest for commercial gain was like stealing apples from someone's garden. But the judge, John Boggis QC, dismissed the case, on grounds of pettiness. He was there, he said, to try muggers and drug dealers, not ladies who pick mushrooms.

Commercial picking may or may not harm the fungus. But no one objects to mushrooms being picked for the kitchen pot.

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