Great Mushroom Exhibition Haus des Waldes Stuttgart

Mushroom Culture in Stuttgart-Degerloch

The Association of Mushroom Friends Stuttgart e.V. is one of the oldest mycology associations in Southern Germany — an association of hobby mushroom pickers, foresters, botanists, and nature lovers who have been dedicated to scientific and practical mycology for decades. The annual Great Mushroom Exhibition at the Haus des Waldes — the forestry education and conference center in the Stuttgart district of Degerloch — is the association's most important public event. It combines science, practice, and education in a form that is rarely found in Germany.

Hundreds of Mushroom Species, Freshly Collected

At the center of the exhibition are hundreds of fresh mushroom species that the association members have collected and carefully identified in the forests around Stuttgart and the Swabian Jura in the days before the exhibition. The mushrooms are presented sorted by families on long display tables: Boletes (porcini, chestnut bolete, birch bolete), Agarics (champignons, milk-caps, earthstars), funnel caps, wood-decay fungi, slime molds, stinkhorns. Each mushroom is labeled — scientific name, common German name, edible or poisonous value, occurrence.

Free Mushroom Advice and Identification

The heart of the exhibition is the free mushroom identification: Visitors can bring their own collected mushrooms, which the association's experts will identify and advise on their edible or poisonous value. This is an important function in a time when app-based mushroom identification is often unreliable. A separate table — the "poisonous mushroom table" — displays the most important toxic mushrooms of Central Europe: Death cap (often confused with champignons, deadly), bitter bolete (confused with porcini, inedible), panther cap, brittlegills, and others. Posters explain the symptoms of various mushroom poisonings.

Mushroom Butter Sandwiches, Cultivation, and Nature Conservation

The association's kitchen traditionally serves mushroom butter sandwiches — chopped, sautéed mushrooms with butter on freshly sliced bread — and homemade cakes, which fill the association's coffers. Supplementary display boards cover mushroom dyeing (an old craft where mushrooms are used as natural dyes), mushroom cultivation (champignon, shiitake, and oyster mushroom cultivation at home), and nature conservation aspects (which mushrooms are protected, collection rules, mushroom calendar). Important to know: In case of mushroom poisoning, contact the Freiburg Poison Control Center (Tel. 0761 19240).