Foraging in Norway – Picking berries and mushrooms

The Right to Roam

In Norway you can pick as much berries and mushroom as you want in any forest. This is thanks to the “allemannsretten”, the right to roam. A law that ensures the public’s access to nature.

 

Picking berries and seeing wildlife

So I put my hiking boots on, strap on my backpack and bring a big bucket for the berries. The berries I’m mainly looking for are blueberries, but here in the eastern parts of Norway you also encounter a lot of tyttebær (lingonberries), blokkbær (bog billberry) og krekling (black crowberry). When it comes to mushroom there are many types, but this time I’m specifically looking for kantarell (chanterelle), the gold of the forest, as we say here.

Seeing wildlife is rather rare, as they hear or see you long before you see or hear them. But there are many animal signs to be found. Tracks, droppings and other marks that they leave on the landscape. The moose for instance follow regular paths in the forest. We call these for elgtråkk in Norwegian, and would translate to something like “moose steps” in English.

I wanted to take you all with me on one of my days out in the forest, so I’ve made a YouTube-episode where I explain different types of berries, how I pick mushroom and I also find a “viking mushroom”. AND I have a close encounter with a moose.

And if you wondered, the berries will turn into a jam, and the mushroom are fried in a pan with some butter, salt and pepper, and served with a steak, preferably some game.

I hope you enjoy the episode! Take care and Ha det bra,

Pål