Following the launch of a new project, Czech mushroom pickers will be able to transform their leisure activity into money.
South Bohemian organization České Houby (Czech Mushrooms) is currently purchasing up their finds and bringing them to Czech supermarkets, according to Radio Prague.
České Houby’s CEO Jiří Stočes told the Hospodářské noviny daily that the company was planning a pilot this year to see if mushroom pickers would be interested in selling the fungi they had found among the pine trees in the country’s forests.
České Houby currently has two collection centres, where mushroom pickers can translate their forest finds into banknotes. The average amount handed over for a kilogramme of chanterelle mushrooms is CZK 200.
At farms in Soběslav and Nedvědice, České Houby produces around a thousand tonnes of both field and oyster mushrooms annually, achieving yearly turnover of almost CZK 200 million.
The company supplies almost all of the supermarket chains in the Czech Republic, with the exception of Kaufland, which gets its mushrooms from Poland, the biggest competitor to Czech growers.
Czech oyster mushrooms most often end up on shelves in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
Source: European Supermarket Magazine
