Autumn Fruits

In autumn, fields show red, yellow and ochre colours, and the pastures cover again the large dehesas, where pigs go back because the acorn-feeding season starts.

Hunting, mushrooms and chestnuts, accompanied by the great local wines and the work of the good chefs from Salamanca, bring the brightest autumn to the table. A season of contrasts that warms the tourist in search of shelter, refuge, peace and the pleasure of the most intense traditional tastes.

With the first rains, mushrooms reappear in fields, dehesas and, especially, in the Sierras of Francia, Béjar, Quilamas and “El Rebollar”. Their forests have the fitting soil, humidity and the proper company to burst into life. The many different varieties of the prized boletus, the personality of níscalos (Lactarius deliciosus), the elegance of the Egg King (Amaenita Caesarea), the tasty oyster mushrooms, the prolific senderillas (Marasmus Oreades), or the humble wild champignons are the main secret weapon of the harvesting areas that increase the gastronomic tourism every year, especially, the mycological tourism.

Autumn also brings along chestnuts. They get the market in different states: natural to be later boiled or roasted, pilongas (dried chestnuts), in flour or syrup. Besides, this product has a special meaning on the celebration of “calbotás” on All Saints Day, when families and friends meet to roast chestnuts in the countryside.

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