Cooking Eating Storytelling
Sweet Dill Pickled Pine Mushrooms… What better way to store your freshly foraged wild mushrooms for a long time than pickling them?
I love a sweet pickle, always have, so I naturally gravitate to this pickling liquid but there are plenty of methods of pickling and flavour combinations that you will develop your very own favourite pickling brine in no time.
Enjoy! Blondie 🙂
Wild Mushroom Ketchup…You’re probably as surprised as we were when we first came across Mushroom Ketchup. Mushrooms as ketchup? Not possible!
Well, during our mushroom trip to Oberon, Bella stumbled upon such a condiment. With intrigue she purchased it and with intrigue I made it.
After looking into the history of ketchup I discovered that the tomato version originated about 100 years after the original version, prior to that it was made from any number of foods, for example nuts, fruit, or mushrooms… It originally began it’s life being made from fish and was called ke-tsiap.
In this recipe I have used the saffron milk caps and slippery jacks that I picked at Oberon but you could use any mushroom or combination of mushrooms with equally fabulous results. Also, the fresh mushrooms will need to be left to sit in salt for 24 hours, so this isn’t a spontaneous recipe. It’s also a recipe that gets better with age, so be sure to have some sterilised jars ready.
This photo of my lunch is of my Four’n Twenty pie and I have to say that I will now, and forever be having my pies with Mushroom Ketchup, truly outstanding!!
Enjoy,
Blondie
We went for our second mushroom forage for this year, back to our usual spot at Belanglo.
Our first trip, about 3 weeks ago gave us a promising outlook for the season. Although there weren’t many, we did come across a decent selection of our favourites – Saffron Milk Caps and Slippery Jacks. Our thinking was that because there were quite a few so early in the season, that when we arrive this weekend there should be loads more… So wrong!
I was introduced to wild mushroom foraging by Bella and her parents early this autumn. Although it was something that mum grew up doing in Finland it wasn’t something that transferred over when she moved to Australia.
Bella and I had always planned mushroom picking trips but seasons came and went. Finally, one weekend in March when Bella’s parents were making their usual weekend trip we decided to join them.
With an early morning wake up we packed the kids, dog and rations and made the 1.5 hour drive down south to Belango State Forest in the Southern Highlands of NSW for our first mushroom experience.
