Wild Mushrooms

It's been almost a year ago since i last time updated my blog. I am sorry for this, but there's been a lot of changes in my life. I will try to keep up more updates coming and more often! Anyway i'm back! 

Since now it's been the season of the wild mushrooms, i thought i would give a little tip how to preserve mushrooms for winter and how to make a lovely mushroom salad later of them.  I love picking up mushrooms and there is good variety of eatable mushrooms growing in the nature here in the Scandinavia! One of my favorite mushrooms are chanterelles, that have a great smell and taste. You can use them in so many different dishes, from sauces, soups, pies and even Pizzas! 
For recognizing the correct mushrooms, it's good to have a book with you in the forest ( or check on your smartphone), that has clear pictures of mushrooms that are eatable, so that you don't pick the ones that are poisonous. Chanterelles are really easy to recognize from their shape and bright yellow color and slightly sweet smell. You don't need to prepare them so much, just clean the dirt away with a brush, or lightly rinse them with water. They also do not contain worms, so you don't need to check them for that. Just chop them on pieces, fry on a pan first the liquid out, and then add some butter, chopped onions, salt and pepper and that's all it needs. If you want to make a sauce, add some flour with the butter, water and make it boil a bit, and in the end some cream to make it really creamy and tasty. Taste flavor in the end and add salt and pepper if needed.  

If you want to preserve Chanterelles for winter, you can dry them or froze them. By drying, i just simply chop them smaller, place them on a dry spot on top of the household paper and let them dry about a week or so. Then you can place them in a clean jar and they last for many years! When you use them again, just place them on a warm water bowl for a while, and the mushrooms will suck the liquid in and you can use them again! Simple and good! If you froze them, make sure to fry the water our from the mushrooms first on a clean pan ( without any oil or butter) and then let them cool down and place them in a froze bag or jar, stick in the freezer and use all year round!

For this recipe what is really traditional Finnish preserved salted mushrooms you need a bit more different mushrooms. I normally use mix of "Karvarousku" ( English: woolly milkcap or beared milkcap) and "Haaparousku" which is a similar mushroom in the "family tree" of these mushrooms. First clean the mushrooms, check that there is no worms ( these mushrooms don't normally have so much worms either). Then chop the mushrooms a bit smaller pieces. Add water on a big pot and let to boil. Add the mushrooms in the pot and boil them about 5-10 minutes. This is because you need to remove the slight poison out of them and make them more eatable. After boiling, rinse the mushrooms under a cold water to make them cool down. Squeeze the extra water out of the mushrooms. Then you need a clean jars for preserving the mushrooms and coarse sea salt. Start by adding a layer of salt on the bottom of the jar and then ad a layer of mushrooms. Push the mushrooms tight with a flat spoon or mug, add another salt layer, and then continue this until the jar is full. On topp push still so the liquid fills up the jar and ad also salt on the top. Place the salted mushrooms in the fridge and let them preserve there for couple months. Make sure to check the mushrooms on the next few days, that the liquid covers them, otherwise they will mildew. 

For using the mushrooms later, rinse first the mushrooms on a strainer under cold water for a while, to get the extra salt away. Chop some onion in a small pieces. Boil an egg/two eggs and get sour cream ready. Also whip some whip cream. You need also some chives and salt and pepper. Chop the rinsed mushrooms on small pieces. Add on a bowl. Add the chopped onion, chopped boiled ( small pieces)  egg and sour cream. Mix well. Add some pepper and taste if you need salt. Add some whipped cream in the end and some fine chopped chives. Mix well and serve with potatoes, smoked fish, or on a bread. This is a dish we normally eat on Christmas in Finland. I don't have my own picture yet, since i have not done it this year, but it should look something like the picture on right.