Edible wild fungus

 

In the garden

 

Gathered in the forest

 

For us, holly berries are not as prolific as last year, so I am reminded that during the late Victorian period many families painted dried peas red to make up for a shortage, and of course for jolly family entertainment.

 

The edible wild fungus harvest has been okay this autumn, but too many "nice" people have been going into the forest not gathering just for themselves, but primarily to sell. The fungus forays that are designed to educate people, and as such this is a good thing, however, to they show people where to look. This, some argue, means that there is considerable over-picking and a decline in the spread of spores for next and future years.

 

The  fungi shown here were chopped to a smaller size and then fried in hand made un-salted butter only, that way, one could taste each individual piece without any other flavouring.

 

Wild fungi should be laid out on a plain light coloured surface and the brushed clean, the aim of which is to remove other plant debris and creepy crawlies. Cooked in a sherry flavoured double cream sauce with a pinch of chopped Scotch Bonnet chillies may be popular in some rubber tyre restaurants but it is not for me.

 

The Hedge hog mushroom (Hydnum repandrum), that is the white one in the foreground, has a sweet and nutty flavour, and it is that nutty flavour that can be accentuated with a dash of good dry sherry, however, though some  chefs think this is a good thing, it can destroy the subtlety of flavour that the experienced fungus eater looks for. The chantrelle, they are the yellow ones, are often fried in olive oil, smothered in chopped broad leaf parsley with a smear of raspberry coolie on the side. This is extremely popular with men who have no idea but have plenty of money. In one rubber tyre establishment I saw one group have a good bottle of Gewurztraminer with it! And the sommelier congratulated them on their choice! At least he knew.

 

 

 

 

 

In a sheltered part of the garden

 

In a sheltered part of the garden.

 

Apache potatoes

 

This was originally entered in January 2013.

 

We harvested these Apache variety 2nd early potatoes today, 17th January. They survived frosts and rain. They were sown last September for use at Christmas, and would have been used had events not disrupted our plans. Firstly there was a delay re-fuelling the jet at Nassau as so many people had to wait, and even when re-fuelled we had to wait for take off clearance as "celebrities" took precedence so they could take off for their Christmas holidays in other parts of the Caribbean. Secondly, the engineers failed to fix the central heating in our chalet in Chamonix. And every time we went out more "celebrities" were doing their best to be noticed.

 

When we returned to London we put the jet on the stand and headed to the exit only to wait in a queue with yet another group of "celebrities". Then, when we managed to get to a restaurant, you've guessed it, more "celebrities" being noticed by each other and paparazzi outside.

 

But what of the potatoes?  They were bred by hobbyist Mrs Doig as a main crop, in Scotland, in 2010. They loose colour when cooked but have a good aroma. And though reported to have poor resistance to pests and disease we did not experience any. They look good when brought into the kitchen and make an excellent topic for conversation.

Potato . . . varieties Elizabeth and Red Robin

 

The variety Elisabeth

The variety Red Robin

 

 

The variety Elisabeth, spelt with an S and not a Z, is a salad potato developed in Holland in 2004. It is a second early. It is heralded as a large cropper but we did not find this to be so. Notice the green one on the right of the plate. Elisabeth are prone to greening if not fully earthed up.

Red Robin, if you can obtain the seed, had good flavour but, as one can see, were susceptible to a great variation in size. It is not grown commercially. I am certain that some growers would achieve a consistency in size.

Not shown here is a variety called Heather, the seed of which is exceedingly difficult to find and it is not grown commercially. We found it to be a bad cropper, not wonderful in flavour, and, indeed, not worth growing. However, if you can obtain the seed and have space, and like a challenge, it is worth giving it a go, for it may make you appreciate fully other varieties.


 

Next month, January, gardeners will be deciding which potatoes to grow and visiting potato fairs up and down the country. These are two further varieties that we have grown and that have a distinct difference in size.  It may be that they were subjected to too much sun and insufficient water. And though both were of good flavour, it is unlikely that we will choose to grow them again. I believe that our failure with them should not deter from others from growing them.
 

December, and the last of our greenhouse tomatoes.

 

 

Nearly the middle of December and these are the last of our greenhouse tomatoes.

 

The olives grew to a good size but fell well before they should have been picked. Thankfully we did not have the problems with worm etc.. that harmed the Toscana crop.