Dried Ceps (Porcini) Mushrooms 100g Bag

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For the citrus cream, mix the yogurt with lemon zest and juice, thyme and dill, and season to taste with salt and pepper. To cook: Fry in butter over a high heat or grill, brushed with olive oil for 5-10 minutes, sprinkled with chopped fresh parsley and garlic. Chanterelle To prepare: Pour 175ml boiling water onto 25g porcini mushrooms and soak for about 15 minutes. Drain the mushrooms, reserving the soaking water, and chop or leave whole as desired. Portabella Named after the enoki tree that it grows on, the wild variety has a tiny yellow-orange cap with a long, slender stem, the more common cultivated variety are a creamy colour. They have a sweet, fruity flavour with a slight crunch and are native to Japan where they are widely used. Available all year. Ecology –Ceps are Mycorrhizal fungi, working with their tree partners by helping in their uptake of water, phosphorus, nitrogen and zinc in return for energy from photosynthesis in the form of sugars. Carbon sequestration by fungi is often an overlooked area of climate science. Ceps, and boletus species in general, can be important food and habitat to insects, slugs, rodents and I’ve even heard of deer nibbling on them. This fascinating paper shows that individual mushroom species can have specific relationships with individual insect species. In the case of ceps, (mostly) flies of the pegomya genus, and (some) fungal gnats of Sciaridae family use them as food home & nursery for their larvae. It has been postulated that insects could play a role in the reproductive strategies of some fungi (beyond the obvious stinkhorns) and who knows what other useful interactions they have with complex fungal lifecycles? The evolution of veils/rings ( annulus), webs ( cortina) and slime on the underside of some mushroom species is a direct defence to deter insects before spores have matured. Some slow growing fungi such as chanterelles deter insects chemically ( read the science of this here). That ceps have evolved no such strategy suggests to me that they they are happy partners with insects as well as trees! It seems likely that their very aromatic deliciousness has evolved to attract insects… And maybe humans too? Ceps can also play host to other fungi, notably the bolete eater fungus Hypomyces chrysospermus, and appear to have complex relationships with Fly agaric ( amanita mascaria), the miller ( Clitopilus prunulus) and peppery boletes ( Chalciporus piperatus) – more on which below.

Using a pestle and mortar, lightly crush the coriander seeds, cloves and peppercorns together. Add to the bowl with the orange zest, the salt and sugar and mix well. The most common type of mushroom, these are readily available. They have creamy white caps with pink gills which darken to beige as they grow. Available all year.These are a similar shape to button mushrooms and are from the same family. However they have light tan to rich brown caps and a firm texture. They have a stronger, earthier flavour than button mushrooms.

Heat the oven to 180C (160 fan)/350F/gas 4. Transfer the lentils to a deep 20cm casserole dish and top with the celeriac-potato mix. Bake for 20 minutes, then finish under the grill to get a nice golden top. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4 and line two baking trays with lightly oiled foil. Put the ginger, green chilli and cumin seeds into a pestle and mortar along with a small pinch of salt, bash to a coarse paste and leave to one side. To prepare: Cultivated mushrooms are usually very clean: just wipe with a kitchen towel or rinse briefly and dry before use. Do not peel. Leave the mushrooms whole or slice as necessary. Crimini There are two main categories of mushrooms - the familiar cultivated types such as button, chestnut and flat and the more exotic looking wild varieties such as ceps and chanterelles. Mushrooms are harder to identify than plants: there is less to go. And making a similar mistake of the sort that I made with fruit on those occasions with the wrong deadly mushroom, could lead to at least significant morbidity.

Waitrose

These large mushrooms are matured for longer to achieve a deliciously meaty flavour. They are grown on Dutch farms using a straw-based compost and are exclusive to Waitrose. Available all year. Distribution – 3/5– quite common, though enigmatic, often with a short, intense season (3 weeks around the start of September in Scotland, usually later further south), and rapidly infested/decomposing. Wild mushrooms with a nutty flavour, these are especially popular in Italy where they are known as porcini. To cook: Sauté in a little butter to release the juices, then turn the heat up to concentrate the flavour. Chestnut Put the cream, eggs and egg yolk in a bowl, season, then combine to form a custard. Fill the tart case with the onion and mushroom mixture and pour over the custard. Don’t worry if a few mushrooms poke out.

Bake for 25-35 minutes, until the bhajis start to crisp up and brown on top. Remove from the oven – you may need to gently lever them off the foil using a palette knife – and place on a plate alongside some chutney before devouring.

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First, make the shortcrust pastry. Pulse the flour, butter and salt in a food processor to the consistency of breadcrumbs. With the motor running, steadily add the water, stopping as soon as the dough comes together. Remove the dough, knead it a couple of times, then wrap it in clingfilm and chill it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Ceps, dried or fresh, will lift any mushroom dish to a new level. Even a small amount added to other mushrooms can make quite a difference. Here are some of my favourite recipes – but be sure to try them raw in the forest first! To cook: Grill or fry sliced gigantes in a little butter for 5-10 minutes. To bake, top with butter and place in an ovenproof dish with 4 tbsp cold water, cook in a preheated oven at 190(C, gas mark 5 for 45 minutes or until tender. Oyster Dollop some creme fraiche on a plate or platter, pile some crisps on top, sprinkle with cep powder and then either finely slice the truffle on top using a mandoline or truffle shaver or grate using a Microplane. Be generous!

Edibility – 5/5– firm young ceps are one of the tastiest wild foods, and extremely versatile. Older specimens are best dried, after which their flavour intensifies. Add a ladle of the cep and saffron water, and reduce it down, stirring as you go. Remove the rehydrated dried ceps from the water, chop and add to the saucepan. Continue to add the water, a ladle at a time, reducing it each time, whilst constantly stirring. This should take around 20 minutes. Stir in the pom pom mushrooms and the tin of tomatoes and reduce down, again stirring constantly. Mix in the olives and parsley, then season with pepper, and serve. Add grapeseed oil to pot to about about 3-4 cm deep. Heat the oil to 180C and, working in batches, fry the churros in the oil until they are golden brown, for about 3 minutes from frozen. Using long tongs to turn them over so that they fry evenly.

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Finding a large porcini is an amazing feeling. A friend found one this year that was over two feet tall! Unfortunately, there is one big issue with larger porcini mushrooms, and that is fly larvae. Tiny ones that riddle your mushroom with holes. Slice the mushroom, and you might not see them at first, but if you see holes, you will definitely have tiny worms inside. Don’t throw the mushroom out, though! If the damage is small, you can cut out those sections or even salvage areas that do have worms. You can do two things to rid your porcini of worms and make it clean for eating and drying. I’d be interested to know if those who are more widely into foraging consider that a more or less surprising mistake than confusing a cep with a deadly webcap? Ivy and elder look nothing like each other. Next, make the filling. Heat a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the butter and half the oil. When the fat is bubbling away, add both the soaked and fresh mushrooms, along with the parsley and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Toss the mushrooms around the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes, until softened.