I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. We just love visiting new delis and cafes and their owners. There are so many passionate, committed foodies out there who put in outrageous hours to make their businesses successful but who always find time to meet us and say very nice things about our products! We must thank Karl Sinfield again for his brilliant logo and label design, which everyone comments on.

Today I visited The Little Deli Company on Stamford Park Rd in Hale to drop off some Winter Chanterelles and Horn of Plenty,and we will be doing a tasting there on Saturday 20th July from 1-3pm. They will provide a good mature cheddar and a nice rye bread for us to use to make the Winter Chanterelle toasties, so they should be extra tasty!

On the way there I popped in to Back’s deli on Heaton Moor Rd, another fabulous and very busy emporium, with a lovely deli and cafe, and we’ll be selling our mushrooms there from this weekend onwards. Very exciting! They’re just down the road from the new Kro Bar, the newest one of the Manchester based Danish chain. Hmm, just thinking, wouldn’t it be nice if Swedish wild mushrooms were on the menu there…

Before I forget, we’re happy to be visiting our chums at On the Eighth Day on Oxford Road in Manchester this coming Friday, 12th July for a tasting between 11am and 2pm. Always a lovely place to visit. Great staff, a fantastic selection of organic and vegetarian foods, and a wonderful cafe.

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It’s been a while since we tried something new with wild mushrooms in the kitchen and the relatively fine weather last weekend seemed the perfect opportunity to have an impromptu al fresco summer supper with friends. So, the collection of recipes were duly sifted through and we decided to make Wild Mushroom, bacon & barley risotto, and Wild Mushroom & baby spinach quiche. The risotto was definitely worth trying, an interesting variation on the traditional variety with arborio rice, and we made it with a mixture of porcini and horn of plenty for flavour and colour. The quiche was a revelation.  I often find them insipid but the combination of the earthiness of the winter chanterelles and the sharpness of the extra mature cheddar with the sweetness of the baby spinach was absolutely delicious. The recipes are on the website now. Hope you enjoy trying them out!

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Look up if you venture out, and you might be lucky enough to spot one of these beauties, a magnificent specimen of Chicken of the Woods. Seen not actually in the woods but just by the road on an ancient oak tree. Feels like the mushroom season is officially underway!

The very fine Dutsons deli and cafe in Marple Bridge is now stocking Get Funghi Winter Chanterelles and Porcini, with other varieties to follow before too long. It’s run by two very knowledgeable brothers and has a wonderful wine and fine foods selection, and a great cafe – can highly recommend a cappuccino and Marple Bridge cake, yum! Good times!

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We’re very happy that Get Funghi are now featured on the West Sweden tourist board site as one of the British Tour Operators in the area. We are biased, I know, but it is such a beautiful part of the world to visit and you might be surprised to know that the climate is very often better than here in Northern England! Brits in general seem to know very little about Sweden and how fantastic it can be as a holiday destination. You could combine a weekend mushroom picking with us with other activities to extend your trip, and because it’s a coastal region the choices are many. All water sports and kayaking in particular are popular on the West Coast, and if you are a foodie then you will love the seafood and modern Swedish cuisine. There’s something in this region for everyone – sun worshippers, walkers, climbers, history lovers, readers (Camilla Läckberg anyone?), horse riders, swimmers – in a good summer the sea temperature can be a pleasant 20 degrees or more!  Here’s a link so you can have a look at the West Sweden website for yourselves.

 
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A good time was had by all, as always, at Doc Greens in New Mills last Saturday. We wanted to promote our very tasty new variety Horn of Plenty so prepared a mushroom linguine for a change. But of course someone suggested on Facebook that a tasting without our famous Winter Chanterelle toasties would be completely wrong so we ended up making both. The linguine was universally acclaimed, happily, but the toasties won overall on the popularity front. They are just so moreish! Both recipes are on our website for you to try – have a go and let us know what you think.
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Ah. Our new member of the family all packed up and ready to go! Love the new label by Karl Sinfield – Graphic Design. Horn of Plenty – also known as Trompette de Mort – is a really special mushroom, with bags of flavour and a dramatic black colour. We’ll be serving a simple pasta dish of Horn of Plenty with olive oil and garlic, plus our ever popular Winter Chanterelle mushroom toasties next Saturday May 25th at Doc Greens in New Mills from 11am – 2pm so make sure you get down there to try some of our delicious wild mushrooms. And while you’re out and about in Derbyshire take the opportunity to visit some of the very talented artists in New Mills who are exhibiting in the town over the weekend as part of Derbyshire Open Arts.

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Not surprisingly, we make a habit of searching out mushroom related media of all kinds and it has become a bit of a Christmas and birthday tradition for friends and family to arrive with unusual presents with a mushroom theme.

This year’s hit has been an excellent book by the botanist and mycologist Patrick Harding, “Collins Mushroom Miscellany”, which is stuffed to the gills with fascinating facts about the biology, history, folklore and much more of this amazing kingdom. Incredibly well researched, each chapter contains a wealth of information that is presented with a light touch that makes it easy to digest, and the lover of edible wild mushrooms will find much of interest to enjoy.

A chapter entitled “Climate Change” feels particularly relevant at the moment and not just because it’s such a topical subject, but because it discusses fruiting seasons for fungi.

One of the few spring fruiting mushrooms is due to make its appearance shortly. Patrick writes: “St.George’s Mushroom (Calocybe Gambosa) first appeared around 17th May in the 1970s, but by the 2000s it was averaging 22nd April, the day before St George’s Day.” Last year we picked it to the day, on 23rd April and it will be interesting to see if the very late spring has any effect on the fruiting date this year. Edible and good, this mushroom is relatively easily identifiable because there are simply no other white mushrooms that appear this early in the season. Patrick gives talks and runs courses, many of them in the North West and the Peak District. For more information about them and the man himself have a look at his website here.

Finally, on the subject of mushrooms in the media I can’t recommend this Finnish website by the Arctic Flavours Association too highly. There are detailed descriptions of a selection of wild mushrooms, berries, and herbs and excellent photos to accompany them, and many interesting tables of information including a fascinating one of mushroom names in many different languages. Wonderful to see such enthusiasm for wild foods.

To go to the website click here.

Update 19/05/2013:   Patrick has informed us that the Collins Mushroom Miscellany is sadly out of print. If you want a copy it might be worth contacting the publisher Harper Collins directly. However a new updated edition with new names and more habitat info of Patrick’s Collins Gem Mushrooms is due out this autumn, it’s a really useful little pocket guide which we can thoroughly recommend.

We’re happy to be doing another tasting on home ground at Doc Greens on Union Rd in New Mills from 11am till 2pm on Saturday 25th May, on the Spring Bank Holiday Weekend. It’s going to be an extra special event because we will be launching a new product from the forests of Sweden, dried wild Horn Of Plenty (also known as Trompette de Mort) mushrooms.

We’re very pleased that our fellow New Miller Karl Sinfield who designed our existing labels is working on a design for the new pack as we speak, and we’re sure that he will capture the essence of these striking wild mushrooms as well as he did the others in our range with his usual flair. No pressure there Karl!

Another major event taking place that weekend is Derbyshire Open Arts. it’s a fantastic event with artists opening studios all over Derbyshire, and we’re very proud of the fact that New Mills has a larger share of open studios than anywhere else in the whole county, so get hold of a brochure or have a look at the website and make sure you fit in a few visits while you are in New Mills enjoying a wild mushroom toastie or two!

For more suggestions on what to do in and around our lovely little town go to Visit New Mills. The beautiful heart logo was also designed by Karl Sinfield and is available to buy on Tshirts, tote bags and other items on Love New Mills. All proceeds from sales go to local good causes.
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We’re going to be making our wild mushroom toasties at Epicerie Ludo, our latest stockist,  on Saturday 16th March. If you’re in Chorlton come over to Beech Road to say hi, we’ll be serving hot toasties straight out of the oven from 2pm onwards.  Looking forward to it!

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