Derbyshire Life

We’re so excited and proud to be featured in the October issue of Derbyshire Life, a magazine we’ve always admired for its excellent articles showcasing our lovely county.

It’s not often we get to fly the flag for our home countries so we’re especially delighted that we got to talk about our love for both New Mills in Derbyshire and Orust in West Sweden, as well as for wild mushrooms.

Thanks to Claire Bore who interviewed us. You can see more of her work here: https://www.claireborewrites.com/

Coming up in September….

We enjoyed our traditional August in West Sweden catching up with family, having some holiday, and picking porcini and other ceps to last till this time next year. It was another bumper year for these mushrooms over there and reports suggested it was the same in many other parts of Europe.

Now we’re back in the UK for the foray season and are looking forward to our first one of the season on Sunday 16 September. A late cancellation has freed up a couple of spaces so do get in touch if you are interested in coming out with us in the beautiful Peak District.

Other events coming up in Derbyshire are another tasting at High Peak Food Hub in the Butterfly House at the Torrs, in our home town of New Mills, this Thursday 13 September from 5.30-7.30. There’ll be lots of other local food producers showcasing their delicious goods and you can get a drink from the bar as you mooch and buy, so its well worth a visit!

Following that we will have a stall in the Food Marquee at the Hayfield Show on Saturday 15 September. It’s our first time there as producers rather than punters and we’re looking forward to being part of this fantastic country show which has been a September highlight for us for many years.

We’ll be doing our annual foray for New Mills Festival which this year is operating as a Fringe Festival, on Sunday 23 September. There are still places available and all details of this event and others can be found on the website of this wonderful festival, entirely run by volunteers.

Last but not least, we’ll once again be running a pop up Swedish cafe at Made in New Mills arts and crafts sale, at Providence Hall in New Mills, on Saturday 29 September from 10-4. This is a real gem of a show with the creme de la creme of artists and makers from this area, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

Oh and I’d almost forgotten, we’ll be leading another Peak District foray with lunch al fresco the day after, Sunday 30 September. There are a couple of spaces available on this date and several more on our final one on Sunday 21 October. Full details are on our UK forays page.

 

Wild mushroom forays 2018

Long, hot, dry summer followed by substantial rain = mushroom explosion!

It’s all happening in the woods of West Sweden and we’re out every day making hay while the sun shines, as it were.

It’s lovely to see water trickling in the stream beds and see the undergrowth getting greener again, and even lovelier to see the forest floor blooming with more and more wild mushrooms every day.

We’re really looking forward to our longer forays with lunch al fresco in the Peak District. Going out with other mushroom enthusiasts is always one of our favourite activities. The first one is now fully booked but we still have spaces on 30 September and 21 October. You’ll find full details on our UK forays page.

Coming up also is our traditional foray for New Mills Festival, which this year is running in a smaller format as a fringe festival. Join us for a walk around the fields and woods, with a wild mushroom soup to taste in a pub afterwards, on 23 September. 

New Mills Pop Up

Our last stockist in our home town of New Mills in Derbyshire closed over a year ago now, and we’ve really missed not having an outlet on our home patch.

So we’re delighted that a new High Peak Food Hub has been set up in a really central venue, the Butterfly House at the Torrs Cafe/Bar. It’s a Thursday evening food market with other local food producers also doing pop ups or deliveries, and you can place orders for other products via Sauced Here in Bakewell, which will be delivered to the cafe for you to pick up.

Come and grab one of our trademark wild mushroom toasties and stock up on wild mushrooms and other goodies on Thursday 19 July from 5.30 – 7.30.

Stockists and tastings

We’ve got another stockist!  You can now buy our mushrooms at the new Whistlestop Cafe/deli run by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust in Matlock Bath. All proceeds from sales there will go towards the invaluable work they do supporting wildlife in Derbyshire and encouraging us all to get out in the countryside more. As folk who spend a lot of time outdoors in the wild we wholeheartedly support their ethos so we’re extremely glad to be stocked there.

You can come and try our mushrooms when we make a return visit to lovely Chinley Cheese this Saturday for a wild mushroom tasting, from 9.30 – 12.30.

We were amazed last time we were there how many people came through the door to shop at this very popular deli that is also the Post Office. Everyone was greeted personally by Kieran the owner and it felt more like a community centre than a shop.

Just goes to show how valuable a resource a good local food shop can be! #shoplocal

Get Funghi porcini pasta recipe

I’m really delighted that both my sons are accomplished and enthusiastic cooks who truth be told have surpassed my skills in the kitchen department. I love getting picture messages of their latest creations but wouldn’t it be great if mobile phones included a transportation device so that a bowl of something delicious arrived on my table instead!

Joe’s Get Funghi porcini pasta – quick, easy and delicious.

Put the dried porcini in warm water until just covered, and soak for 20-30 minutes until soft. Drain & keep the liquid. Fry the mushrooms in butter, add fresh mushrooms and herbs (thyme and or sage as desired), season & add a dash of Get Funghi porcini powder if you have any. Cook down for 5 minutes or so, add the soaking liquid and simmer to reduce, then stir in mascarpone. Serve with wide pasta like pappardelle and top with Parmesan or a similar hard cheese. Buon appetito!

 

 

What can you use Get Funghi porcini powder in?

Well the quick answer is, just about everything!

We add a teaspoon or so to a bechamel to make an instant mushroom sauce, to soups, casseroles and stews of all kinds to add an umami kick, to home made pastry for a mushroom pie, or to home made pasta….the list is almost endless. We’ve even tried it in a biscuit recipe from a Swedish friend. It was fun getting people to guess what the secret ingredient was! But our favourite so far has to be this Swedish seed crispbread, which also happens to be gluten free.

It’s really easy to make but keep an eye on it if your oven is getting a little unreliable heat wise like mine is.

Seed Crispbread with Porcini Powder

Set oven to 140/150°C depending on your oven.

Cover a baking tray (approx 30 x 40cm) with grease proof paper.

 

• 1 dl sesame seeds
• 1 dl pumpkin seeds
• 1 dl sunflower seeds
• 1 dl cornflour
• 1 heaped table spoon Get Funghi Porcini Powder
• 1/2 dl whole linseeds
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 dl rapeseed or olive oil
• 2 dl boiling water

Mix all the dry ingredients together, stir in the oil and then the boiling water. Let it stand and thicken for 15 minutes.

Place in the middle of the greaseproof paper on the baking tray, cover with another piece and roll out thinly until it more or less fills the tray. Remove the top piece of greaseproof and bake for 30 – 50 minutes, depending on your oven.

Slide the crispbread on the greaseproof onto a rack and leave to cool. Break into pieces & keep in an airtight container if it doesn’t all get eaten straight away!

 

 

What’s new?

Well it feels like it’s been an extra long – and miserable – winter this year and we always get restless waiting for the mushroom season to rev up again but we haven’t been sitting on our backsides doing nothing in the interim, oh no.

We’d like to introduce our new product!

Get Funghi Porcini Powder 
Each jar contains nothing but 100% coarsely ground dried wild porcini. Naturally the ingredients have all been hand picked by us in West Sweden, like the rest of our products. A teaspoon added to a basic white sauce transforms it instantaneously into a delicious mushroom sauce, and you can stir it into almost any other sauce or dish to add a wild mushroom kick. My sister Sarah’s top tip is to add it to pastry. It makes her cheese and mushroom pie a cut above!

 

For now it’s only available at No 74 Deli in Bollington, Cheshire, but we’ll keep you updated about where else as we roll it out.

We’re also excited about our new stockist in London, Totally Swedish, who will be selling our Winter Chanterelle both in store and online shortly. As well as Swedish foods, the store sells all sorts of other Swedish products, so it’s a great place to go to ‘Scandify’ yourself. We love their recipe page with some great traditional ones like cinnamon buns and pickled herring, as well as updated versions of the classics.

 

 

Mushroom tastings coming up in December…

We’ve got two tastings coming up before Christmas, presenting with you two perfect opportunities to fill your store cupboard or get some of our dried wild mushrooms as presents for the foodie in your life!

On Tuesday 11 December we’ll be handing out freshly made wild mushroom toasties at our old friends Eighth Day Coop on Oxford Rd in Manchester from 11-2, and the following Friday will see us at new friends Chinley Cheese, in Chinley, Derbyshire, also from 11-2.

While we’re on the subject of stockists, we’re also now selling at the fabulous Pear Tree Cafe in Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire, who are also, we’re happy to say, occasionally using our mushrooms in the kitchen. We can highly recommend their absolutely delicious mushroom soup!

The full list of stockists can be found on the stockist page on this website (where else!). If you don’t happen to live near one, email us to let us know which varieties and how many packets you want and we can put an order in the post to you.

Another Great Taste Award!

We’re delighted to have been awarded one star from the Guild of Fine Food in the Great Taste Awards for our dried wild Winter Chanterelle.

It’s a lovely confirmation of the quality of our products, which as you all know are entirely hand picked by us in Bengt’s homeland of West Sweden.

We dry them on the same day we pick them so we lock in the maximum flavour, and because we pick carefully and clean stems in the forest you won’t find any grit in our packets, so you don’t need to sieve the soaking water, just use it as it is in the dish you are cooking.

Coming soon will be an online sales page so if you don’t live near any of our stockists you’ll be able to buy direct.