Lovely to be back out in the forests of West Sweden for our big cep pick, and signs are that it is going to be a good season here. So far we have picked around 20 kilos of porcini (boletus edulis),and a few kilos of other ceps including scarlatina bolete, slippery jack and velvet bolete to add to our Forest Mix, as well as some chanterelles, hedgehog mushrooms, the miller, and even some fully grown winter chanterelle, very unusual for them to be growing this early over here. That’s the larder started and dinner sorted!

There are still some places available on our Funghi Forays with lunch al fresco in the Peak District on Sunday 11 & 25 September, and 16 October. You’ll find full details on our UK Funghi Forays page. Email us at info@getfunghi.co.uk to book.

We’re really thrilled to be one of the VIPs (very important producers and suppliers) featured in the lovely summer issue of Woman & Home Magazine Feel Good Food! It’s a fantastic resource for all food lovers, packed with delicious seasonal recipes, tips and ideas. Every year Woman & Home choose a shortlist of VIPs and ask readers to vote for their favourite one, and you can read about them all and make your choice by following this link. Good luck to all the passionate and committed food producers on the shortlist!

Our friends at Dutson’s in Marple Bridge, Cheshire are opening a new place a few miles away over the border, in Hayfield, Derbyshire.  The new deli and restaurant will be in what was formerly The Roundhouse, and they’ll be stocking our mushrooms there as well as in Marple Bridge. We wish them well in their new venture!

We’re  also delighted to have a new stockist in the foodie heart of Bristol. Source Food Hall & Cafe is another market based venue, located in the popular St Nicholas Market. You’ll be able to buy our dried Winter Chanterelle and award winning Porcini from them, and don’t forget to grab a recipe card with enticing photos by photographer Rob Whitrow while   you’re there. If you need more inspiration have a look                                                             at our recipe page.

We’ve got three tastings coming up this spring, where you’ll be able to try our ‘trademark’, delicious wild mushroom toasties, and get inspired to cook with wild mushrooms yourselves when you pick up some of our new recipe cards.

Kicking off on Saturday 2 April we’re excited to be doing our first tasting at our new stockist in Cumbria, Low Sizergh Barn Farm shop and tea room, serving hot toasties from 11-2.

On Saturday 16 April we’re off to Chorlton, South Manchester, to do another tasting at the fabulous Barbakan, from 10.30 to 1.30. They’ve had a big refurb since we were last there so we’re looking forward to seeing the changes.

Last but not least we’ll be back in Newcastle, where we’ll be in the Grainger Market, at the wonderful mmm…glug…. , serving hot toasties from 11-2.

Hope to see you there!

We have worked with the Woodland Trust to create 50m² of new native woodland. In time this will absorb at least 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide, helping with our strategy to reduce our business carbon footprint.

We’re delighted to support this inspiring charity, who describe what they do below.

“As the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity, we are the leading voice for woods and trees. We campaign to protect precious ancient woods, restore the ones that are damaged and fight for those under threat. We create new native woodland around the UK with the help of communities, schools, organisations and individuals.

We inspire people up and down the country to visit woods, plant trees, treasure wildlife, and enjoy the overwhelming benefits that woods and trees offer to our landscape and lives.”

Follow the link to read more about the work of The Woodland Trust.

Life has been a bit more exciting since we entered our porcini, hand picked in West Sweden, into the Great Taste Awards this time last year. We really didn’t know what to expect, and it still feels amazing to think that we won not just the coveted three stars and a Top 50 placement but also Ambient Product of the Year. We’d encourage anyone with a food product they believe in to take the plunge and enter. The Guild of Fine Food is an organisation that is respected world wide and their Great Taste Awards are an absolute guarantee of excellence. We look out for the stickers every time we shop these days!

Being a small business means that most of what goes on is done by us. The picking, the sorting, the drying, the marketing, the photos…. Until now that is. We could see that the quality of our food images wasn’t quite up to scratch, so last week we had a thoroughly enjoyable day in the kitchen with ace food photographer Rob Whitrow who transformed our mushroom dishes into gourmet food pics. We’re absolutely delighted with Rob’s fine work, some of which you can see here. We’ll be showing them off properly when we update the recipe page & bring out a new range of recipe cards soon.

We’re delighted to be heading back to Epicerie Ludo in Chorlton, for our next tasting on Saturday 30 January.

Ludo and his partner Darren, and their friendly staff, run an open all hours, fantastically well stocked deli on Beech Rd, the heart of trendy South Manchester, that creates a food shopping experience that is a joy rather than a chore.

As well as being the winners in the Manchester Food & Drink Festival 2014, voted as Best Food & Drink Retailer, Epicerie Ludo also features in the legendary British pop artist Sir Peter Blake’s piece celebrating High Street Heroes.

We’ll be there from 1 – 3pm serving our trademark moreish Wild Mushroom toasties so do call in for a taste, and stay a while for a good old mooch.

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Don’t want to wish the year away but we’re really looking forward to the autumn! We have a choice of 5 weekend dates in September and October for you to join us on a half day foray with lunch al fresco (or under a gazebo if the weather is inclement), and space for more to be added nearer the time if demand is as high as it was last season.

The forays will take place in the two beautiful parts of the world we spend most time in, both very close to our hearts – Derbyshire’s Peak District and the island of Orust in West Sweden. If you need our help with journey planning to get to either location just get in touch.

If you want to book to go out as a group of friends or work colleagues on a special day – stag, hen party or team building for instance – then we can tailor make an event for you. Drop us an email for more information or give us a ring to chat to us about it.

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Gourmet Christmas gifts are always popular (at least in our household!), so get yourself to your nearest Get Funghi stockist where you’ll be able to buy dried Winter Chanterelle, 3* Great Taste Award winning Porcini, and Forest Mix, complete with a handy sauce recipe card. If you like to try before you buy, we’ll be serving delicious wild mushroom toasties this coming Wednesday, 16 December, at Eighth Day Veg on Oxford Rd, Manchester, from 11-2.  All our mushrooms are picked by us in the beautiful forests of West Sweden, where Bengt comes from, & dried on the same day to ensure maximum quality and taste.

We’ve put together a Get Funghi Gift bag containing two packets of our hand picked dried wild mushrooms from Sweden, a recipe card, and either a hand made juniper wood spatula made by our chum Erik Sved in West Sweden, or an Albainox mushroom knife. You’ll be able to buy them – and other fantastic work by talented local artists and makers – this weekend at the Whaley Arts Hub Affordable Art Fair, held at Pear Tree Cafe in Whaley Bridge, or next weekend at our home town Arts & Crafts Fair, Made in New Mills, where we’ll also be running our traditional Swedish cafe with wild mushroom toasties, Swedish Christmas cookies (pepparkakor) and mulled wine (glögg). Shopping local couldn’t be more Christmassy!