It’s going to be a lively morning at Barbakan Deli on Manchester Rd in Chorlton-cum-Hardy this Saturday 14 December. We’ll be serving Winter Chanterelle toasties to folk queuing up to be served at one of South Manchester’s busiest delis and there’ll be a skiffle band playing outside at the same time. It seems a very appropriate way to celebrate the season and end the year, on a high note, literally! Come and see us there between 11am and 1pm. We’ll be travelling to Sweden for Christmas the week after so we wish you all

God Jul och Gott Nytt År! 

We’re running a competition to win two packets of mushrooms of your choice and a beautiful hand turned juniper spatula made in Sweden by Erik Sved. To enter go to Get Funghi’s Facebook page and simply like the photo. A winner will be picked at random and announced on Monday and we’ll be running the competition again next Friday so you can let all your friends know and have another go yourself!

Our friends at Marple Bridge’s lovely deli/cafe, Dutsons rolled out their new winter lunch menu last week, and we’re really pleased to announce that they are using our dried Winter Chanterelles for one of the dishes in the pate selection. Needless to say we got ourselves down there pretty promptly to try it and were duly impressed. The Winter Chanterelle Rillette, a rich and creamy wild mushroom pate topped with chive butter, was served with a little home made pickled salad and very pretty green and purple dressed leaves, with a generous portion of toasted hand cut bread. Beautifully presented and very delicious! Another member of our party tried their Pulled Pork and declared it to be equally delicious. It’s the kind of menu that leaves you spoilt for choice and I imagine we’ll be going back soon to try another dish or two. What a great combination – a well stocked deli/cafe run by two enthusiastic and knowledgeable brothers (their wine recommendations are always spot on!), with a talented young chef in the kitchen. Lucky Marple Bridge!

We’re so looking forward to next Saturday, 7th December. We run a twice yearly Art & Craft Show called Made in New Mills which celebrates the fantastic work that is created by the many talented artists and craftspeople based in and around our great North Derbyshire home town, and run a Swedish themed cafe on the day. There’ll be wild mushroom toasties galore plus homemade cakes, mulled wine, fairtrade hot drinks, home made elderflower cordial, cheese toasties and Swedish meatball muffins!

Included in the list of exhibitors this year will be printmaker Lucy Gell, artists Paul Gent & Andrea Joseph, hand made soaps and other products by Hayfield Holistics, plus a glittering array of exquisite hand made jewellery, textiles & hand knitting, photography, ceramics, candles, jams & Christmas Wreaths. Make your Christmas presents unique and original this year!

We will be making our very moreish Winter Chanterelle mushroom toasties to give away at New Mills’s finest fruit, veg and other delicacies emporium, Doc Greens on Union Rd next Saturday 30th November between 10am and 1pm. Make sure you stay around in the town for the Christmas Lights switch on, fair and festivities starting at 6pm!

It’s been a strange mushroom season this year. Even now after a good dose of rain we’re having to walk further and look harder than previous years to find Winter Chanterelles, which normally grow in profusion in Sweden’s densely forested landscape. As you can see from the photo these autumn/winter mushrooms can be hard to spot among the undergrowth at this time of year, but it’s worth the effort to get out there in the wild woods and try and find them where it’s wettest, in the mossy spots for instance.

And when you do go out in the woods with your handy mushroom knife and a basket to collect in make sure you follow our number one top tip:

Clean your mushrooms where you find them (unless you’re taking them home to identify) before you put them in the basket. Cut the bottom of the stalk off and remove any pine needles or moss. If you chuck them all in together without doing this then all of them will be dirty by the time you get home!

We’ll be back at On the Eighth Day, Manchester’s oldest and still best vegetarian cafe and wholefood cooperative next Thursday 7th November. Do come over for a taste of our wild mushrooms and funghi related chat between 11am and 2pm. Hope to see you there!

We’re going to be doing our traditional autumn tasting at Praze on Glossop High St West next Saturday, 19th October from 11am – 2pm. As always we’ll be giving out wild mushroom toasties made with Bengt’s famous Winter Chanterelle sauce topped with a good mature cheddar and will be on hand to answer any questions about your fungus finds, wild mushroom recipes, Sweden and no doubt many other things!

We’re really happy to welcome our first stockist in London, Scandinavian Kitchen. You can maybe guess from the name that the theme is Nordic, so wild mushrooms from Sweden should fit right in! Apart from the deli and cafe on Great Titchfield St the owners Jonas & Bronte also supply Ocado’s Swedish shop. Can’t wait to get down to visit ourselves! www.scandikitchen.co.uk

We’ve now added a gallery of photos from our ever popular New Mills Festival Fungus Forays. Thanks to Sarah Fletcher-Shaw and Kirsten Marsh for their contributions. If anyone else has any they want to share we’d love to see them so please do send them to us via info@getfunghi.co.uk.

This great photo by Kirsten is of Bengt holding the rare Pink Ballerina, a waxcap, that one of our eagle-eyed spotters found in the field we started the foray in!