Wild mushrooms : special assortment

The Albatrellus smells pleasantly of a fresh mushroom and the taste is mild and nutty. The meat is white and after preparation it becomes a bit yellowish. It is advisable to prepare the Albatrellus a little longer. Comes well to toast (baked), in ragouts, duxelles, and pastas. Hardly any recipes can be found from this mushroom. In Finland, the (breaded) hats are baked crispy and served on toast. The meat is brittle and therefore looks a bit like the Hedgehog. However, the hat is a bit finer and thinner in structure. In addition, the Hedgehog has the spines under the hat in which the tracks are located. The spores of the Forest lamb are in the pores and have a smooth underside. Albatrellus is reasonably clean and therefore requires hardly any cleaning.

Is also suitable for drying. The dried powder is made into a popular creamy dressing in Finland for (autumn) salads or as a dip. In Sweden the Forest lamb is processed in dark liver pate; for taste and to lighten the color.

The Forest lamb occurs in nature in North America and Northern Europe. Near pine forests with mainly pine and conifers. The fruiting body has a short stem and the young ones are very fresh white.

'The emperor' . . . everyone who knows this mushroom agrees that it’s one of the tastiest of all mushrooms. 

So one of the tastiest. . . The specific and delicate taste comes best to it’s right, sautéed in good butter, little garlic, bit of parsley. It keeps his beautiful colors short once heated; warm orange-red exterior and warm yellow interior.

A very tasty and colorful mushroom. Cut slices and sprinkle with a little salt. If there is some moisture coming out, the Caesar's mushroom absorbs a fruity extra virgin olive oil (and, for example, lukewarm dressing of mushrooms and veal stock), better. Some pepper and salt and a stream of lemon juice.

Family of the 'red with white dots' (known as ‘Fly agaric’ or ‘Fly amanita’). And family of the green Death cap, with which Emperor Claudius was poisoned in Roman times.

The 'egg' of a Caesar mushroom is a beautiful red ball with a warm yellow interior. Cut in half a beautiful image of a young mushroom growing. These colors remain after preparation. The taste is unrivaled !!!

For further info: see Caesar's mushroom

All mushrooms are the fruiting body of an underground network of fungal threads; the mycelium.

It all starts with a small underground button that appears above ground after a while. It is a small white bag-like structure; the 'volva'. The volva is connected to the mycelium and feeds and protects the growing mushroom that it holds.

After a while the volva breaks open and the mushroom comes out. First a small ball. Before the stem of the adult mushroom starts to develop, that's the moment we pick the Amanita eggs. The white volva is not edible and can easily be removed with a small knife.

You can fill, cut and prepare Puffballs as any mushroom, make a rich concentrate, but best known way are schnitzel and chips from the Giant Puffball; first peel of the skin, cut into slices of 2 cm, make a batter of flour, egg, water and bread crumbs (with some grounded hazelnut is very tasty), bake in oil or butter and season with salt. You can also process then as veggie fries.

We can supply two types of Puffballs; the 'Lead grey' (diam.5 cm - 10 cm) and the 'Giant Puffball'  (diam.15-30 cm). They are very tasty as long as the meat is white. The Giant Puffball is growing at lightning speed and is the most fertile organism on earth; when it tears open, it produces billions of spores.

The Orange birch bolete is edible, but - in contrast to its 'big brother' from the Boletus family, the Boletus Edulus (the cep) - slightly poisonous. To eat it raw is therefore not recommended. Bake or stew for at least 20 minutes.

Especially the young ones have an excellent taste. The hat is nicely thick-fleshed and the meat is white. These, and the other beautiful colors, change during the preparation in deep blue to almost black.

The Orange birch bolete is also slightly slimy after 20 minutes and is therefore a perfect mushroom for a tasty risotto.

The Chicken of the woods is also called the Sulphur shelf in most European countries and owes this name to the color. Not to it's odeur or taste . . . Thankfully !! Because Chicken of the woods actually tastes like chicken and it's structure is like that of chicken supreme !! The English therefore call it 'chicken fungus' or 'Chicken of the woods'.

The flesh of the young specimens is white to yellowish and juicy. Eventually the color pales and the structure becomes cheesy with a bitter taste.

After cooking, the meat turns pink. You can bake or grill young Chicken of the woods as a cutlet (first blanch for 1 minute in salted water). Older ones are very tasty in soups and stews.

The Scaly hedgehog belongs to the order of the stalk fungi. The young ones have a pleasant spicy taste with a bitterness and nice white meat. Some people experience this as unpleasant, others find the combination of bitter, spicy and woodland delicate.

You can make the bitter tones disappear by immersing the mushrooms in boiling water. You can clean the spines with a soft brush. For older specimens it is better to remove this with a knife.

In this mushroom (also called 'Red pine mushroom'), orange milk juice is released after cutting it. Has a nice nutty taste and is popular because of its firm 'al dente' structure. Opinions differ about the preparation. Some claim that the use of cream or butter should be avoided at all time and only to use olive oil. In addition, you can very well conserve or pickle this tasty mushroom and then process it in a potato salad.

In the Mediterranean areas the cap of this mushroom is often grilled in its entirety and combined with lamb. In Northern European countries often found in omelets, often together with spinach. The famous recipe from 1838 of the 'Salade Russe' (Restaurant Hermitage - Moscow) prescribes this mushroom as an indispensable ingredient. Many other ingredients were 'secret'. .

Chefs use the Lobster mushroom for its mouthwatering taste and its looks and color. All colors remain beautiful visible after preparation. In casseroles, stir-fry dishes, with crustaceans, shellfish and fish.

In fact, this is not a mushroom; it is a parasitic fungus that grows on other mushrooms such as Russula and members of the large milk-cap genus (the 'hosts'). The parasite gives a reddish orange color on the outside, while the inside has the color of the hosting mushroom.

The parasite also changes the shape of the host. This creates a solid structure with a somewhat tough, but pleasant, 'bite'. The taste is deliciously mild and clearly has something of seafood / fishy.

The Pine mushroom has a refined spicy scent and is nicely flesh. The taste is very powerful: intensely spicy to sharp, pine-like and a tang of cinnamon.

Shortly prepare to keep the beautiful 'bite'. Do not use too much butter or cream. And just like with truffles: less is more. The taste is soon overwhelmingly present in a dish and can quickly dominate.

Matsutake are very popular in China, Korea and especially in Japan. The majority of the worldwide harvest is exported to Japan, where the top quality is sold for over $ 1,000 per kilo. This is mainly due to the relatively short picking period and the 'rapid competition' of local forest dwellers such as squirrels and deer.

Fresh, the Amethyst deceiver has no noteworthy smell. However, the taste is slightly nutty and spicy. In addition to the taste, the color is particularly interesting as a gastronomic value.

Dried, they are strongly scented and taste spicy, leathery with a hint of cloves. Gives a big boost to your risotto with a small hand. The Amethyst deceiver is also good to put in alcohol or vinegar and conserve or pickle it.

The Amethyst deceiver becomes a deep purple color in humid conditions. In dry weather, it turns pink to light brown. The Amethyst grows between fallen leaves of, among others, birch trees. Once you discover one, you usually find yourself standing in a massive field with these small decorative and tasty mushrooms.

The Parasol mushroom is listed on this website under 'Wild specialties'. However, for us it’s rather an 'exotic' kind; in the continuous trade not so interesting because of the lack of volumes. It’s rather a form of 'bycatch' or 'supplementary', like the Shaggy ink cap or the Beefsteak mushroom.

Sometimes our pickers are looking for, for example, porcini mushrooms and come by chance in a field loaded with Parasol mushrooms or Shaggy ink caps or dozens of trees with Beefsteak mushrooms.

Some customers let us know to be interested in specific exotics for their clients (chefs mostly). If this by-catch is offered to us, then we also deliver these mushrooms with great pleasure.

Pronounced and pure, with a fruity aroma, a light anise flavor and iron-like perfume. And with a nice fleshy structure. Often baked and served in a creamy sauce, on toast and excellent in fish dishes.

Eating Blue foot raw is not recommended and usually gives allergic reactions and indigestion. But by baking them the toxic substances disappear and the Pied bleu is a tasty mushroom.

In the wild from the end of the summer until the first frost. Grows in groups and sometimes in witch circles. Characteristic is the violet, purple-blue foot that actually says: "don't touch me, don't eat me". After all, in nature blue is the color of poison.

This mushroom is also cultivated on a small scale in marl caves and is available almost all year round.

The most common Russula on the market is the Green-cracking Russula. Less well-known and with a fruity fragrance and mild nutty taste are: the Rough Russula (smells of hazelnut and tastes like new potatoes), the Rainbow Russula (no recognizable scent and tastes sweet and nutty), in France it's considered a delicacy. Yellow Birch Russula and Crab brittlegill Russula (or Shrimp mushroom) honor their name to the smell of herring.

You can bake or grill Russula, but often the young caps are filled with any suitable stuffing and gratinated.

There are more than 750 kinds of Russulas. There are some species that are unpalatable because of the taste (very bitter, rotten fish, radish). However, all the Russulas that taste nice in the raw state, are easily edible.