After the Rain

Luckily for us, not many people in Canada are familiar with wild mushrooms, so there isn’t too much competition for mushroom picking, just mostly Eastern Europeans. In Alberta, there are very few poisonous mushrooms, but if you don’t know the varieties, it is better not to take chances. It rained yesterday so we set off early this morning to find some nice boletus. You really feel a rush when you see the little pretty hat peeking from the grass or from under the moss. So it’s hard to stop looking. But when Robert and I filled 3 big baskets each (my estimate is more than 10 kg), it dawned on me that somebody had to actually do something with the mushrooms, and that somebody would be me. So the menu at the Fridman household for the next few days will include: scrambled eggs with fried mushrooms, pasta with mushrooms in cream sauce, mushroom soup, mushroom perogies, sautéed mushrooms, mushroom risotto, gnocchi with mushrooms (photo below), chicken in mushroom sauce etc. We will also freeze some for future use. One can also pickle or dry them.

People used to think that mushrooms had very little nutritional value, but in fact they are an excellent source of fibre, protein, vitamins (lots of vit. D, vit. C, folate, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vit. B6), as well as iron, zinc, manganese, selenium, copper and potassium. And they are yummy!

And now I better stop writing because, even after a big (and delicious) mushroom dinner, I still have about 10 kg waiting for me in the kitchen.