• BOOK
  • APP
    • About the App
    • iPhone tutorial
    • iPad tutorial
    • FAQs
    • App troubleshooting
  • ABOUT

Mobile Menu

  • PLAN
    • Planner templates
    • Meal plans
      • Summer
      • Autumn / Fall
      • Winter
      • Spring
    • How-to
  • BUY
  • COOK
    • Breakfast
    • Snacks & lunchbox
    • Meals & dinners
    • Sides & salads
    • Desserts & special occasion
  • Search
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Menu
  • Skip to left header navigation
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Before Header

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

PlanBuyCook

Meal planning made simple

  • BOOK
  • APP
    • About the App
    • iPhone tutorial
    • iPad tutorial
    • FAQs
    • App troubleshooting
  • ABOUT
  • PLAN
    • Planner templates
    • Meal plans
      • Summer
      • Autumn / Fall
      • Winter
      • Spring
    • How-to
  • BUY
  • COOK
    • Breakfast
    • Snacks & lunchbox
    • Meals & dinners
    • Sides & salads
    • Desserts & special occasion
  • Search

Food from the source – pine mushrooms

You are here: Home / New FOOD / Food from the source – pine mushrooms

03/05/2015 By //  by Gaby Leave a Comment

Recently, we had the great pleasure of going mushroom picking with a friend who lives near a pine plantation. Being city folk, we don’t have a strong connection with food from its source, so it was a real joy and huge educational experience to go looking for edible mushrooms with the kids.

Our friend Fiona started at the first mushroom with a quick talk about what to look for in a mushroom. If any of the mushrooms in the pine plantation has a ‘skirt’ on its stalk, it is most likely poisonous. That got the kids’ attention right away. The amazing red mushrooms with white spots were a no-go zone, even though they were quite magical to look at. The same for several other varieties.

What we’d come for today were saffron coloured mushrooms (Lactarius deliciosus aka saffron milk caps or pine mushrooms). First Fi showed us which ones we were looking for, when they were good and when they had past their prime, then demonstrated how to remove them from their stalks in order to make them grow again next year. The kids were enthralled. One: they would get to use a knife, and two: they could go on a journey of discovery. The race was on for eight kids aged between 5 and 11 to find the best / biggest / most.

There were the usual spills down the hill and a sidetrack to see a secret base the kids had made there last summer, but when we returned, we had a basket full of mushrooms for three families to enjoy.

What was great is that kids who professed not to like mushrooms set themselves the task of retrieving them with great gusto. What’s more, they then tried them on return from the hunt. Cook them with oil and garlic, and you can even freeze the cooked mushrooms to add at a later date to soups or risotto.

Today’s adventure made me realise how removed we’ve become from the source of our food, and why we need to keep in touch with how food grows as we become increasingly separated from produce in its natural environment. People in the inner city often only have room for herb gardens, and the fruit trees we all grew up with have largely disappeared from urban backyards.

The weekend also included roasting locally grown chestnuts – where the kids scored the chestnuts themselves and roasted them in a hot pan on the stove (more knife work! – which I must do more of given how much they loved using them). The kids also made pancakes from scratch – which tasted all the better for it I’m sure of it – and locally grown stewed plums which brought back such great childhood memories for me.

JEN’S TIP FOR KEEPING PINE MUSHROOMS FRESH

Add a few of the pine needles into the basket or paper bag when you store them to help keep the mushrooms fresh.

Have you had a great back to food source experience with your kids recently?

 

 

Filed Under: New FOOD, Seasonal eating

Get the Plan Buy Cook meal planning app, available for iPhone and iPad to get dinner done. The Plan Buy Cook Book is available worldwide via Amazon or at all good Australian bookstores and online through Booktopia.

Related Posts

You may be interested in these posts from the same category.

Asian steamed buns

Hail curly kale? What’s the fuss about?

Lemon season – 5 great uses for lemons

Keen on quinoa

Starting your own herb garden

Previous Post: « Friendly hamper
Next Post: Danish apple tart »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Plan Buy Cook Book

Plan Buy Cook App

Handy planners

Recent Posts

How to BBQ: barbecue tips

08/09/2021

Mango chicken

07/09/2021

Arun’s lentil soup

25/07/2021

Poached ginger chicken

17/06/2021

Footer

Tip of the week

Salads are best served at room temperature. If making them in advance, take them out of the refrigerator in time to get to room temp.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Contact Us
  • Sitemap

Site Footer

  • Contact Us
  • Sitemap

Copyright © 2025 · Appetising Ideas