It was a French Marshal by the name of Jean-Baptiste who raised the interest of mushroom picking. He came to Sweden in 1810 after being elected the successor to the Swedish throne and adopted by Sweden’s King Karl XII. He was renamed Karl XIV Johan when he came to the throne.
During King Karl Johan's journey through Sweden, he observed plenty of "penny bun" ("Stensopp" in Swedish) mushrooms in the forest which he knew from his homeland Corsica. He immediately suggested his people to start foraging and learn to eat them as food. And that time, Sweden was impoverished and the people were suffering from famine after centuries of war with Europe and Russia.
The mushroom "Stensopp" was hence renamed to "Karl-Johan svamp", and the interest of foraging and using mushrooms in the kitchen had since sparked!
Nowadays during the Swedish autumn (August and September), it is quite common to see cars parked at the forest edge, with mushroom pickers weaving through the trees hunting for delicious mushrooms :)
Linda and I have been in Sweden for many years, but it had never struck us to go out in the forest for mushrooms picking. The reason was we were probably worried of picking the wrong mushrooms for consumption. The mushrooms we would use in the kitchen were confined to dried shitakes, chanterelles as well as fresh white/brown button mushrooms which could be easily purchased in the supermarkets.
It was only by a close friend's suggestion that I started to take the plunge :) He hinted that it would be fun and relaxing to pick mushrooms in the forest. In addition, he showed me an app on the iPhone (Svampguiden+) in order to crosscheck the types (and the edibility) of the mushrooms before picking.
We were still beginners and instinct told us that we needed a guide to show us the basics (and precautions) of mushroom-picking. So, after scouting through the internet, we found and decided to join a guided excursion in Ljungkile in the coming Saturday. Ljungkile is a lovely town, less than an hour drive from Gothenburg.
The day had finally arrived. Four of us (Linda, myself, my friend and his wife) arrived on time at the rendezvous point in Ljungkile, and we were greeted warmly by our guide - Maria as well as introducing ourselves to rest of the participants of the excursion.
Maria was a short-haired, knowledgeable, stout lady with kind eyes behind the golden-rimmed glasses. She introduced herself as a representative of the "Svampkonsulent" (mushroom consultancy) and I could immediately sense her enthusiasm to share her knowledge in the field :)
We were led into the forest to pick basically any mushrooms we encountered, as long as they looked edible. The mushrooms came in different colors, shapes, textures and sizes. Some were cute but slimy while some were red with dots on the hats. Generally, I tried to differentiate them based on structures beneath the mushroom hats.
After two hours, we gathered at a small open field and unloaded our "findings" on the floor so Maria could select some of them for discussion. Peeping at other groups, I noticed others had also collected a lot of similar mushrooms which Linda and I picked. Later, I learned they were Karl-Johan mushrooms :)
It was really a delight to listen to Maria explaining and discussing the different mushrooms we picked from the woods. She would occasionally break part of the mushroom and ask us to smell:
"Does it smell like flour? Yes, that is why it is called a flour mushroom!"
Everyone nodded gleefully.
And sometimes, she would pull a stern face and warned us the dangers of poisonous mushrooms.
Before the trip ended, Maria was kind enough to help us to sort out the edible mushrooms from our piles and gave us some tips to cook them as well as to preserve them.
And before I get all long-winded, let me just share some movies and pictures from the trip :)
采摘蘑菇(瑞典语称为“Svamp”)在瑞典已有数百年历史,但烹饪蘑菇的兴趣是200年前才开始兴起的。
瑞典对于蘑菇的兴趣还是要从一位名叫让 - 巴蒂斯特(Jean-Baptiste)的法国元帅说起。他在1810年被选为瑞典王位继承人并被瑞典国王卡尔十二世收养后来到瑞典。当他登上王位时,他更名为Karl XIV Johan。
在巡环瑞典期间,国王在森林里发现了不少类似他的家乡科西嘉岛(Corsica)的蘑菇 (瑞典语称为“Stensopp”)。那时,瑞典因长期与欧洲和俄罗斯战争,国家人民早已陷入饥荒。看到这些天然的食材,国王立即建议人民开始采摘蘑菇,并学会把它们当食物吃。
蘑菇“Stensopp”因此更名为“Karl-Johan svamp”,而采摘和吃蘑菇的兴趣也随之被激发了!
秋季(8月和9月)更是采摘蘑菇的时候。在瑞典,你不时会看到不少车辆停泊在森林旁,而人们就在树林里穿梭,寻找美味可口的蘑菇 :)
琳达和我已经在瑞典待了很多年,但是从来就没有兴趣去采摘蘑菇。原因是我们担心摘了毒蘑菇,并还把它们给吃了,所以我们在厨房使用的,仅限可以在超市中轻松购买的蘑菇。
最近,一位好友建议我跟他去森林摘蘑菇,说会是个有趣也很放松心情的活动。此外,他向我展示了iPhone上的程序(Svampguiden +),以便在采摘之前检查蘑菇的类型和可食性。
本能告诉我们,我们还是需要一位专家来向我们介绍蘑菇的基本知识(和注意事项)。在网上搜索后,我们决定在下周六参加Ljungkile的蘑菇采摘活动。 Ljungkile是一个美丽的小镇,距离哥德堡不到一小时车程。
这一天终于来了。我们四个人(琳达,我自己,朋友和他的妻子)准时到达Ljungkile的会合点。我们的向导 - 玛丽亚很热情地欢迎我们,我们向她和其他参与者介绍自己,寒暄一会。
玛丽亚是一个短头发,知识渊博,身材梢壮的女士,佩戴着金框眼镜。她是 “Svampkonsulent”(蘑菇咨询机构)的代表。跟她谈话期间,我可以感受到她对该领域的热情 :)
玛丽亚带领着我们进森林,我和琳达采摘看起来可食用的蘑菇。蘑菇们五颜六色,形状,纹理和大小不一,有些看起来很可爱,但摸起来粘粘的,而有些顶上长着圆红色的斑点。一般来说,我们试图根据蘑菇帽下方的结构来区分它们。
两个小时后,我们聚集在一个小型的露天场地,将我们的“收获”卸在地上,让玛丽亚挑选其中一些蘑菇来进行讨论。我偷窥着其他队伍,注意到其他人也采摘了很多类似的蘑菇。后来,我们了解到这些蘑菇就是Karl-Johan :)
大家兴趣盎然地听玛丽亚解说蘑菇的知识,她偶尔会撕下一小片的蘑菇,让我们闻一闻:
“它闻起来像面粉吗?是吧,这就是为什么它被称为面粉蘑菇!”
每个人都开心地点点头。
而有时,她会绷着脸,严厉地警告着我们毒蘑菇的危险性。
在行程结束之前,玛丽亚好意地帮助我们挑选出可食用的蘑菇,并给了我们烹饪它们以及保存它们的一些建议。
啰嗦到这里,还是让我分享一些影片和照片吧! :)