Hunter gatherer ...

Today I fulfilled an ambition held since last Autumn; to go mushroom picking in the Finnish woods.

British friends will recognise this as a very dangerous occupation: we are trained from a young age that the only people who gather fungi from the forests are witches and foreigners. The BBC has been reporting deaths and illness amongst amateur mushroom hunters and a survey is now underway in Scotland to find out how many people are engaging in this activity. Apparently, the credit crunch is meaning that free food is more appealing than ever.

But here in Finland, it is a normal seasonal activity. My native guide had offered to trade their knowledge of the countryside in return for me driving there, so on a beautiful sunny morning, we set off.

The countryside here is full of colour at this time of year, easily matching any Autumnal display I've seen at home. After half an hour or so, we arrived at our destination (of course, this must remain a secret; the first of a few pointers I was given in mushroom etiquette).

The next pointer was to look really, really carefully. It takes a while for the eyes to become accustomed to looking for the fungi. Today, we were mainly after Cantharellus tubaeformis, funnel chanterelles. If you look closely at the photo, you'll find some (you may need to click to see the picture full size).

Tip number three was very understandable, given the size of the mushrooms. Even if they are too small to pick, don't tread on them, but leave them for the next hunters in a few days.

Of course, Sunday is really too late; we should have been out on Thursday evening to get the best of the crop. However, after a couple of hours my guide had a decent number in their basket and my Stockmann paper carrier bag held around a litre of chanterelles, so we headed back to the city.

The final challenge was what to do with them. Soup is a popular option, or a mushroom omelette, but I opted to dry the larger specimens. Here they are, threaded onto a length of cotton and hanging across one of the guest beds. I will let you know how long this option takes to dry them out, I am guessing a couple of weeks. As long as they are done by October half term, when the family are coming to visit, all should be fine.

With the smaller ones, I made a sauce with some sweated onions, cream and some seasoning. On top of toasted rye bread and finished with some shaved parmesan, they were delicious. And three hours later, I have no stomach ache or other symptoms, so I think they were probably safe!

For more photos from the trip, visit my mushroom hunting channel on Share on Ovi.