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Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Fermented Wild Mushroom Pierogi

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Fermented Mushroom Pierogi (5)Fermented mushroom pierogi, along with a few different sauces I’ve made (dryad saddle shoyu/soy sauce) are the most delicious things I’ve made with fermented mushrooms yet. 

Fermented mushrooms are a concentrate, they’re not something I’m going to go and just eat out of a jar, especially if they’ve been long-fermented and have turned soft. The flavors are powerful, especially vacuum-fermented, which, as there isn’t a release of air, means the mushrooms sort of marinate in their own aroma, compounding and amplifying the flavor over time. 

Fermented chanterelle mushrooms in a vacuum bag

Fermenting chanterelles in a vacuum bag takes the guesswork (and mold) out of the equation. It’s the easiest, safest way I’ve found to ferment mushrooms.

Golden chanterelles are one of the best mushrooms you can ferment, and the finished product is a sort of potent chanterelle seasoning you can add to all kinds of things. But, I like to use them with a light hand, since, if you can believe it, the flavor is too strong by itself and needs to be diluted to smooth out any bitter notes. 

Dairy is a great equalizer here, and a filling of cream cheese smooths out and calms the flavor of the fermented mushrooms, at the same time making them taste more like themselves, since the fermented mushroom concentrate all by itself is really potent. 

Assembling fermented mushroom pierogi

Notes on wild mushroom fermentation 

I ferment the chanterelles raw here, seasoned with 3% of their total weight in kosher salt, and quickly vacuum sealed in a bag. After seasoning, the mushrooms are fermented for 1 week.

With some mushrooms (morels, honey mushrooms, Gyromitra, etc) you would want to steam them before fermenting to make sure they’re safe, since all of those mushrooms need high heat cooking to not cause G.I. distress. 

Close up of shaved fennel salad

A crisp fennel salad is the perfect thing to serve with the pierogi as they’re very rich.

After fermentation, the mushrooms can be refrigerated for months, still in the bag or transferred to a jar, with no loss of quality as long as they’re covered with their brine.

This is a great way to use older, soggy mushrooms that you picked after it rained, although I used nice little buttons since they’re what I had at the time. See my full post on fermented mushrooms for more (link at the bottom of the post). 

Fermented mushroom pierogi recipe

Fermented Mushroom Pierogi (5)
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Fermented Chanterelle Mushroom Pierogi

Makes about 45 pierogi, you can cut the recipe in half for smaller batches. Mild potato and cheese fillings like pierogi and ravioli are magic here, and I was shocked that it seemed to taste even more like chanterelles after they were mixed and “diluted” with starch and fat. As they ferment, they marinate not only in salt, but in their own perfume which amplifies their flavor.
Prep Time1 hr
Cook Time30 mins
Course: Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine: American, Russian
Keyword: Chanterelles, Fermented wild mushrooms
Servings: 6

Ingredients

Filling

  • 4 oz fermented chanterelles
  • 8 oz cream cheese
  • 12 oz rice potato scant 1.5 cups
  • Fresh ground black pepper to taste
  • Fresh chopped dill a teaspoon or two (optional)

Dough

  • 2.5 cups all purpose flour
  • 8 oz sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon soft butter

Instructions

Filling

  • Puree the fermented chanterelles with the cream cheese and potato in a food processor. Mix in the dill if using, then taste and adjust the seasoning as needed for pepper and dill and adjust until it tastes good to you.

Dough

  • For the dough, whisk all the wet ingredients together, then add flour and knead into a soft dough. Chill the dough to make it easier to work with.
  • To roll out the dough, use a pasta roller or a rolling pin, and roll the dough out a little thicker than you would fresh pasta, about 1/8 inch, it doesn’t have to be perfect.
  • Flour the work surface as needed to make the dough easier to work with. Use a drinking glass or ring mold to cut out roughly 3.5 inch rounds, then estimate two generous teaspoons of filling in each circle of dough, fold them closed, crimping the edges with a fork.
  • Save scrap to re-roll as needed. Cook the pierogi in boiling water until they float, then remove to an oiled pan and refrigerate until needed.
  • To serve, saute freshly cooked pierogi in a little oil until browned on both sides. As pierogi are rich, I like to serve them with things like freshly cooked vegetables, especially wilted greens, or something like a crisp fennel salad, as pictured.
Fermented chanterelle mushrooms in a vacuum bag
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Vacuum-Fermented Mushrooms

Mushrooms seasoned with salt and fermented without air in a vacuum bag.
Prep Time10 mins
Fermenting Time7 d
Course: Snack
Cuisine: American, Russian
Keyword: Fermentation, Fermented wild mushrooms

Equipment

  • Vacuum sealer and bags

Ingredients

  • Wild Mushrooms as fresh as possible
  • Kosher salt as needed

Instructions

  • Clean the mushrooms very well, then weigh them in grams. If you want to eat the ferment straight out of the bag, steam them first, then weigh.
  • Multiply the weight of the mushrooms by anywhere from .02-.05% to get the weight of salt needed. For example, 1000 grams of mushrooms you would use 20-50 grams of salt.
  • Combine the mushrooms with the salt, then quickly vacuum seal the bag. Use a bag larger than you'll need to allow extra space at the top for resealing the bag once or twice during the fermentation process.
  • Over the course of a few days, you'll notice the bag puff and inflate from carbon dioxide, snip off the corner to release the air and "burp" it, then carefully re-seal without using the vacuum setting.
  • Allow the mushrooms to ferment in a cool dark place with a stable temperature (don't ferment them outside) like a pantry. Taste them after 5 days. I like them aged anywhere from 5-10 days depending on what I'm doing. Remember over-fermenting can make them mushy.
  • When you're pleased with the flavor, transfer them to a mason jar, or another non-reactive container, along with every bit of juice from the bag. The mushrooms will last for a month, or longer if you are careful to keep them completely covered by their juices.

Notes

You'll get decent flavor from mushrooms fermenting them anywhere from 7-14 days. If you forget about them in the vacuum bag, don't worry, the ferment is stable, and forgiving. 

More 

Wild Mushroom Fermentation 

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Previous Post: « Wild Mushroom Chowder
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FORAGER | CHEF®
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Author: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora
James Beard Award ‘22
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Alan Bergo
HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mul HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mulberry trees and both got a bunch of fruit knocked down by the storms and wind. 

If anyone in West WI or around the Twin Cities knows of some trees, (ideally on private property but beggars can’t be choosers) that I could climb and shake with a tarp underneath, shoot me a DM and let’s pick some! 🤙😄

TIA

#throwadogabone #mansquirrel #beattlefruit #mulberries #shakintrees
Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of t Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of the more interesting things I’ve eaten. 

These are an ancient wild food traditionally harvested in Southern Italy, especially in Puglia and the Salentine Peninsula, as well as Greece and Crete. I’ve seen at least 6-7 different names for them. 

A couple different species are eaten, but Leopoldia comosa is probably the one I see mentioned the most. They also grow wild in North America. 

The bulbs are toxic raw, but edible after an extended boil. Traditionally they’re preserved in vinegar and oil, pickled, or preserves in other methods using acid and served as antipasti. (Two versions in pic 3). 

They’re one of the most heavily documented traditional wild foods I’ve seen. There’s a few shots of book excerpts here.

The Oxford companion to Italian Food says you can eat them raw-don’t do that. 

Even after pickling, the bulbs are aggressively extremely bitter. Definitely an acquired taste, but one that’s grown on me. 

#traditionalfoods #vampagioli #lampascione #cucinapovera #lampascioni #leopoldiacomosa #foraging
Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke sallet and didn’t do too well (I’m at the tip of its range). I did see some feral horseradish though which I don’t see very often. 

Just like wild parsnip, this is the exact same plant you see in the store and garden-just escaped. 

During the growing season the leaves can be good when young. 

They have an aggressive taste bitter enough to scare your loved ones. Excellent in a blend of greens cooked until extra soft, preferably with bacon or similar. 

For reference, you don’t harvest the root while the plant is growing as they’ll be soft and unappealing-do that in the spring or fall. This is essentially the same as when people tell you to harvest in months that have an R in them. 

#amoraciarusticana #foraging #horseradishleaves #horseradish #bittergreens
In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo del carrubo” (carob tree mushroom) as it’s one of the common tree hosts there. 

My favorite, and really the only traditional recipe I’ve found for them so far is simmered in a spicy tomato sauce with hot chile and capers, served with grilled bread. 

Here I add herbs too: fresh leaves of bee balm that are perfect for harvesting right now and have a flavor similar to oregano and thyme. 

Makes a really good side dish or app, especially if you shower it with a handful of pecorino before scooping it up with the bread. 

#chickenofthewoods #fungodelcarrubo #allthemushroomtags #traditionalfoods #beebalm
First of the year 😁. White-pored chicken of t First of the year 😁. 

White-pored chicken of the woods (Laetiporus cincinnatus) are my favorite chicken. 

Superior bug resistance, slightly better flavor + texture. They also stay tender longer compared to their more common yellow-pored cousins. Not a single bug in this guy. 

#treemeat #ifoundfood #foraging #laetiporuscincinnatus #chickenofthewoods
TBT brisket face 💦. Staff meal with @jesseroes TBT brisket face 💦. Staff meal with 
@jesseroesler and crew @campwandawega
📸 @misterberndt 

#staffmeal #brisket #meatsweats #naptime
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