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RE: Steemit Iron Chef 2017 #11: A Wild Faux-Ocean Plate - Bell Peppers with Wild Shrimp and Oyster Mushrooms
Great combination of tastes and textures! I'd absolutely eat it :)
Great combination of tastes and textures! I'd absolutely eat it :)
Glad you enjoyed my "seafood" plate of peppers and mushrooms, @kate-m! In your time on South America, researching how people use wild foods, have you seen much use of mushrooms? Have you gotten to try some of them?
Bearing in mind I didn't stray from São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro states, I was actually pretty disappointed by the wild mushrooms available. One of my friends there was one of the most knowledgeable people regarding mushrooms in the Atlantic Rainforest and he only ever seemed to pick from the genus Auricularia (sort of Jew's ear type), which for me is one of the most under-whelming wild mushrooms you can get. However it is quite nice when fried in olive oil and salt (handy to use in recipes where you might normally put crispy bits of bacon as is crispy and salty).
People are starting to experiment with cultivating exotic types such as shitaki, but the wild fare is definitely under-whelming in my humble opinion.
That's interesting about the lack of wild mushroom foraging in Brazil. @galberto wrote about a neat edible mushroom that he forages in El Salvador in his first Steemit post.
I like the Auricularia, sliced thin and included in soup. I'll definitely try them fried like you suggest. The ones I know, as Wood Ears, are not the most flavorful of mushrooms, but I still like eating them. :D