Chestnut mushrooms

The stew is in the oven. Beef for once. It’s having a long plop now. Nearer dinner time I’ll reheat it & add some chestnut mushrooms.

I still remember the first time I bought chestnut mushrooms. It was when we lived in Arnside, over 20 years ago. I wanted some mushrooms & there was a punnet of brown mushrooms, really cheap, just a few pence a pound. No one was buying them. They were just looking suspiciously at these brown mushrooms so unlike in colour from the usual button or even flat ones. Having been to a mushroom cave near Saumur in France, I greeted the sight with joy & picked a whole lot.

We were sat in a pub afterwards, recovering from the trauma of the big shop. I was telling the Fox about my find. A couple of others joined in the conversation, one a Dane, the other a Chilean. They agreed I’d found quite a bargain. They were both in the food production industry, essentially cheese making. They both loved fine food.

We both tend to find chestnut mushrooms have more flavour than the usual white ones. We’re both huge mushroom lovers & so are all for extra flavour.  Unfortunately these days people, even this far north, have discovered the joy of chestnut mushrooms. They've become fashionable. The price is now more expensive than the usual white buttons or flats. Pity.