Marinated Wood Ears
Marinated Wood Ear mushrooms
This week in between torrential rain & piping hot sun, I took my kids into the bush, where I expected to, and did find a whole lot of fresh Ear Fungus. This is one of my favorite, easy to find and ID mushrooms, abundant in the NZ native almost bush year round.
We gathered a decent basket full, sliced them into a stir fry / soup type affair for dinner with ginger & miso, and marinated the rest to give as gifts or take to festivities over the coming weeks.
I can't take credit for how we marinate these in our family, as I was inspired by an impromptu lunch that we had with @nicolagallowayfood after a foraging workshop in Nelson. Nicola spontaneously pulled out all sorts of homemade & pickled treats (including of course saurkrauet & sourdough) from her kitchen. I was blown away by her marinated ear fungus, as I've always struggled a bit with the texture and lack of flavor of these super nutritious & medicinal mushrooms.
While I can't remember exactly how Nicola prepared her mushrooms, ever since then we've been:
~ Gathering fresh ear fungus - look for soft juicy ones not old & dried
~ Giving them a quick rinse to get rid of tree bark/dirt etc
~ Slicing super fine & stuffing them into a clean glass jar
~ Then making up a combo of finely grated ginger, finely chopped garlic, tamari sauce & sesame oil.
~ My kids were convinced that honey is involved, so we now add a dash of honey...(their favorite food by far)...
~ We tip this mix over the mushrooms and make sure they're all covered, then keep in the fridge.
These are great to pull out and wow guests, or give as gifts. We spoon them out onto the side of our plates, or pile onto Asian flavored dishes, stir fries or soups.
I'm hoping that Nicola will have a recipe for this in her new & upcoming recipe book, as I'm sure I've forgotten a few ingredients! And if you don't know Nicola, go check out her awesome page, books & calendar
@nicolagallowayfood