History
Mushrooms have always been eaten here. The product sheet recalls Pietro Andrea Mattioli's 16th-century atlas of mushrooms, Lucyna Ćwierczakiewiczowa's recipes for preserves and the mushroom hunt in “Pan Tadeusz”. Housewives along the Bug marinate mushrooms from the Mielnik and Białowieża Forests, adding paprika, garlic and sugar. Each has her own proportion of vinegar. They have been on the list since 2009.
Recipe
Mushrooms pickled in vinegar
Ingredients
- 1 kg small, firm mushrooms (bay boletes, porcini, slippery jacks)
- Marinade
- 600 ml water
- 200 ml vinegar 10%
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 8 allspice berries
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 onion in half-moons, 4 garlic cloves
- a few strips of red pepper
Method
- Clean and wash the mushrooms, halving the larger ones. Boil in salted water for 10 minutes, then drain.
- Bring the water to the boil with the sugar, salt and spices. Add the vinegar at the end.
- Put the mushrooms into scalded jars, layered with the onion, garlic and pepper.
- Pour over the hot marinade right up to the top and seal.
- Pasteurise for 15 minutes in a pot of water (jars standing on a cloth). Leave in a dark, cool place. Best after 2 weeks.
Where to taste and buy
In season, mushrooms are sold along the roads around the Forest and at the markets in Hajnówka and Siemiatycze. Ready-made jars can be bought at fairs and from local producers.
Description based on the entry in the Ministry of Agriculture's List of Traditional Products. The quantities in the recipe are our own suggestion for the home kitchen. Product sheet on gov.pl →
Stay in Klejniki
Most of these flavours are within an hour's drive of our house. A kitchen with a wood-fired range is waiting, in case you feel like baking something.
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