DELHEIM

by Linda Harding, thesquashedtomato.blogspot.com

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Oodles of Mushrooms (photo by Linda Harding)

Caterpillar: By the way, I have a few more helpful hints. One side will make you grow taller…

Alice: One side of what?

Caterpillar: …and the other side will make you grow shorter.

Alice: The other side of what?

Caterpillar: THE MUSHROOM, OF COURSE!

No, I haven’t quite lost the plot (yet), but I do love this quote and find it rather applicable to my adventure this week – as an invited guest of Delheim’s “Wild about Mushrooms”
week.

read more …

Delheim’s Mushroom Week will last until 10 July. Visit us to learn about wild mushrooms and try our delicious wild and exotic mushroom dishes.

Let’s be honest, if you read my blog you’ll know my food thoughts are less than conventional, so when a PR company like Erica Meles PR sends you an invite for a wild mushroom forage with leading mycologist Dr. Adriaan Smit, director of the South African Gourmet Mushroom Academy, I’m there!

This invitational was held in conjunction with Delheim Wine Estate and South Africa’s leading commercial supplier of exotic mushrooms, Nouvelle Mushrooms as part of their ‘Mushroom Week’ initiative, highlighting of the use of wild & exotic mushrooms in cuisine.

Regular readers will know that I’m no stranger to exotic mushrooms, in fact I can’t recall when I last bought traditional ‘button’ mushrooms.

I’ve written about exotic mushrooms before in my guest post for Cape Town Magazine and also in my Farm to Fork post with chef Neill Anthony and in most cases the mushrooms called for in the recipes on the blog are exotic. So come Tuesday morning I arrived kitted out for our expedition, stopping in for a coffee and home-made rusk at Delheim’s Garden Restaurant, our ‘base-camp’. Upon arrival I received a warm greeting from Delheim Marketing Manager, Nora Sperling-Thiel, an avid forager herself.

Delheim’s Mushroom Week will last until 10 July. Visit the wine farm to learn about wild mushrooms and try their delicious wild mushroom dishes.

Baby Spinach Salad with King Oyster Mushrooms

by Chris von Ulmenstein, http://www.whalecottage.com/blog/, 6 July 2011

This week Delheim wine estate is focusing on the delectable exotic mushroom, in running a Mushroom Week in its restaurant in conjunction with Nouvelle Mushrooms, the only commercial producer of exotic mushrooms in South Africa, and sole supplier of this delicacy to Woolworths.

I was part of a group of journalists (those from The Star and the Sunday Times flying down from Johannesburg especially for the event) and bloggers that was invited by Erica Meles Public Relations to attend an outing to Delheim yesterday, which kicked off with an interesting talk by Dr Adriaan Smit of the University of Stellenbosch, a mycologist and MD of the SA Gourmet Mushroom Academy.  He impressed with his knowledge of poisonous and edible mushrooms, giving tips about how one ensures that one only picks and eats edible mushrooms.

There are about 1.5 million mushroom species, and Dr Smit recommended a number of steps for aspirant mushroom gatherers.

Read more….

Delheim’s Mushroom Week will last until 10 July. Visit us to learn about wild mushrooms and try our delicious wild and exotic mushroom dishes.

Winter has long seen a flurry of fungi harvest activity at Delheim wine farm in Stellenbosch; the rare and delectable Boletus Edulis mushrooming overnight in secret locations scattered around the pine forest on the farm. These have been shared in the past with lucky Delheim restaurant patrons who happened to book on the days that the mushrooms popped up; their harvester Delheim owner-family member, Nora Sperling-Thiel.

Although popular with customers – many of whom are amazed at their texture and flavour – Boletus are as rare as they are delectable; appearing only when the weather is ideal for them to sprout. Coupled with their rarity is a fear of the unknown that wild and exotic mushrooms present, having been scarcely available in South Africa in the past.

Feeling that home cooks were missing out on a health-giving delicacy, Nora has teamed up with Schalk de Beer of Nouvelle Mushrooms, Hemel en Aarde Valley, to offer a steady supply of exotics via the Delheim restaurant.

The initiative kicks off with Mushroom Week 2011, held at the Delheim farm from 4-10 July. An annual event to make the most of wild mushrooms on the farm, a variety of dishes will be available at the restaurant, complete with sample displays and pairing suggestions with Delheim wines.

Two gourmet mushroom dishes will be on the menu permanently, with punnets of fresh exotics and recipes for use at home available for a limited time. Pairing  recommendations will be made with the Delheim wines, closing the loop on easy and fabulous fungi for home entertaining. The restaurant offerings will include Baby Spinach with seared Nouvelle King Oyster mushrooms, and creamy tagliatelle with Nouvelle Exotic Mushroom Mix.

Bookings can be made at the Delheim restaurant; email restaurant@delheim.com or telephone 021 888 4607. For those out of town, Nouvelle Mushrooms can be found in the Woolworths fresh food aisle, while the Delheim wines for pairing can be found on the wine shelves.

For further inspiration and ideas, visit the Nouvelle Mushrooms website, at www.nouvelle.za.net.