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RAFI Mushroom Foraging Trip

RAFI Chef’s Embarked On A Mushroom Foraging Adventure.

Applejack Culinary Director, Patrick Friesen, and members from the RAFI kitchen team ventured down to the Southern Highlands on a day out foraging for wild pine mushrooms.

Keep reading to find out more about the foraging trip and taste the very best in produce when you dine with us in North Sydney.

Let’s find out more:

The Foraging Trip:

A group of 20 Applejack Hospitality Chef’s road-tripped down South to the Penrose State Forest in The Southern Highlands. RAFI was represented by 4 of our kitchen team, all with a keen interest in foraging and a desire to learn more about fresh local produce. The group was led by foraging expert Diego Bonetto a.k.a ‘The Weedy One’, who is a seasoned expert in wild foraging.

Diego took the group through all the mushroom basics, from what to look for and what not to look for, where to find Pine mushrooms, how to forage, and finally how to preserve and enjoy the mushrooms. After the masterclass in all things mushrooms, the teams then split up into groups and explored the forest, filling their baskets with freshly picked pine mushrooms. The group was then treated to a masterclass in cleaning, preserving, and cooking the freshly picked mushrooms.

It was an action-packed day, with each kitchen team member leaving with a box full of delicious Saffron Milk Cap mushrooms.

What is a Pine Mushroom?

Put simply, pine mushrooms are mushrooms that grow near Pine trees. In South East Australia we are talking about two particular types: Saffron Milk Caps and Slippery Jack’s.

The Penrose State Forest was abundant in Saffron Milk Caps, making that the main pine mushroom we foraged on our trip. Saffron Milk Caps are a bright, carrot-coloured mushrooms with distinctive marks on the cap and stalk. The main identifier of this mushroom is the orange ‘milk’ it exudes when cut open. The Saffron Milk Caps have a peppery taste, and firm texture and are great sauteed in oil and garlic.

Remember that not all mushrooms found near pine trees are edible, always check with an expert before foraging yourself.

Taste the very best in fresh local produce at RAFI.

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