In Search of Edible Stones

This week we had an opportunity to connect with our common hunter-gatherer past in doing a activity that while it is not common, it is practiced more widely here in Germany than in the USA. That wold be mushroom hunting.

The idea started at the 70th birthday party of Ulrich, one of Magda's friends. As we were talking,  Ulrich mentioned that on a walk the previous week he had started to collect Steinpilz in the last week and that there were few things better than Steinpilz in a cream sauce over pasta. Before I had a chance to say anything, Magda jumped in saying how she would love to go with him one day to learn about collecting. And so, a few days later, we arranged to do just that.

Steinpilz (literally translated as "stone mushroom") is perhaps the most desirable of Germany's  edible wild mushrooms. They are a large, meaty mushroom. The best comparison in terms of consistency and taste that would be common to Americans would be the porcini. However, they are different mushrooms. Steinpilz is only one of the many varieties of mushroom than one can find in the German forest, some of which of course are poisonous. But there are a wealth of edible ones and until recently it was common practice for Germans to go out to collect then.  Magda actually showed me the text of a biology book from the 1970's. The book taught mushroom identification so that people could learn how to safely collect them. Some of the mushrooms mentioned include the following:

• Ziegenbart which looks, as its name suggest, like the beard (Bart) of a goat (Ziegen) sticking out of the ground. However, ziegenbart is a "giftig" which has nothing to do the the English false friend "gift". "Giftig" means toxic.
• Parosolpilz is a pretty mushroom that grows taller than most on a slender stem with a dome-shaped cap. Ir looks like an umbrella sticking in the ground.
• Pfifferling are what we call chanterelles. It is also one of the most sought after edible mushrooms in Germany.
• The red skin of the cap of the Täudling would make you think it is toxic, but it is not. According to the biology book, it tastes like a potato.

But we were after the German king of edible mushrooms, Steinpilz. We meet Ulrich in his village, Lay. Lay is on the Moselle, not far from Koblenz. We took the trail up out of Lay to where the trail entered a old deciduous forest. This would be out hunting grounds. We headed off the trail in search of our prize. Stienpilz is a fairly large mushroom with a skin that starts dark brown and gets lighter as the mushroom ages. Stienpilz does not use gills to release spores, rather a system of tube like structures that give the appearance of a sponge under the cap. Another distinguishing characteristic is the shape of the stem. It become thicker at the base as compared to where it meets the cap.

It wasn't long before we started to find a few, enough for dinners for two families.  Our haul can be seen in the first picture. It was also fascinating to see the great array of mushrooms that you just would miss if you stay on the trail. We saw a number then that were mentioned in Magda's biology book, and a few that weren't. The one that had the most fun off the trail was Frannie. She just seemed in seventh heaven running from place to place and sticking her nose in the leaves for some new smell. It might be a while before we can get her trained to be a mushroom hunter.

Dinner as you would expect consisted of the meal that started this whole adventure, Steinpilz in a cream sauce over pasta. Hardest thing about it is cleaning the mushrooms. Snails also like Steinpilz, so you want to be sure to cut away from around where snails have taken a bite. Saute onions and bacon until the onions begin to soften. Add the mushrooms and cook until they are soft. Then add the cream, season and add a bit of fresh parsley. Serve with pasta. The Spatbugunder (pinot noir) that we had worked great. But a dry Moselle Riesling would also work well. Guten Appetit.

Spargelzeit

There is a two month period from late April to late June that is known as Spargelzeit. Spargel is German for asparagus. Zeit is time. So Spargelzeit means the time for asparagus. Since asparagus is the first harvest of the year, it is connected with the end of cold temperatures and the coming of summer. Asparagus growing use to be centered in southern German. But with the advent of growing under plastic, the growing asparagus has now extended into the central Germany. So there are a couple of fields not far from us.

Asparagus here is not the skinny green shoots that we get in the USA. Rather they are thick, white shoots, the thicker the better. They have a woody outer layer pretty much the whole length of the shoot that must be removed with a vegetable peeler. The shoots are graded according to their thickness, length and roundness. This is basically an indicator of how much work is needed to prepare the shoots. The thicker shoots have more volume per surface area, therefore less peeling and less waste. Also if the shoot is not round (cylindrical is maybe a better word) they are harder to peel. But even the farmers will say, they all the grades taste the same.

We tend to buy the grade II that are a bit thicker than my thumb. Once they are peeled, it is simply a matter of boiling for 20 minutes. The traditional German meal shown in the slide show below would start with a pound of asparagus per person (that is before peeling). and would serve boiled potatoes and slices of ham to go with it. Melted butter would be available to pour over the asparagus and potatoes. We like lighter white wine with low acidity is idea. For this meal, we used sweet potatoes, but a hard potato, like red or Yukon gold, would be more traditional. We also used a  Riesling which is normally little too acidic, but we had just returned from Wehlen and wanted to drink one of the wines that we bought there.

Bernkastel-Keus and Wehlen

We took a short trip to Bernkastel-Kues last week-end to look around. Bernkastel-Kues is a town in the heart of heart of the best vineyards on the Moselle. In fact, some will claim that Bernkasteler Doctor is the best vineyard on the Moselle.

But were were there to see the town that contains a number of half-timbered houses, some dating to the 15th century. One of these is called the smallest house in Germany. It can be seen in the background of some of the pictures in the sideshow below.

Going to places like this can be a little risky. It is a Mecca for tourists. So not only are the streets filled with tourist, all the shops there are gear towards the tourist trade. This means all kinds of junk and shops selling sweet white wines of marginal quality.

Still on balance, I have to say, Berkastel-Kues is worth the trip.

After a couple of hours there, we headed downstream to visit a couple of wineries and have some lunch in Wehlen. Wehlen vineyards are not quite as famous as Bernkastel's, but they are pretty darn good.

Lunch was at a Strasswirkshaft on the Moselle directly across from the vineyard call Wehlener Sonnenuhr. In Germany, vintners are allowed to set up some tables and serve food with their own wines for a few months of each year. One of there is known as a Strasswirkshaft or Strassi for short. A Strassi gives the vintner another avenue to sell their wines and provides a little local color for visiting tourists. We have had good luck with the food and the wine at the Strassis that we have visited. Nothing fancy, just good local food using ingredients from the region. Plus they are usually a pretty good value.

We also visited a couple of other vintners in town, including S.A.Prüm that is considered among Germany's best. There wines were definitely a cut above by at a price 2 or 3 times that of the other vintners that we tried. One other nice thing about S. A. Prüm is that they let the barn shallows nest in their tasting room. They also use their images in there literature.

Spring Vacation 2010 - Cognac

We took a side trip with Jacqueline and Sonja to Cognac to visit the Hennessy distiller. Cognac is made from grapes grow in the area around the city of Cognac. Hennessy, being the largest producer of Cognac and one of the oldest controls many of the vineyards close to the city, which they say produce the best grapes for their brandy.

The tour at Hennessy was informative, but a bit too staged for me. At 9.50€ per person, it is not a cheap thing to do.

Cognac is made by double distilling the wine from grapes grown in the Cognac region. To be called Cognac, the distillation must be done before the end of March and must be done in a traditional three stage still. The result is a clear liquid with a fruity, flowery aroma that the French call "l'eau de vie" or "the water of life". The liquid is then stored in a cask made with French oak for at least 2 years. These cask all come from a single producer at a cost of about 700€ per.

Each barrel is carefully labeled with the year, the vineyard, name of the distiller, and the volume. As they as stored, a certain amount of the alcohol evaporates. The French calls this the angel's portion. It is also the reason that the storage building, and all the building in Cognac appear black. There is a black fungus that feeds on the evaporate and colors the buildings.

Each barrel is checked annually to determine it's quality, decide if adjustments need to be made in the aging, or if it is ready for one of Hennessy's products. Possible adjustments would include a drier or more humid warehouse, putting the vintage in a new cask, or deciding that it cannot get any better. The the latter case, the vintage is placed in a wicker-covered, glass bottle which stops the aging process. Note that the cask in the first picture here is from the 1898 vintage and is still being aged.

Hennessy's products are all blends. VS is made from 4-5 vintages, each 2-5 years old. VSOP is made from 10-15 vintages 5-10 years old. XO is made from 100 vintages from 6 to 100 years old.

Cognac in a sealed bottle does not age. So a sealed 40 year old bottle of Cognac tastes the same as when it was bottled. However, once opened, deterioration begins.

Below is a link to my photo album from Cognac.

Cognac

Reading the Grapes, Mittle Rhine 2009

We visited a vintner in the village of Spay, just south of Coblenz. They produce mostly Rieslings from their vineyards in Bopparder Hamm.

Her comments echoed those her Baden counterparts. The grapes were of very high quality this year. But, she also noted that quantities were down.

We should begin seeing 2009 wine the first week of April next year

Reading the Grapes, Baden 2009

Talked with two vintners about the Traubenlese (literally Grape Reading, actually refers to harvesting the grapes). Both were very excited about the harvest. Dry July, August and September had provided high levels of sugar. Something to look forward to on trips to Badenweiler next year.

Still need to visit some vintners on middle Rhine and Moselle to see if we can expect some interesting Rieslings.