Food

For many, Provence is never more beautiful than in the fall, and to each his own. But one thing’s for sure, beautiful or not, the French countryside is now a destination for food lovers. And what could be more natural: it’s mushroom season!

By Jerôme Dumur - Photos Getty Images - October 20, 2011

The Indian summer in Provence draws to a close. Phew. Our plates will soon be piled with risottos, omelets, casseroles, or fragrant salads dressed with mushrooms like ceps, chanterelles, sanguins, black trumpets and Caesar’s mushrooms, a species considered by many gourmets as the best thing to come out of our woodlands. But this is nothing new. The proof is in its name, it was a favorite with Julius. That said, the mushroom didn’t always

agree with the Romans: Claude, successor to Caligula on the Empire’s throne, died after feasting on a generous plateful.

Are Caesar’s mushrooms dangerous? Not

at all, except if, like the mischievous andimperial Agrippine, your other half, slips in a few slices of something much less innocuous. Some death caps, for example. They are, they say, delicious to the taste, but particularly indigestible, as they are saturated with toxins that destroy your liver and kidneys in just a few hours. Hardly surprising then that the Middle Ages associated mushrooms with witches, even with the devil!

This sad reputation endured until the 18th century, an era during which Stanislas Leszczynski, Duke of Lorraine, converted the aristocracy to these forest flavors.

Since then, they continue to delight gourmets. And for good reason. The mushroom is a very pleasant food to cook. It has delicate flavors and a long finish. And then its structure permits it to be prepared in a thousand ways. One can eat it raw or cooked, fried or in a sauce, with meat or fish. So it’s to enjoy without moderation, all the more so that its gustative qualities are coupled with real nutritional benefits.

With an energy intake of 15 calories per 100 grams, and composed of 89 percent water, mushrooms are an excellent healthy snack. Their high fiber content is good for digestion. They also deliver potassium, phosphorus, iron, and selenium to our cells, vitamin D for our teeth and bones, E vitamins for our skin, vitamin K for our blood and B12 for our children’s development. But that’s another story, our little cherubs having less of a taste for the fungus than their elders!

To Read

A prudent gourmet will make sure to leave for a mushroom hunt with in his pocket the excellent guide by Didier Borgarino and Christian Hurtado, “Mushrooms of Provence and the Mediterranean”. Three hundred different varieties are described, and above all, illustrated with pictures, to make sure that you pick the right Amanita! (Edisud, 20 Euros)