Hedgehog mushrooms + recipe

Hedgehog mushrooms (🇫🇮 vaaleaorakas) are one of the most sought after mushrooms in Finnish forests. They look clean, taste great, and are easy to recognize. In fact, these mushrooms don’t have any harmful look-alikes making them an absolute unit in beginner-friendliness.

Sure way to recognize this one is to take a look on the underside. The underside is full of soft, fragile spikes. The color is clean faint caramel with some white.

Hedgehog mushrooms in their natural habitat among the moss.

Hedgehog mushrooms can be found all over Finland. Although, they become fewer the Norther you go. The ones in the pictures I found in Sipoo area of Southern Finland. These mushrooms grow in the shade of heath forests (🇫🇮 kangasmetsä) from August to October.

Preparation of this toxin-free mushroom is easy. I found that the easiest way to clean the mushroom was to rinse the underside under a running water tap. Any piece of dirt among the spikes washed off with just that. The topside required a rough brush to clean. The dirt on the leg was tougher and required scratching the surface with a knife to get it off. That also peeled the leg but only so much. Most of the mushroom was saved for use.

What to do with a hedgehog mushroom then? It’s possible to use this mushroom fresh or to preserve them through freezing or drying. Hedgehog mushroom can have a sour taste when uncooked so frying it thoroughly is necessary. All parts of this mushroom can be used. The cap is firm and can be fried like a steak. Another way is dice the whole mushroom up and fry the cubes in oil or butter to be used in a sauce.

Hedgehog mushroom with spelt

The original recipe for this dish is created by Mari Moilanen and can be found at jotainmaukasta.fi. Since the recipe is in Finnish, I’ve translated it here for you. I did add some butter when I was preparing this as butter is just that delicious together with mushrooms.

Dinner ready to be served

Incredients needed:

• 1 litre of hedgehog mushrooms
• 3 desilitres of spelt grain
• ½ litre of kale
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 3 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley
• 1 glove of garlic
• ½ tablespoon of apple winegar
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• black pepper
• Olive oil

1) Incredients 2) Initial volume of mushrooms on the pan 3) Final amount after water has evaporated

Instructions:

1. Clean and dice up the mushrooms into cubes the size of a thumbnail.
2. Boil the spelt with 6 desilitres of water, some salt, and a dash of oil. Drain after boiled.
3. Chop up the kale and remove the midribs.
4. Fry the cubes of mushroom on a dry, pre-heated pan. Plenty of liquids and steam will be released. After the liquid is evaporated you can throw in some butter for additional flavor.
5. Once both the mushrooms and the spelt is ready, move the spelt on the same pan. Throw the kale in the mix. Fry till kale softens.
6. Add honey, apple winegar, fine garlic, salt, and pepper.
7. Parsley can be added as a finishing touch. Reserve some for garnish!

This is a brand new publication for personal note keeping and to share my learnings from Finnish nature: hiking, foraging, hunting, survival skills etc. In addition to this blog I have an Instagram account dedicated to the same topics. You can find it from here: https://www.instagram.com/thefinnoutthere/