Autumn Forays

This has truly been a year of seasons. A long cold winter, sharp spring and hot dry summer. A damp, blowy autumn was inevitable.
The natural world has responded well to the conformity. Trees such as elder have rarely been more berry laden and while the mushroom season was late to get going, when it did it was spectacular.
The ‘mushroom cupboard’ in the kitchen is full of jars jammed with dried goodies, and the quality has been astonishing. My local patch has produced more ceps than I could pick and thrown up troops of chanterelles in places where they oughtn’t be.
This basket was gathered while having a short stroll in the New Forest. We didn’t walk far, but didn’t need to. Ceps, scarletina boletes and cauliflower fungus were all found alongside the path. I was particularly pleased with the cauliflower fungus, which, despite being a bugger to clean, tasted as stunning in a cheese sauce as I had been advised…