“At the Cape, when wild mushrooms were plentiful, they were picked and preserved in a spice sauce or dried for later use. Cooks used their own preferred herbs and spices to improve the taste of the mushrooms. Add this mushroom powder to soups, pastas, sauces or vegetables to enhance the flavour” Cape Winelands Cuisine page 146.
Head straight on to the Recipe For Mushroom Powder ♥
When I still lived in Sandton there was a joke doing the rounds. The one kugel said to the other “Do you use your rear-view mirror” and she replied “No, I do my makeup at home”. I am reminded of this joke every morning on my way to work. The traffic has become worse and worse over time. It used to take us 15 minutes to travel the 12 kilometres to work. Now it takes us over 20 minutes. We have started leaving earlier in the mornings. Those ten minutes mean two things. One, we get to work before 7am, and two, there is no time for me to do my makeup before we leave home. We encounter seven traffic lights between our house and the office. Some days I am lucky, and the last 5 are all green. But most days I get stopped at least 4 times.
Today’s inspiration ♥ Recipe For Mushroom Powder ♥ can be found on Lavender and Lime Share on X
I make good use of this time to put my face on. To do this I have had to create an extra makeup bag for the car. This way I don’t end up with my travel makeup being left in the glove compartment while we are away. This has happened once before, hence the spare set. In the bag I have my sunblock – essential for every day use no matter the weather. Plus face powder, eye shadow, blush and mascara. Some mornings I don’t get stopped enough to get the entire process complete. But most days I do. The day I made this mushroom powder I put some into a container for my kitchen. And the rest into a Ziploc bag to take overseas. This is a great substitute for stock powders and adds umami flavour to whatever Dave is cooking.
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Mushroom Powder
Ingredients
- 50 g dried mushrooms
- 2.5 mls ground nutmeg
- 2.5 mls ground cloves
- 2.5 mls black peppercorns
- 30 mls coarse salt
- 15 mls dried rosemary
- 15 mls dried thyme
Method
- Place the mushrooms into a spice grinder and process to a coarse powder
- Add the nutmeg, cloves, peppercorns, salt and rosemary
- Process until fine
- Pour into a bowl and stir in the thyme
- Store and use as needed
Inspiration published on Lavender and Lime April 9:
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- 2017 – Cross Kill
- 2015 – Sucrose Free Meringues
- 2014 – Stocking A Pantry With Container Items
- 2013 – Onion Tart Tatin
What a clever idea to make this into a powder! And what is a kugel? I thought it was a cake?
Haha, it is a baked pudding! And a South African term for a Jewish girl from Sandton who talks with a nasal twang and who looks perfect all the time 🙂
Such a useful thing to keep in the cupboards for adding flavour to all sorts of things!
For sure, and it makes for a great gift 🙂
What a great idea Tandy! I would love this for omelletes. And oh, traffic. Bleh. Was in Florida for a week and the traffic would keep me from living there for sure!
I cannot handle the traffic! And I will get Dave to add this to our weekend eggs – such a great idea 🙂
I love mushroom flavour, Tandy. I agree, the traffic in the Cape Town area is awful. Much worse than here in Joburg.
After 2 days in JNB, I think I disagree. I find people here more polite in the traffic 🙂
This is wonderful! I can’t wait to make it! So many potential uses…
Please let me know what you think when you have made it 🙂
I put a photo on instagram of me with a spoonful of mushroom powder over a pot of risotto. It’s not a great photo, because I used a dark beef broth in the risotto, but the flavor from the mushroom powder was exquisite. And mushroomy! I wish I’d written down what I did, because at this point I don’t remember all of it. I didn’t want to use rosemary because it’s so specific, and I see this powder going into all kinds of stews and sauces. I used a garlic pepper, white pepper cayenne pepper, bay leaves, and some other stuff….. thank you so much for your recipe!!!
I am so glad you made it, and found a use for the mushroom powder. And thanks for the shout out – really appreciate that 🙂