Sunday, October 23, 2011

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Season for 'Diguenes'


Diguenes are a parasitic fungus that grow on 'coigues', 'hualles' and 'robles' - native trees in the south of Chile. They have a texture similar to mushrooms but the taste is very different. My Chilean family go nuts for these forrest treats, which appear after Chilean Independance Day (18th Sep), through to the start of summer. We are lucky to live in an area that has such an abundant supply!

They can be eaten alone but most people add them to a salad or even fry them in a little oil and make Empanadas de Diguenes (small pies). 

Monday, October 10, 2011

Sowing seed


Finally, runner beans, broad beans and peas have been sown! As per local tradition, I've been waiting for a full moon - apparently this has an impact on the size of the produce - go figure!

The first bed in the right of the picture has the runner beans; a drainage trough/walk way separates it from the next bed which has the broad beans and peas. Fungicide was used to kill off unwanted worms and the soil was enriched with a furtilizer mix.