Japanese delicacy gets its own premiere in Klövsjö
In Japan, matsutake has been a prized autumn mushroom for centuries. In Klövsjö, the same mushroom has grown more quietly, hidden in the pine heaths and unknown to many. On September 5, the first Matsutake Premiere will be held in Klövsjö.
“Matsutake roughly means pine mushroom in Japanese. In Swedish, it is called goliatmusseron. It is one of the world’s most expensive edible mushrooms, but still relatively unknown here. I have been picking it for about 20 years,” says Anders Bromée, the initiator of the Matsutake Premiere.
For a long time, the Swedish and Japanese matsutake were described as different species. However, in the 1990s, DNA testing showed that they were the same species. The difference lies more in tradition. In Japan, matsutake has long been associated with autumn and high quality. Here, it has grown almost unnoticed in the forest.
For Anders, it is primarily the scent that makes the matsutake special. It is intense, unique, and difficult to compare to anything else. A single mushroom can go a long way and is best prepared simply to allow the flavor to take center stage.
The matsutake lives in symbiosis with pine trees and thrives in the pine heaths of northern Sweden with lean, slightly acidic soils. It is well-camouflaged and requires a keen eye to spot.
“If you make an effort and look closely at the ground, you discover that there can be a great many mushrooms,” says Anders.
The Matsutake Premiere
When Anders first started picking matsutake, few people knew what it was. He ate it himself, served it to friends and family, and sometimes tried to trade the surplus. Now he wants more people to see the value in this raw ingredient.
Together with Helena Bredesen at Bryggarstugan and Klövsjö Gårdsbryggeri, Anders has composed a six-course meal. There, the matsutake is joined by local ingredients such as reindeer from Hede Kött & Chark, Arctic char from Börtnan, and beverages from Klövsjö Gårdsbryggeri.
For Anders, the premiere is about more than just a dinner. It is about looking at one’s own surroundings with new eyes and discovering that a raw ingredient highly sought after on the other side of the world also grows in the forests around Klövsjö.
Read more about the premiere here: https://www.matsutakepremiaren.se/
