Denmark- wild (and tasty)

After four days in sunny Paris, we flew back to Jutland (mainland Denmark), and back to Lissy and Knud Erik's home (Simon's mom and her partner)
The autumn leaves were painting the ground orange and red.



The magic of a Danish forest.



It just so happened that while we were in Jutland, a friend from Port Townsend was visiting her friend who lives 20 minutes from Lissy! Leah invited us to join her, her friend Nanna and Nanna's daughter for some mushroom hunting. Having never gone mushroom hunting (and being very fond of mushrooms) I was quite excited at the idea.



Here we are atop a moss covered fairy hill with our mushroom bounty. So picturesque!



We hunted mainly for golden chantarelles. Nanna brought us to her secret place where she knew we would find them. (Some people are quite protective of their mushroom spots, and won't bring 'outsiders' along unless they are blindfolded. Luckily she didn't subject us to that, or I would have felt a bit like Gimli crossing through Lothlorien).
We also collected what she called trumpet chanterelles, but they look like they might be what is called yellow foot chanterelles. She was translating from Danish, and I don't know much about mushrooms, so...



In any case, they were all very scrumptious, especially the goldens.



Another bounty we encountered was the black elderberry. Also known as Sambucus Nigra, and in Danish, Hyldebaer (the 'y' is more like an oo sound). A lot of people harvest the berries and make Hyldebaer saft, a concentrated juice. Sambucus is an age-old folk remedy used for fighting sicknesses. There have been numerous clinical studies that prove the efficacy of it in fighting the flu and other viruses.

In the summer when the trees explode with white blossoms, people make Hyldeblomst (Elderflower) saft, which when made well, is like something the elves would have made (back to Lothlorien!). Truly magical.

Here I am being quite ambitious and climbing the not-too-sturdy elderberry tree to harvest the little purple gems.



Nanna's mom making Elderberry juice.



After getting back to Lissy's house, Django and I went on another harvesting journey down the road to pick more elderberries.



Getting ready to make my own concentrate.



Cooking the berries. Well, I overcooked the first batch, but made another and it came out quite well. I made more of a syrup concentrate that was a little too sweet but still lovely. We took to putting it on our oatmeal and Django would ask for "pink oatmeal" in the morning.



Nanna's mom was so lovely to send us home with a small bottle of her Elderflower concentrate which was truly the best I'd ever had.

I decanted these into wine bottles and took them to Copenhagen, then back to London with us. Tragically, an intern at LoMax records (our home in London) threw them out while cleaning the fridge when Django and I went to Brussels to meet up with Simon on his tour. He thought it was wine gone bad. Aarrgghhh! I almost cried, then I took it as an opportunity for unattachment (and a lesson in labeling!) There's always next year!

Django and I picking some pears.



Django having some fun on a zip line in Holstebro.





Just before Simon finished his Scandinavian tour, Lissy and Knud Erik took Django and I to a house they rented just outside of Copenhagen for the weekend. Simon's brother Jonas and his girlfriend came to visit.



Simon arrived on day two. Family portrait with squirmy naked boy.



Saying goodbye to Farmor and Knud Erik in Copenhagen.