Forest cuisine brings the forest directly to your plate: local ingredients from nature can be used to create autumnal dishes that reflect the full flavour of the forest. Discover forest cuisine recipes that combine sustainability, local produce and aromatic flavours, as well as matching decoration ideas inspired by the forest.
Exploring the forest: forest cuisine
Not the kitchen in the forest, but the forest in the kitchen! We recently dedicated our blog to 'sustainable, plant-based autumn cuisine' with autumnal dishes. The theme of 'forest cuisine' is very similar. Forest cuisine combines sustainable and regional ingredients from the forest with the diversity and creativity of modern gastronomy. It taps into many current trends such as sustainability, health, closeness to nature, seasonality and regionality. The focus is on the wild, the original and the natural, with which many restaurateurs identify more than ever. Fresh wild herbs, tasty game, mushrooms and berries form the basis of a creative and natural cuisine.
From the wild to the plate: sustainable cuisine
Forest cuisine is a voyage of discovery to the treasures of nature. The idea behind it is simple: ingredients such as wild herbs, mushrooms and berries from the forest are collected directly from nature and processed into dishes in the most natural way possible, without any detours or packaging.
Simply pick, refine and enjoy the intense, natural flavour on your tongue! Gastronomes and food lovers are welcome to indulge their passion for foraging, but please don't overdo it!
According to the ‘a handful rule’, flowers, plants and wild herbs can be picked for personal use - that's enough for decoration - but caterers are better off leaving the rest to their suppliers who specialise in fresh ingredients from the forest.
Let's move on to wild herbs: herbs such as stinging nettle or spruce shoots not only bring unusual flavours to the table, but also valuable nutrients. Fresh nettles are ideal for salads and soups, and dried nettles can be made into a tea with medicinal properties.
In addition to their flavour, nettles provide a wealth of vitamins and minerals that make this cuisine so sustainable and healthy. If you look carefully when walking through the woods in spring, you will come across 'May tops' - the young shoots or sprouts from spruce or fir trees. These can be made into a pesto and are ideal as a snack between meals. Fresh spruce shoots have a slightly sour, refreshing taste and are even thirst-quenching. They can be kept frozen all year round. The syrup known in Germany as 'Maiwipferl syrup' is an antibacterial and cough-relieving syrup.
Wild mushrooms in creative dishes
You can still go mushroom picking well into November. Thanks to their varied flavours and fascinating textures, native wild mushrooms such as porcini, parasol and (true) chanterelle are among the most popular edible mushrooms in Germany. They taste great in vegetarian dishes such as a creamy wild mushroom risotto. Watch the video of our food stylist Monika Schuster to learn how to prepare and serve wild mushroom risotto:
The NATURE INFUSED collection with the 'TRUST' decor provides the ideal tabletop presentation for mushroom dishes, as the design of the crockery perfectly matches the natural aesthetics of the ingredients. A special mushroom delicacy is the Cauliflower Mushroom (Sparassis crispa). This mushroom is very particular about its habitat and can only be found in pine, spruce and fir forests. It is served with baguette, pasta or bread dumplings.
If the mushrooms are served with meat in the forest cuisine, venison is a good choice. Not only is it low in fat and rich in minerals, but it also has a pleasantly firm texture. If it comes directly from the hunter's territory, you know where the red deer, fallow deer, wild boar or venison came from. In the kitchen, game can be paired with mushrooms and other forest plants such as blackberries, cranberries, and wild herbs. One such delicious dish is a fine roasted saddle of venison with porcini mushrooms, cranberries, and juniper berries, served appetisingly on a Coup plate from the Scandinavian-inspired SCANDIC porcelain collection or on DELIGHT or FINE DINING from SCHÖNWALD.
Refinement with wild herbs, edible flowers, ferns & co.
The forest provides not only ingredients but also decorative elements: small and large fir cones, leaves, branches and moss bring the forest theme to the table in all its charming splendour. The Wood Grain pattern on the plates is designed to resemble the texture of a tree trunk.
Flowers and ferns, such as ostrich ferns, are often used as edible garnishes in fine dining. The dandelion is also a versatile decoration in the forest cuisine: The yellow flowers can be made into a honey-like syrup that adds a touch of sweetness to dishes. Young dandelion leaves can be used in salads, while the root makes an interesting side dish when cooked. And wild berries in their natural form make any dessert a star. For more tips on how to use flowers and blossoms creatively on the plate, check out our blog post 'Flower power – using flowers and blossoms skillfully’.
Forest cuisine, therefore, offers many exciting applications and innovative approaches for creative dishes and decorations. With every forest cuisine dish, you can taste the 'essence' of the forest, the connection and return to the roots of our local, regional nature - and at the same time make a conscious statement for a fresh and sustainable food culture.
Try the recipes, get creative and put the forest on your plate!
