Living in Estonia: local produce

Estonia is up North and therefore it does not offer a wide variety of local produce. However, the large amount of space per capita allows many people to grow large quantities of vegetables and fruit, and the wilderness offers even more on its own. You just have to pick them.


Berries

During summer, berries are everywhere in forests and you can find myriads of them. I would try to put them in the order I think you find them, from July until September: strawberries (really tiny, but super tasty), raspberries, cloudberries (probably the most rare), black and red currents (although these are in gardens), blueberries, cowberries, blackberries. There are also some other varieties, but I need to rely on Katri to distinguish those you can eat from those you should not...

Of course, all of them can be grown in a garden, but it is so much fun to pick them along a hiking route.

Red current from the garden in South Estonia: it was not a very good year, but  this will make good juice or jam

The most common berry is the blueberry, called myrtille in French and mustikas in Estonian (I find this name very funny, because you do have to fight with mosquitos - moustiques in French - when you pick them in the forest). It is hard work to pick them, not only because of insects, but because it feels like a never ending task to fill your bucket with this tiny balls... but they are so tasty!

Katri even went for a day trip with friends to specifically pick blueberries for jam. And the result was great: she made 7 jars of jam. 

Once in a mood for jam making, she also bought nectarines from the supermarket and made another 6 jams. 

Katri's magic trio of homemade jam: blueberries, nectarines and zucchini

In Saaremaa, the land of juniper, you can also pick the berries from this small tree. Juniper berries are  dark, small and hard, and can be used as a spice, as a substitute for pepper.

Apples

The most common fruit now in September is the apple. Estonian apples are small and tasty, and are for sale for less than one euro per kilogram. Actually, you don't need to buy them. There are apple trees a bit everywhere around, even in town. We have one apple tree in our property and there are a few along the streets nearby. You just go for a walk and pick those which are ready. Sometimes, there are evidences that the apple trees have been planted and that you are actually on former agricultural land.

Pick and eat apples as you go. Here, on the cliffs of the Paldiski peninsula. 

Mushrooms

As I said in another post, mushroom picking is one of the favourite activities of Estonians at the end of the summer. You never fail to meet people with full buckets along roads and on Sunday afternoon at the train station. Everyone has its favourite spot and locals are not keen on sharing it with others.

The yellow girolles are the first to appear in July and the easiest to process: you only need to brush them softly to get rid of the dirt around. Moreover, they are among the most tasty and, surprisingly, they do not seem to attract worms. They are excellent when cooked in a pan with butter and onion. You can then serve them with sour cream or with cooked grains (buckwheat, for example).

Our catch of girolles in South Estonia

A bit later in the season, you can go and look for the all sorts of mushrooms. Especially, the boletus, including the famous and appreciated porcini. Estonian forests are often home to many, many sorts of mushrooms, and it can be very confusing for the novice. There are mobile apps now that can be used to identify mushrooms, in order to avoid toxic ones (some of them are mortal) and pick the tastier ones.

We picked some 3-4 different families during a 2 hour walk in Saaremaa. Just to make sure, we boiled the mushrooms to eliminate any potential toxicity. Funnily, they shrink quite a lot. 

Our Saaremaa forest mushrooms after cleaning and boiling (to get rid of any potential toxicity): now they are ready to be cooked

Katri asked me to prepare a mushroom risotto with it, while she was on a business trip abroad. So, I looked up for a recipe from an Italian webiste and prepared my first completely own-made mushroom risotto (well, I didn't grow the rice myself). You can see for yourself how it looks like. As for the taste, you will have to trust me: it was delicious!

My mushroom risotto is getting ready... 

Vegetables

Most people here, at least outside town, own a garden and grow some vegetables. Katri's brother has brought us quite a few cucumbers and some huge zucchini. We ate some of them and with the excess we made an experimental jam which turned out to be delicious. I never thought it was possible to make jam out of zucchini, and I am sure you would never guess what it is made of if you taste it... to me, it feels like a citrus mix. Oh, and since he also cares for a few bee hives, we also received honey. I think I have all I need to enlighten my breakfast...


Fish

Obviously, fish could not be forgotten in this list. Fish in the baltic sea is often small, but there is quite a good variety: haring, flounder, eel, ... And then is fresh water fish. Last weekend, we went for the first time to the Saturday morning fish market of Tallinn and we decided to visit it more often.

The Saturday morning fish market in Tallinn. 

What I miss here

Although everything is connected today and you can find a lot of imported products, I have to say that the selection of cheese here is rather poor. Actually, I took the habit of visiting the cheese section of every supermarket or market I step in for the first time. I am always disappointed. You may find some French or Italian cheese, but often at outrageous prices, and the selection rather short. So, we are taking every opportunity of travels abroad to bring back cheese... and you, reader, are welcome to bring cheese if you visit us!