Reindeer lichen ✦

Lichen des rennes

What it is

It is not a plant but a fungus farming an alga, and it grows only a few millimetres a year, so a handful lifted off the heath is older than the cook holding it. Northern kitchens long took it pre-digested, scraped from the stomach of the reindeer that had grazed it.

In the kitchen

Soak it through three changes of water with a pinch of bicarbonate to leach the acids, dry it completely, then fry at 180°C for about ten seconds. Untreated it is bitter and hard on the stomach; damp, it will never crisp.

Goes with

Reindeer Button mushroom Cream Butter Egg Scallop

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