Seasonal dishes August-September

August

August is a harvest month. The sea yields Baltic herring and flounder, and hunters go out for duck. It's also the season to wander in the woods and fill baskets with forest mushrooms, including milk caps, horns of plenty, boletus and different varieties of chantarelle. By 'everyman's right', anybody can pick as many mushrooms and berries as they like. Finnish forests abound in edible mushrooms and excellent recipes are passed on from one generation to another. Red currant is getting ready in August and people make whipped berry puddings, especially in favour of children. Bilberry pies are also made of the first bilberries. Apples are very small by size in Finland and stop to grow in the region of Kuopio. In August is also made apple pies and all kind of desearts of apple.

September

In September, the forests are autumn coloured and you find in them red lingonberries and cranberries. Life in seaside market towns livens up for the fish markets. The stalls sell pickled and salted fish, fresh fish, bread and socks and mittens made of lamb's wool. Potatoes are at their best.