Can we eat this and live?

I enjoy foraging for mushrooms back in New Zealand and didn't even occur to me to see any in Greenland but to my surprise I recognised two edible types of mushroom. I'm aware that what you know is edible in one country could be deadly in a foreign land. The puffballs were easy enough to be sure of and can't be confused with anything else.

However, I recognised what I thought as birch boletes, but the sizes of birch trees at home vs the miniature low lying bushes in Greenland are so different. Greenland is a harsh environment so everything needs to adapt. I was 95% sure but decided to only take photos of them. I don't ever want to put our lives in danger for the sake of a few mushrooms.

We went to a few more locations looking for qivuit stuck to bushes, wool off Musk oxen, as they graze on willow and birch bushes, and saw more potential birch boletes. I decided to pick them and confirm if they're truly what I thought they are with the locals. I sliced and laid them out on Teddy's deck to dry while we discovered the wonders of Scoresby sund. I asked a few Inuit when we stopped at Ittoqqortoormiit for supply, but they didn't know. I wasn't discouraged. Nick could take the dried mushrooms back to Ireland and confirm then.

However, we came across three scientists carrying out field work on Little auk (sea bird), and they have a book on Greenland fauna and flora. It says all boletes in Greenland are non toxic and good eating. That was all the confirmation I needed! The book also states that Greenlanders traditionally don't eat any wild mushrooms.

I made a pasta dish with Icelandic sour milk cheese, Skyr. A side salad of Mountain sorrel complimented our fully foraged vegetarian meal. Nick can now add edible mushrooms to his already wide repertoire of food to forage in Greenland in future trips.

Two massive ones found among low lying birch shrubs. Photo taken by Josh Scarrow.

                                           Birch bolete pasta with Mountain sorrel.

Our first sightseeing of a Musk ox. He was not happy that we snuck up on him from his slumber. The loose fur on his back in inner winter fur that the muskox sheds in the summer. This is called qiviut. It is one of the finest & warmest wools in the world. 

The painstaking task of picking bits of qiviut left behind by Musk oxen on Willow and Birch bushes.

We sometimes come across a huge patch of qiviut! Thank you, Musk ox!

 

Many happy hours picking this quantity of qiviut.