Porcini Polenta Blend from Wineforest Wild Foods

Organic Polenta + Rich Porcini = Luscious Comfort Food

Organic yellow cornmeal, dried California porcini mushrooms and a blend of herbs and spices are packaged for your convenience in Wineforest Wild Foods' Porcini Polenta Blend. Keep a container in your pantry for a quick and easy side dish or for a main course of comfort food. This creamy organic polenta blend goes well with roasted meats, grilled vegetables or topped with tomato sauce. Get creative and substitute traditional Parmigiano-Reggiano for blue cheese or cheddar, or fold in other ingredients once cooked, such as sautéed kale. Use leftovers to create fun appetizers: Spread leftover polenta evenly in a baking sheet and refrigerate until firm. Next cut into polenta into small triangles, top with meat ragù or cheese, and then broil until cheese is melted.

The porcini mushroom is a staple—both in its fresh and dried state--in many cuisines from all over the world.  In California, we are lucky enough to have two fruiting seasons for these bulbous mushrooms, the first in May and June, and the second in late-November through December.

About the Producer: In 1979, Connie Green, founder of Wineforest Wild Foods, walked into one of the most well-known kitchens in the Bay Area and presented the chef with pristine chanterelle mushrooms that she had just foraged herself. This famous chef was convinced that mushrooms like that only came from Europe, and although Connie’s gorgeous fungi didn’t excite this chef, they didn’t go unnoticed. She says she owes quite a bit of her success to the dishwashers working in that and other restaurants. Many of the mushrooms that she was foraging were also native to the mountains of Mexico, and these dishwashers knew the value of her harvest of chanterelles, morels and porcini.  It was with their help that her mushrooms started to capture the attention of chefs. Almost 35 years later, Connie’s mushrooms are being served in some of California’s finest restaurants from The French Laundry in Yountville, to The Slanted Door and Gary Danko in San Francisco.