The digueñes, the mushrooms of Patagonia…

The small orange balls that can be seen in clusters on the branches of trees from November to early January are parasitic fungi: dykes. They grow exclusively on Nosthofagus. Outside the season, the trees show characteristic deformations on the branches or trunk.

They are edible and must be picked when they are relatively firm with closed ports. When opening them, check that they are not worm-eaten.

Here are two traditional recipes:

Salad of digueñes

Coriander, oil, salt, 1/2 onion, a few leaves of lettuce (or dandelion), 20 digueñes: cut the digueñes and the onion into rings, wash the lettuce and mix it all together.

Digueñes garlic sautés

20 digueñes, 2 cloves of garlic, oil, salt, pepper. Cut the dykes into quarters, sauté them in oil with the crushed garlic, salt and chilli pepper to taste, leave to cook for 5 minutes. Eat with mashed potatoes.