Any special shop you know of in canton ZH which has them? (with normal mushroom prices, not gold prices )
I’ve been looking for portobello mushrooms everywhere around Zürich but can’t find any outside of the waaay overpriced Jelmoli. Portobello is so common where I come from and cheap too, I wonder why it’s absent here.
I've bought them in Migros, Aldi and Lidl so far this summer. Not been food shopping for almost 2 weeks, so I can't say exactly where has them at the moment.
Do you have a Zurich Mushroom salary or a where i come from salary ?
Good question. I do not know why nearly allmost only the small Champions bulbs are sold but very seldom the big grown Portobello umbrellas.
Does not look like that any of the mushroom farmers let them grow to full size:
Define "normal price"
The only place I regularly find portobello mushrooms in Zurich is Jemoli - not exactly a cost effective option but in a pinch, they usually stock them.
The Mushroom guy at Oerlikon market, Saturday mornings, but it works out at about 4 CHF per mushroom I gave it a miss. I have found some largish brown mushrooms in COOP a few times, OK for BBQs filled with cream cheese etc. Its strange because I did see them one year at the slow food market being grown by a guy who grows for restaurants in Zürich, I asked where I could get them but he shrugged and said in the restaurant he sold them to.
Because it's a fancy name for a cheap, overgrown, tasteless mushroom.
Steinpilz are much better.
Tom
So OP, you've read it here first. If something is not readily available here it's because it's not up to the high standard required by the Swiss consumer.
Actually, the texture of steinpilz (porcini) is very different. It depends on the intended use of the mushroom.
To the OP - do you know that cremini (those ubiquitous brown mushrooms) are pretty much the same as portobello, just smaller.
If you can deal with the size, just buy the cremini.
Not 'pretty much', but rather 'exactly the same'.
"Agaricus bisporus is an edible basidiomycete mushroom native to grasslands in Europe and North America. It has two color states while immature—white and brown—both of which have various names. When mature, it is known as portobello mushroom.
When immature and white, this mushroom may be known as common mushroom, button mushroom, cultivated mushroom, table mushroom, and champignon mushroom. When immature and brown, it may be known variously as Swiss brown mushroom, Roman brown mushroom, Italian brown mushroom, or chestnut mushroom. "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agaricus_bisporus
Tom
Had to google the subject first.
As Tom said (and actually asitus already mentioned) they're the same thing, portobellos are just older/longer grown.
I did buy the big ones in Migros and Coop but they seldom have them.
In fact, all we ever seem to get here are the (I find them boring too) cremini and when in season chanterelles.
And yes, it probably has to do with demand.
Do you know what they call bog standard brown cremini mushrooms in the US? Baby portobellos. I kid you not. And they charge 2x more for them. OP, they are in every grocery store, piled up, next to the white champignons de Paris. You will impress your friends on Instagram with the abondance of "baby portobellos" that you can afford in Switzerland.
And there is only one consumer with an opinion worth reading.
They are not tasteless as such but like all mushrooms are livened up sautéed with some garlic and a squeeze of lemon juice and some chopped parsley. I like the texture of them sliced, and of course stuffed with some stilton and bacon.
Steinpilz/Boletus/Ceps are a nice fungi, but they have a very particular taste that defines any dish they are in, in the same way truffle is pungent and overpowering. If I am cooking wild mushrooms I try to avoid adding ceps and morels to any dish as they become the dominant flavour.
Guess that's why OP is searching the large ones. The ones we generally get are tedious to stuff
To be honest, the cremini I just eat raw.
They've been stocking them at the veg shop in the Viadukt market for a couple of weeks. For me they are best thickly sliced and pan fried (very hot) in butter, they caramelise and crisp up beautifully and then have a wonderful flavour. I used to like baking them with pepper and nutmeg but I always found they went too soggy.
Marketing 101.
Wrong color? Charge 2x.
Wrong color, old and woody? Charge 10x!
Tom
That's logic.
As the customer will never return, you better make the most of that one chance