Lapland regional tasting plate

Lapland regional tasting plate is a combination of the unique regional specific ingredients, that have evolved over a long time, they now live and grow there in that natural Nordic Arctic environment.
To present some of those ingredients on a single serving plate, that could be called, a Lapland region tasting plate. The purpose of that is to showcase some of the unique regional ingredients.

The proximity of the Arctic/Polar region/environment has shaped and influenced the environment for so long in the past history.

lapland reindeer — Lapland Reindeer.Copy@All RIghts Reserved.2009.

There has been major changes in the last 10,000 years in Lapland, and as the global climate temperatures went through changes, also the flora and fauna of Lapland went through many changes. One of them was that during the warm period after the ice age, the most predominant trees in Lapland were birch trees and very few pine trees. The reverse is true today, there are very few birch trees, most common trees are pine trees and the Tundra areas are above the tree line, therefore no trees at all.

The landscape in the Nordic region of Lapland would have looked very different around 8000 years ago than what it looks like today.

Lichen grows in the Nordic region, it is a major part of the reindeer died. Lichen that grows on the trees requires clean air, a pollution free environment. Where lichen used to grow on the tree branches in south Finland, it is no longer found there due to the increased urban population and motor vehicle traffic that pollutes the natural clean air.

There is a lot of Natural Nordic Nutrition in the Lapland region tasting plate.

I have selected some of the unique ingredients and products and made it into a regional Lapland regional tasting plate, to showcase the unique ingredients of Lapland.
There are a variety of mushrooms like the milk-caps and Ceps. Picking mushrooms in the wild requires an experienced guide, to point out the edible mushrooms from the toxic/poison ones. Inexperienced/tourists to the natural Nordic region environment sometimes pick mushrooms that appear to be harmless, e.g. white mushrooms (Amanita virosa), but they are extremely toxic. The toxins stop the kidney from functioning, which often leads to death in a matter of days. Then there are also brown colored mushrooms like the: Paxillus involutus, they are also toxic. And the common red colored mushroom with its white dots: Amanita muscaria, that too is a toxic mushroom.

The color of a mushroom can be really misleading, especially when traveling from one region of the world to another. A white colored mushroom can be safe in one region of the world, and at another, it can be extremely toxic. Mushrooms are usually identified by 3-4 identity characteristics: Shape, color, texture (on top and under the cap), stem, and also the scent of the mushroom. Some mushrooms can be eaten after blanching them and rinsing out the toxins, but there are also mushrooms that by blanching/boiling them, the toxins remain in the mushroom, therefore inedible e.g. the Amanita virosa.

Learning to identify the mushrooms of the Nordic regions and of Lapland is critical.

Mushroom identification can be learned, it is a logical process, requires a sharp eye, and patience, to follow scientific facts that are currently known about certain types of mushrooms. Just like learning the meaning of symbols in written instructions, mushrooms also have details that reveal their identity. Reindeer’s love to eat mushroom during the autumn season when mushrooms are plentiful, in fact, they indulge in eating mushrooms to fatten themselves up for the long cold winter months ahead, mushrooms are a real delicacy for the Reindeer’s in the Nordic region of Lapland.