Nature's Hidden Harvest

Clutching a bovine bolete deep inside a pine forest, Ryan Enslin discovers nature's bounty as he unearths her hidden gems and edible treasures

- RYAN ENSLIN

On an early autumnal morning in Cape Town, I find myself roaming the backslope of Table Mountain, one of a party of three. Deep in the forest ahead, I hear Chef Chris Erasmus enthusiastically proclaim a find. Pausing for the briefest of moments, I up my pace and follow in the general direction of his excitement. Climbing over a decaying branch in the mushy forest undergrowth, I offer up a plea, silently imploring that this branch not be home to one of the 22 species of snakes to be found on the mountain.

As I approach Chef Chris and Chef Milda Deale, the third member of our party, I catch the phrase 'Lactarius deliciosus', which I subsequently learn translates to pine ring mushrooms. Chris kneels to gently extract a specimen from the forest floor using a knife, explaining that pine rings are edible mushrooms most often identified by their orange and green cap. But it's the delicate circles that entice my photographer's eye as I fire off a few frames of the fungi. The three of us are on a foraging foray, seeking out mushrooms that Milda will later use to create some rather interesting dishes. But it all depends on what we find.

Chris is well known as a great forager and is somewhat fanatical about using ultra-local ingredients in his culinary creations, which speaks to my soul. He honed his philosophy and opened his restaurant, Foliage, Franschhoek, in 2014. That was off the back of work experience in kitchens worldwide, including the US, Brazil, Amsterdam, Salzburg and as head chef at Pierneef at La Motte. Sadly, Covid claimed Foliage, and today, Chris continues to pour out his culinary passions as the group head chef at Newmark Hotels & Reserves, as he guides and shares his incredible knowledge with head chefs at each of their properties.