Mushrooms and New Olive Oil: When the Forest and the Olive Grove Sit at the Same Table
There are days when the land brings everything together at once.
The olive mills are open and the new olive oil has just been produced — green, peppery, with that fresh-grass flavour that will be gone by March. And in the pine and oak forests surrounding the olive groves, on the damp ground after the first autumn rains, mushrooms appear as they always do: without warning, on a morning that seemed just like any other.
In November, Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro experience two harvests at the same time. One in the olive groves. The other in the forest. And both end up on the same table.
November's forest is anything but silent
There is a common misconception about autumn in Portugal's inland regions: that it is a season of retreat, when the land stands still. It isn't. In November, the olive groves of Trás-os-Montes are at their busiest — the olive harvest is underway, the mills are working day and night, and producers have their hands full. Meanwhile, the forest is carrying out its own harvest, quietly and in its own time. One that those who don't know where to look will never find.
Wild mushrooms grow along the edges — where pine trees meet oak trees, where the soil holds the moisture from recent rainfall, where temperatures have dropped but the ground has not yet frozen. They are fleeting. They may be there for two or three days, and then they're gone. Those who know them know where to look. Those who don't soon learn that some things simply don't show up on a map.
What grows here, exactly?
Among the most appreciated species during this season and in this region are saffron milk caps (Lactarius deliciosus), porcini mushrooms (Boletus edulis) and parasol mushrooms (Macrolepiota procera). In good years, horn of plenty mushrooms (Craterellus cornucopioides) also appear, with their intense, fragrant flavour. None of these species should be taken lightly: accurate identification by someone with the right knowledge is an essential part of the experience and should never be overlooked.
New olive oil and mushrooms: a combination that makes sense
This isn't a food trend. It's a natural consequence of the seasonal calendar of this region.
New olive oil from Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro reaches the mills between October and December, with an early-harvest profile, when polyphenol levels are at their peak and the peppery sensation is still intense. This is an olive oil that doesn't overpower the flavours it meets: it brings them out. And mushrooms, with their earthy, smoky, sometimes almost metallic aromas, pair beautifully with an olive oil that has a personality of its own.
A drizzle of new olive oil over mushrooms sautéed with garlic and parsley isn't a chef's creation. It's what people in Trás-os-Montes make when both ingredients are in the fridge at the same time — and that time is now.
From forest to table: a tradition in Trás-os-Montes gastronomy
Traditional cuisine in Trás-os-Montes has never needed to invent this combination. For generations, mushrooms have featured in stone soups, rice dishes with linguiça sausage and wild boar, and slow-cooked oven dishes prepared while the fireplace burns. Olive oil was the thread connecting it all — not as a chef's finishing touch, but as a fundamental ingredient, part of the very structure of the dish.
What changes when new olive oil from this region is used during this particular month is the intensity. The same dish takes on a completely different character from any version prepared at other times of the year.
An event that takes local produce seriously
On 20, 21 and 22 November, in Sendim da Serra, within the municipality of Alfândega da Fé, the 2nd Sendim da Serra Mycological Festival takes place — an event returning for its second edition with the seriousness of those who understand that mushrooms are not a niche interest: they are part of the land.
The programme includes guided mushroom-foraging walks led by mycology professionals, workshops, live cooking demonstrations — on Saturday, with Chef Luís Martins from Restaurante Baraço — a new olive oil tasting at midday on Saturday, a traditional chestnut-roasting gathering (magusto), a mushroom tasting around the bonfire, and a “Tribute to the Women Chefs of Our Land”, featuring the winners of the RTP1 television programme. On Sunday, the themed lunch features mushroom feijoada with traditional cured sausages and grilled meat.
Admission is free. For further information, contact the Sendim da Serra Parish Council: 934 748 358 / 919 654 577 — or by email at uniaofreguesiasfs@gmail.com.
You don't need to be a mycology expert to attend. You simply need to be curious about what this land produces when nobody is watching.
What November's table has to teach us
There is something that the gastronomy of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro does particularly well, yet rarely brings together in words: it uses what is available, when it is available, without hierarchy. The mushroom picked this morning is just as valuable as the cut of meat stored in the cellar. The new olive oil that arrived from the mill yesterday is treated with the same care as a vintage wine.
This is a cuisine shaped by the land — not in the sense of a museum, but in the sense that the land itself determines what ends up on the table. And in November, what's on the table is precisely this: forest and olive grove, side by side, without the need for further explanation.
Make it part of your visit to the region
Alfândega da Fé lies south of Macedo de Cavaleiros, between the Serra de Bornes mountains and the Vilariça Valley, right in the heart of Trás-os-Montes. A weekend combining the Mycological Festival with a visit to an olive oil producer from the network — to taste new olive oil directly at the farm, before it even reaches the market — is a weekend spent experiencing the land as it truly is at this time of year, without forcing anything.
Discover the experiences and producers in our network at azeiteanorte.pt/produtores and azeiteanorte.pt/experiencia. If you would like some guidance, get in touch at info@azeiteanorte.com.
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“The olive oil of Trás-os-Montes doesn't need explaining. It needs tasting.”
Sources:
Sendim da Serra Mycological Festival '26 — official event poster, Sendim da Serra Parish Council / Alfândega da Fé Municipal Council
Autumn wild mushroom species in Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro: Portuguese Mycological Society / field literature
New olive oil phenology and polyphenols: INIAV — National Institute for Agrarian and Veterinary Research: iniav.pt
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