True Icelandic lichen, also known as Cetraria Islandica (its botanical name), grows spontaneously in cold and mountainous areas, from North America to the Himalayas.
It is also present in the Alps; it grows on cliffs and on uncovered land.
The Icelandic lichen looks like a jagged bush up to 10 cm high, olive green on the top and whiter below, but it can also be light grey to dark brown.
It is distinguished from other similar lichens by its edges, that usually have brown and stiff lobes.
In the local dialect it is called lichena or lechena.

HISTORY
After being collected and cleaned, lichens are dried avoiding direct exposure to the sun.
Tradition requires Icelandic Lichen to be boiled for a long time, so that it loses its bitter taste, to be added to salads, seasoned with good oil, salt and pepper.
Obviously, there is no lack of personalised interpretations: accompanied with boiled potatoes or with thinly sliced ​​hard-boiled eggs or as an accompaniment to turnips, like ancient tradition suggests.

SEASONALITY
The best period to collect lichen is "between the two Madonnas", which means from the Assumption of the Virgin on 15th August to the Nativity of Mary on 8th September.

ANECDOTES
Icelanders have been collecting and eating lichen for centuries.
"It is forbidden to go to the territory of others to harvest the lichen": this is what the laws dictated, underlining its value. It can well be said that Icelandic lichen is one of the foods that made the survival of Icelanders possible over the centuries. In Iceland it is called "fletta".