Chanterellicious Part 1 - Identification and Collection

Alright guys so the next few posts will be a mini series following everyone's favorite common wild mushroom, the Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius)! Today's post will cover chanterelle identification and habitat while the next few posts will cover preparation, storage, and recipes.

So let’s just get right into it. Here is a chanterelle:

Things to take note of are the peachy orange colours (although white chanterelles are also common in the pacific northwest) the wavy margins of the cap and the thick fold-like, forked gills which run down the stipe (stem). Other mushrooms can have forked gills but the blunt fold like quality of the gills is specific to members of the chanterelle family.  The smell is also a good ID characteristic, it should smell fruity and earthy. Many people describe the smell as apricot like.

This next picture is a white chanterelle(Cantharellus subalbidus), also edible and delicious. I find white chanterelles tend to be a bit larger and thicker then the normal orange chanterelles. This picture, while not the best photograph does show the blunt fold like gills.

This next picture is also a species from the chanterelle family, the Scaly chanterelle (Gomphus floccosus). This species causes gastrointestical distress but will not kill you or cause any permanent damage. It is very easy to tell apart from the normal chanterelle.

The most distinctive characteristic of this mushroom is its scaly bright orange cap. A true chanterelle can have the occasional scale on its cap, but not many. The Scaly chanterelle is usually bright orange on top and off-white underneath, whereas your normal chanterelle is more uniformly coloured. The Scaly chanterelle is also usually larger and firmer than the true chanterelle. It is funnel shaped with a dip in the centre of the cap and a less wavy margin. The mushrooms on either side of my hand are also smaller Scaly chanterelles.

Here is another troublesome look-a-like. This is the aptly named false chanterelle. The first time I came upon one of these I thought it was some sort of weird chanterelle looking mushroom but definitely not the same species. It is easy to tell that it is not a chanterelle because while its gills can be forked it has true, blade like gills. I find this mushroom is also daintier then the true chanterelle.

When combing the forest it is easy to go after one of these thinking you have struck chanterelle gold, only to be disappointed when you flip over the cap and find true gills, not blunt folds staring you down. This mushroom is often found growing on dead wood or soil rich in decaying wood, whereas a  true Chanterelles only grows on the ground where they form mycorrhizal (symbiotic) connections with nearby trees.

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hygrophoropsis_aurantiaca.jpg

This photo is not one of mine, but I felt it necessary to show a better image of the blade like gills this mushroom has (my photo was too blurry). You may also notice the stipe is usually thinner and the gills don’t run as far down the stipe. These mushrooms will also cause gastrointestinal distress but will not kill you or cause permanent damage.

So let’s get into habitat. Now I have heard you can find chanterelles growing just about anywhere there are trees it can form a relationship with, but in my experience I have found they like a very specific (but luckily common) habitat here in the Pacific Northwest.  I usually find chanterelles growing beneath evergreen (commonly Douglas fir) trees with mossy forest floors and usually near or directly under Salal bushes. The best habitats are in open forestland but this is more for your benefit then the mushroom’s. I have found Chanterelles growing in huge Salal thickets, but who really wants to gather them out of such thick (usually wet) places. Here they are growing in the perfect habitat, open mossy forest under salal and douglas fir trees.

 

 

The white chanterelle can be a little more tricky as it likes to hide under the moss. Usually all you see is a little dot of white poking up through the moss.

If you gently pull back the moss often you will find a lot more then you bargained for. I have found up to 20 white chanterelles from a single easy to miss white spot poking up through the moss. Just be sure if you use this technique to place the moss back as you found it and give it a little push to cement it back to the forest floor.  

This patch yielded about 10 chanterelles, although I forgot to take a picture after harvesting them all.

 

Two things to be aware of before we finish here is that if you decide to go chanterelle hunting please note that chanterelles will often bloom in the same spot year after year, so once you have found a patch remember where it is and you could be eating well for years to come. Secondly if you cut instead of pull chanterelles when you harvest them then you can come back to the same spot multiple times in a season to re-harvest. Once the base of the stipe (where it gets fuzzy with bits of debris growing into it) is pulled from the ground that mushroom will not regrow until the next year so I would recommend always cutting, even if you have no plans to revisit a site, as a common courtesy to your fellow mushroom hunters.

In closing I would like to remind everyone to be careful when gathering wild mushrooms, while most mushrooms will do no more then give you a stomach-ache some can kill you and therefore you should always double check your harvest with an expert before consuming it.

Until next time! Happy Hunting

- Katy