Chanterelle Mushroom Hunting With Savannah

Fall is my favorite time of the year and it's all the more exciting because it is also mushroom season! Since taking a year of mycology in college, it has become one of my favorite hobbies to hike through the forest and admire and collect all these unique organisms. I am mainly on the hunt for medicinal mushrooms and choice edibles. I suggest buying a mushroom identification guide such as Mushrooms Demystified by Aurora, and familiarize yourself with identification terms so that you can use the keys.

Recently I went to one of my favorite golden chanterelle spots in the Evergreen Forest in Olympia, Washington. Golden chanterelles or Cantharellus formosus is found from British Columbia to Northern California under hemlock, doug fir, or spruce. The cap is a brightly colored orange-yellow and has a central depression or indent. The underside has decurrent gills, meaning gills that trail down the stipe (the stem), which should be a very light, peachy-pink color. The stipe should narrow to the base and be the same golden-orange-yellow color as the cap.

There is also another species, Cantharellus subalbidus that should be identical in all characteristics except that it is white. Chanterelles are relatively easy to identify but beware of a lookalike species, Gomphus floccosus that has a slimy, scaly cap and is generally a darker orange-brown. It is always good to bring along someone who has experience identifying mushrooms or do research on whatever you find before eating any mushroom.

As for chanterelles, they are excellent when sauteed with butter and garlic and added to a simple pasta. I have also had them on pizza with spinach which was delicious.

#herbalism #cooking