Edith's Tips For Hunting Chanterelles
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There are several kinds of Chanterelles, but for this page, when we use the word Chanterelle in a recipe we are referring to either Yellow (C. formosus) or White Chanterelles (C. subalbidus). Either of these species can be used interchangeably for any recipe on this page.
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Chanterelles can fruit in the same spots for literally decades! So, it is extremely important to protect the secrecy of your spots. If a car drives by or a hiker passes near you while you are picking Chanterelles stop what you are doing, drop your bag, and hide. It sounds silly, but even one person at your spot (besides you) is too many. If you are picking at a spot you have to hike into, plan ahead, have a large pack, and hide your mushrooms while hiking out. When you are loading your car, hide your mushrooms. Don’t leave buckets of mushrooms sitting out
around the parking lot or side of the road. You don’t want to have to lie to people, so just avoid detection and questions! Otherwise, when you come back next season, the big stash you just harvested might be picked out from under you. Protect future harvests by covering your tracks and always replace any divits you create by digging the mushrooms out of the ground. Leave no trace and no evidence of your activities.
Having said that, it seems obvious that when looking for Chanterelles, you should look for people carrying buckets out in the woods or, better yet, baskets. An old couple walking out of the woods with baskets is an almost sure sign you are in the right spot. Look in the late Summer and into the Fall, but try and get the mushrooms before they freeze. Chanterelles don’t freeze well, unless they are cooked first.
Look in mature, second growth forests. Don’t look around ferns and don’t look in areas where the forest floor is covered with barren duff and few plants. Where there is a diversity of plants, there will also be a diversity of fungus. If you are looking for White Chanterelles, look around White Pines and Firs. Look for Chanterelles around Salal, berries, mosses, vine maples, and stumps. Although they do not grow right out of the stumps, rotten stumps can hold a lot of water and feed fungi diversity.
Look in mature, second growth forests. Don’t look around ferns and don’t look in areas where the forest floor is covered with barren duff and few plants. Where there is a diversity of plants, there will also be a diversity of fungus. If you are looking for White Chanterelles, look around White Pines and Firs. Look for Chanterelles around Salal, berries, mosses, vine maples, and stumps. Although they do not grow right out of the stumps, rotten stumps can hold a lot of water and feed fungi diversity.
For a great book on Chanterelles Click HERE
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