Foraging for mushrooms took a back seat this year. Between my unstable hip, the abundance of ticks and mosquitos and the thought of wandering alone while mostly deaf in the woods, I didn’t think it would be the wisest of ideas. Instead I’ve been longingly looking at the wild mushroom displays in the market with their insane prices…..

….until I couldn’t stand it anymore. I was sad to have missed the first wave of spring mushrooms popping up and thought just maybe I didn’t have to miss it all.

Okay, I was brave/foolish. Suddenly unable to resist the call, I grabbed my walking stick and hiked up a hill that was criss-crossed by rivulets of running water and strewn with fallen branches. Then down a steep slope slick with moss and rocky outcrops, grabbing on to tree trunks on the way down, all the while navigating my wonky, not-quite-better-yet titanium hip while chanting he mantra “It’s okay as long as you don’t fall” repeatedly in my head. All this on a quest to gather “Chants”. That’s Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius) mushrooms. Because it is time.

According to many in this area, it was shaping up to be a pretty good year for them, so I assumed they would also make a nice showing in my special “spots” where they had previously flushed (although some years did not produce.) But when I got to my Secret Places (you are supposed to keep your place Secret, as many foragers who have shared their locations have sadly learned. I sure did), it appeared the Chanterelles had relocated a bit. Luckily they weren’t picked over by anyone, instead having actually popped up in new areas – still in the vicinity, but perhaps conditions causing the mycelium to favor different soil and weather conditions had sent them off to alternative grounds amidst the leaf litter.

It’s such a happy pop of color and such a good feeling when you see them, little glowing earth-flower suns with a faint, apricot-like aroma.

All told, from locations in two different towns I gathered about five pounds of insect-free Chants (save a slug or two) without falling or encountering a bear, and before the mosquitos did me in. While not a huge haul compared to past prolific times, it certainly was enough to share with a few friends and neighbors and still plenty to enjoy and experiment with.

I started off by heating some up in a dry in a skillet to evaporate excess liquid.

A few were sautéed in a little olive oil, a pinch of garlic powder, salt, pepper, tarragon, and tossed with leftover penne for a quick and easy lunch.

The next night it was polenta e finferli dusted with parmesan and a side of crispy kale. I served it with tomato-basil sauce, but for myself I prefer it without. Polenta gives me some serious throwback childhood vibes (comfort food) but also a nice recollection of once upon a time in northern Italy.

Some were blended into Chanterelle pesto, to be tossed over pasta or spread on crackers or bread.

In poring through one of the many mushroom recipe books on my bookshelf, I came across one for Candied Chanterelle. These were sweetened with the addition of orange rind and a cinnamon stick.

They tasted okay but the chewy texture didn’t do much for me. The excess sweetened liquid was poured off and used over French toast. The chewy Chants were then pureed to a consistency of a jam or butter to make a sweet Chanterelle spread over sourdough bread.

They have also been great cooked up and tossed over scrambled eggs. There are a few left, which would be good in risotto, should I be so inclined to stand stirring at the stove. I’m not sure if that will happen.

Even though my mission was finding golden Chanterelles, there were other fun things in the woods to see, like the appearance of a few tiny Cinnabar Chanterelles (Cantharellus cinnabarinus) amidst a rock outcropping.

Their bright colors and diminutive size remind me of Eastern newts when they are in their red eft stage, sort of a fungi/amphibian counterpart. The red eft of mushrooms!

Usually I have managed to gather a good amount of Black Trumpets (Craterellus cornucopioides), but this year my spot did not produce – at least not on the day I was there.

I found enough to throw in an omelet along with a handful of the cinnebars.

There was one Old Man of the Woods (Craterellus cornucopioides), which is an edible Bolete. Although I love the fun look of the scaly, giraffe like pattern on the cap, it’s not one of my favorites to eat, so I took a photo and left it.

I entertained myself for a few moments by poking some aging puffballs (Lycoperdon) with my hiking stick to make clouds of spores poof out into the air.

While there were no bear encounters, there were some big piles of bear scat in the vicinity (I won’t post a photo of that.) Bear scat is one of the reasons (besides ticks) that I stopped taking my little dog Rudi on foraging walks with me. He will find, drop and gleefully roll in it. That is some really stinky, sticky, greasy stuff to wash out of fur.

And then there were these – a number of snowy white mushrooms about that looked very much like they could be the extremely lethal Destroying Angel (Amanita bisporigera) or something else quite poisonous. By this time I was ready to go home, so I did not flip it over to see the gills or pull it out of the ground to visualize the base and help to ID further. Whatever it is, it is not edible. It is a given that these are meant for photographing only. With a growing trend for mushroom hunting, the news has lately been filled with stories of eager and uneducated foragers who have sickened, poisoned or killed themselves by eating what they do not know. You can’t mess around when it comes to wild mushrooms. To quote, “All mushrooms are edible – some only once”.

It was not a particularly long day in the woods, but more than enough for me. Finally it was time to head back to the kitchen with my bag of “Chants” and get cooking. Being out in the woods for a while, away from the madness of the world, was good for the soul and a perfect way to close out the month of August.

~*~