Chanterelle Mushrooms - big, bountiful and beautiful!

It's Chanterelle Mushroom Time

The Cantherellis cibarius or Chanterelle mushroom is a beautiful, flavourful mushroom that fruits early in the fall. They are highly prized edibles with excellent flavour and recommendations are to cook them slowly over a low fire. Their shape is like a delicate vase or a trumpet and the colouring is a rich gold. Chanterelles are my favourite.

Remember - always get your mushrooms checked by a knowledgeable person before eating. It's a good idea to eat just a little of an edible mushroom that is new to you and check for a reaction, then go wild. Friends who have eaten chanterelles for years had reactions this year to them. It happens - so be careful.

Edible

Cantherellis cibarius

One way to tell if you have picked a chanterelle is to split the mushroom.
The gills of a chanterelle are not true gills. You can see that the gills are melded right into the mushroom.

Not Edible

Gomphus floccosus

The Gomphus floccosus (above photos) can be mistaken for an edible chanterelle. Some even call it a Scaly or Woolly Chanterelle. But it is a poisonous mushroom so take care to notice the differences between it and the delicious Cantherellis cibarius below. The Gomphus floccosus is redder in colour, it has scales on the cap surface and the gills do not run as straight as the Cantherellis cibarius, but are broken up into irregular veins.

Edible

Cantherellis cibarius

Edible

Hydnum repandum or Hedgehog mushroom

Fall!
And the Chanterelles are plenty
Welcome To Tofino, BC

Fall mushroom pages: Fall Mushrooms | Chanterelles | Matsutake or Pines