chanterelle buttons

I met up with my brother the trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, this morning to do a little foraging. The good news is chanterelles have begun fruiting in the Enchanted Mushroom Forest. They’re still pretty small, many still buttons, but we found around 30 of these tasty mushrooms, and with the addition of a few good-sized edible boletes, there will tasty mushrooms on the menu in the Comfort Food Diner tonight.

The spot we foraged is one of those places that never gives up huge numbers of mushrooms but reliably provides plenty for the table, time after time. To give credit where it is due, my brother found this place (never mind where it is) along with a number of others I visit. The thing about mushrooms is they tend to be localized. The best spots continue to be the best spots, and often acres of good looking forest are mushroom-free zones. Through a combination of careful research and field trips, Salvelinus has sussed out the best spots in a number of public forests. He is remarkably good at it.

There were not huge numbers of mushrooms in the forest today. Besides the chanterelles, which were scattered about seemingly haphazardly, there were some corals (which I  don’t pick for the table – I understand they can cause gastro-intestinal distress in some people) and quite a few inedible wax caps. The boletes we picked were the only ones we saw, with the exception of a small number which were well past their expiry date.

It was great to get out in the woods with my brother, and a meal of wild mushrooms is always a treat.