Chanterelle woes

[punkrockcaveman]

I've been concentrating on my foraging a lot this year. The past few weeks has seen a lot of fungi action- and my research and time out in the field is getting justly rewarded, and I've had some lovely samples of edible fungi.

One Fungi I've not come across so far is the chanterelle. It seems to be noticeably absent from my local area, even though I've been to places far and wide I'd imagine they couldn't have been absent from.

I've seen many false chanterelle, and many other species of choice edibles and plenty of other types of fungi too. Am I missing something? Are they rare I Yorkshire? Or perhaps more of a summer species? One thing that is playing on my mind is that they are claimed to be likely in broadleaf in England, and pine in Scotland, I'm in a bit of an upland area in the North of England (ish) should I be concentrating on pine rather than broadleaf?

Im probably being impatient.

Thanks for any advice. It would be awesome if someone could confirm that they exist in Yorkshire! Just so I know I'm not chasing a unicorn

 

[Toddy]

We found them in Yorkshire. We were on a dig and the adjacent woodland had loads. We found the false ones too....which are actually fine to eat in moderation. I liked them. We just sliced them up and fried them gently in some olive oil and had them on slices of toast.
It was a mixed deciduous woodland with a fair bit of pine around.
This is well over twenty five years ago, the site is long gone under housing.

 

[punkrockcaveman]

Thanks Mary, atleast I'm not on a wild goose chase! I know a couple of decent woods that have a bit of a mix of pine and broadleaf. I'll check over the spot where I've seen the false chanterelle... hopefully they won't be too far away....

 

[slowworm]

Round here in Devon they seem to be earlier in the year, more a summer fungi. I think I've always found them under beech trees, usually in a damp and mossy area. My local patch is right next to our stream.

 

[punkrockcaveman]

Well I found my chanterelles in the end- unfortunately not in Yorkshire! I had to go all the way to Scotland, to the lovely fertile lands of Dumfries and Galloway.

I wasn't expecting to find any this late in the year, but I happened across a handful of them under a huge beech tree just in the leaf litter. The best spot seemed to be mature oak, near a stream where the ground was carpeted in moss.



What a lovely flavour they have. They are a soft texture, but not slimy.

It will have to wait until next year now I think, but it's given me the confidence that I can find a similar habitat much closer to home. The hunt for the Yorkshire chanterelle continues!!

 

[FerlasDave]

Plenty around here in snowdonia still.
Although that’s exciting to hear as I’m up in Galloway in a weeks time. I’ll keep an eye out!

 

[Spirit fish]

I've been concentrating on my foraging a lot this year. The past few weeks has seen a lot of fungi action- and my research and time out in the field is getting justly rewarded, and I've had some lovely samples of edible fungi.

One Fungi I've not come across so far is the chanterelle. It seems to be noticeably absent from my local area, even though I've been to places far and wide I'd imagine they couldn't have been absent from.

I've seen many false chanterelle, and many other species of choice edibles and plenty of other types of fungi too. Am I missing something? Are they rare I Yorkshire? Or perhaps more of a summer species? One thing that is playing on my mind is that they are claimed to be likely in broadleaf in England, and pine in Scotland, I'm in a bit of an upland area in the North of England (ish) should I be concentrating on pine rather than broadleaf?

Im probably being impatient.

Thanks for any advice. It would be awesome if someone could confirm that they exist in Yorkshire! Just so I know I'm not chasing a unicorn

Iv not found them in south yorkshire near me but there is plenty of birch bolettes and there good eating

 

[punkrockcaveman]

Forgot to update this thread but Saturday at Coniston produced a few of our standard chanterelle, cantharellus cibarius with some actually being pretty fresh growth, perhaps a sign that we are having a mild Autumn or haven't had a hard frost yet?

Either way teasingly close to a Yorkshire Chanterelle.

 

[Spirit fish]

Forgot to update this thread but Saturday at Coniston produced a few of our standard chanterelle, cantharellus cibarius with some actually being pretty fresh growth, perhaps a sign that we are having a mild Autumn or haven't had a hard frost yet?

Either way teasingly close to a Yorkshire Chanterelle.

I tend to find most mushrooms far away from agriculture I think the chemicals on the fields harm the mycelium or something

 

[Toddy]

Not disparaging your thought on this, but I reckon that modern agricultural machinery has a lot to do with it too. It's astonishing just how much damage it does to soil structure. It does make it possible for us to have good crops though...but very few of those are permanently sited crops, iimmc ?

 

[Spirit fish]

Not disparaging your thought on this, but I reckon that modern agricultural machinery has a lot to do with it too. It's astonishing just how much damage it does to soil structure. It does make it possible for us to have good crops though...but very few of those are permanently sited crops, iimmc ?

Its interesting how much mushrooms u get once away from agriculture ie Scotland or up in the hills, none grow near the fields near me they grow in the valleys far from the fields.

 

[Nice65]

Apart from the Agaricus that’s still about on the unsprayed sheep and cow fields here, there isn’t much about where agriculture is dominant. Fungal networks take years to develop and are hugely complex and secretive. The forests have always been the place to find edible fungi. Thought to be the largest and oldest living organism is a Honey Fungus at about 4 square miles.

Running a plough through or spraying chemicals is definitely going to put a dent in it

The Largest Organism on Earth Is a Fungus in Eastern Oregon

The blue whale is big, but nowhere near as huge as a sprawling fungus in eastern Oregon

www.scientificamerican.com

On a plus note about Chantrelles, I met a forager locally who’d been in Longleat forest and simply had too many of them. Dry fried, added a knob of butter, some garlic and a bit of lemon zest at the end. Really good.

 

[Spirit fish]

Apart from the Agaricus that’s still about on the unsprayed sheep and cow fields here, there isn’t much about where agriculture is dominant. Fungal networks take years to develop and are hugely complex and secretive. The forests have always been the place to find edible fungi. Thought to be the largest and oldest living organism is a Honey Fungus at about 4 square miles.

Running a plough through or spraying chemicals is definitely going to put a dent in it

The Largest Organism on Earth Is a Fungus in Eastern Oregon

The blue whale is big, but nowhere near as huge as a sprawling fungus in eastern Oregon

www.scientificamerican.com

On a plus note about Chantrelles, I met a forager locally who’d been in Longleat forest and simply had too many of them. Dry fried, added a knob of butter, some garlic and a bit of lemon zest at the end. Really good.

Interesting thanks

 

[punkrockcaveman]

The plot thickens. Does this count as my Yorkshire chanterelle? It definitely doesn't count as a Yorkshire Cantherellus cibarius.

I can't even take credit for the spot, luckily a good mate had found a local spot with a few and tipped me off (we forage together and share our spots anyways).

What a nightmare to get your in for these little beauties. They are ridiculously hard to see at first. I went over the spot once, and thought I had missed them completely. I rang him and politely asked where the chuff they are hiding. He said get your head a foot off the ground. Low and behold there they were! Some were a particularly good size, plenty left behind to grow on.