Chanterelles- girolles- cantharellus cibarius

[JM]

And after the blood milk caps, the season follows with what the Brits call chanterelles, and we French also call girolles, because chanterelles for the French is often the smaller specie of similar musrhoom (cantharellus tubaeformis) brown caps, and orange folds and feet, much stronger but similar smell and taste.

A good load of them. They grow massively at the same place, under beech oark or birch, large leaves trees in general, but also pines.

The cap is egg yolk yellow, and generally convex, at least at the edges. There are no gills, but folds that follow down to the foot without a clear marking between the two. The flesh is mainly white or very clesar yellow in it's middle. the margin folds under and is wavy.

Care must be taken about false friends, in particular the clitocybe of the olive tree (omphalotus oelarius) ) or the false chanterellle (Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca) which both present gills, and do not have the so characteristic smell.

are they good? yes, they are excellent edibles, and I made an excellent gnocchi plate with these.

 

[Paganwolf]

nice one! mouths watering at the thought of your gnocchi ! if you have a spare seat at the dinner table id bring a bottle lol good find buddy ..

 

[JM]

Unlucky we are so far away, I'll honor the proposition ;-)

Ah, potatoes gnocchi, chanterelles, bits of speck, olive oil, and parmesano, almost paradise, amigo ;-)

I'll post tomorrow on the tube chanterelles, as I found a spot ;-)

 

[Moonraker]

Nice find JM

Just to give some idea of colour variation here are a couple of shots from a recent mushroom forage last week, with a detail of a girolle.

Girolles (left) next to Pied de Mouton (Hydnum repandum) (right) or Hedgehog Fungi in English. The distinctive 'egg' yellow and white remind me of a fried egg . The smell is often described as that of apricots but for me it is closer to/ more accurately described as 'dried apricots' with a slightly sweet/ sour note. Great eating and they retain a good texture when cooked.

Side Detail of the Girolle. Note the stronger yellow colour of the stem and folds under the cap in this more mature specimen. Less white patches but the same species as JM.

Ironically on this trip I found mostly Trompette des Morts (Craterellus cornucopioides) or 'Horn of Plenty' in English. About 5kgs! Then about 1.5kg of Pied de Mouton (translates as 'sheeps foot' and is descriptive of the shape and colour) and lastly 5-6 Girolles. I wish I can find more in 'massive' quantities Here this is late for girolles and more often Trompette which continue into the potentially frosty times up to mid November but it is exceptionally mild right now further east and away from the Med region of JM.

I foun all three in the same oak/ sweet chestnut wood, with the trompette generally around the base of older sweet chestnut and preferring to hide under leaves and growing out of holes in the soil made by voles etc. They prefer moister patches and I always look for mossy areas, close to streams for instance and also once you find one you find a lot around but do use a stick to look under surrounding leaves and also up and down the slope. I also found this year that where I found some earlier they were gone and I thought it was over but another patch had appeared elsewhere so do not be too put off if a known patch has gone over. The mouton are generally in amongst the bracken ferns and are more conspicuous because of their light colour. They too grow in numbers often and almost always grow in lines so look for the orientation of a group and extend the search. I found a wonderful cache of them the other week with over 1kg in one big row! Lovely find but sadly no camera.

The girolles also push from under fallen leaves, close to old oaks and on a bank.

They all like slightly acidic soil hence the indicators of sweet chestnut trees, well draining soil generally, bracken/ ferns, moss to indicate moisture.

I served a mixture of all three quickly fried in butter/ olive oil, with garlic and flat leaved parsley, then served on toasted slices of rustic bread, drizzled with walnut oil and co**** sea salt. Nice

The Trompette des Morts and ceps I served in a ballontine of chicken with a wild mushroom sauce and that is detailed on the earlier thread with photo on those. Very nice indeed....

And to show how the concept of mushrooms and fungi collecting is presented in France, I read in my young sons 'Scooby Doo' comic a page giving great tips and photos of the main edible mushroom species and also tips about identification, going with someone who knows the species and visiting the local pharmacist if you are unsure about ident (this is a free service here) and how best to cook then! What a liberating attitude.

ps I can't belive the word filter takes out the word c.o.a.r.s.e. as in salt. what an a.r.s.e.

 

[JM]

Hey salut Simon,

Seems you are having a good year there too ;-)

Strangely enough I never found trompettes des morts arround. (nor ceps actually, probably I do not know the right places)

Ah there are so many species that are excellent.

As Simon says, stick to what you can identify for sure.

 

[george]

This year has not been too good for any mushrooms up here.

Earlier in the year I got a couple of good loads of Ceps and various other boletes but the chanterelle has been noticable by it's absence. Plenty of cantharellus tubaeformus or "yellowlegs" but I'm not always so fond of them except in soup.

My favourite is probably the hedgehog mushroom (what we call hydnum repandum) - I usually harvest a couple of local patches around this time of year - but so far nothing!

Has it been a bad year elsewhere in the UK?


George

 

[JM]

Here are some chanterelles ( cantharellus tubaeformis ). They are smaller, with a stronger taste and a strong lemon(ish) scent. They grow in the shadow of wet wood, I found these in under deep bushes, you should see my arms!
The feet are orange and tubular, therefore hollow. the caps are brown, and the underfolds (no gills) clearer cream/orange color.

 

[Moonraker]

More great photos JM I have not found those here yet so will look out for them.

Is that the Maxpedition pouch you are using in the photos? Looks a handy foraging bag.

 

[JM]

You find these here under thick bushes massives, or in dense bush (gosh, my arms are soooo scratched, by all the &#@&#& spinny bushes, trying to make a path in 2 meters high thorny bushes! next time I do this, I will put my flecktart army parka, a good pant and a pair of good shoes, not tee-shirt, jean and docksides , Oh and a golok...;-) !) , in wet places, but due to the color of the caps, you never see them untill you bend down to ground to fix your shoe laces, because then you notice the orange ;-)

Yep, it is a maxped maxi rolly-poly, absolutely perfect for foraging, I have a maxi and a medium. for mushrooms, the large one is great, and you can clip it in front of the belt, or to the lower part of the rucksack shoulder rig.

I made them with a semi-complete organic basmatti, fried in olive oil with garlic, and with echalottes, Parmesano at will, Yummy!

edited to add: the flecktarn parka, not for camo, but because I paid it 7 Euro ;-)

 

[JM]

Small correction for the sake of truth, the chantelles that I called "tubaeformis" are cantarella xanthopus Hum, errare humanum est....

 

[stovie]

... errare humanum est....

..To forgive, divine