Chanterelle Mushrooms

[Jitendra Hydonus]

I decided to up more information on this tasty mushroom and how to distinguish it from ‘imposters’ which may upset your interest in shrooms.

Chanterelle Mushrooms: Identification, Foraging, and Look-Alikes

Modified: Jan 30, 2023 by Mrs. Mushroom · This post may contain affiliate links · 6 Comments
Proper identification of chanterelle mushrooms is crucial if you want to start harvesting them from the wild. There are poisonous false species; so making a mistake could lead to a miserable intestinal adventure.

Yet don’t let that scare you off! With practice, chanterelle identification will become easier. You’ll start to clearly see how they differ from their look-alikes. False types;

Jack O’Lanterns (Omphalotus olearius, Omphalotus illudens, Omphalotus olivascens)

Jack O’Lantern mushrooms contain the toxin muscarine. If eaten, they can cause severe cramps and diarrhea.

One of the best ways to identify a chanterelle from a jack o’lantern is by examining the gills. Remember that chanterelles have false gills, which are forking wrinkles on the underside of the mushroom that appear “melted”. Jack o’lanterns have true gills, meaning they are non-forked and knife-like.

Other ways to tell a jack o’lantern from a chanterelle:

Jack o’lanterns grow in large overlapping groups with the stems attached. Chanterelles are usually solitary or in a small bunch.
Jack o’lanterns are more orange-brown, less yellow.
Chanterelles will always be near trees as they are mycorrhizal fungi, but do not ever grow on trees. Jack o’lanterns grow from rotting wood. Usually they’ll be attached to a tree or stump. Sometimes, the wood is buried so you can’t see it.

https://www.mushroom-appreciation.com/chanterelle-mushrooms.html

[Jitendra Hydonus]

False Gills

Chanterelles do not have true gills like a button mushroom or Shiitake. They do have lines underneath their caps that resemble gills, but you can see they’re different on closer inspection.

False gills are forked ridges or folds, and they do not detach from the stem or cap easily without causing damage to the stem. They look they are melted onto the mushroom; they are not separate or detachable. On chanterelles, the false gills also run down the stem a little ways.

[StillStanding]

DID YOU KNOW? Jack O' Lanterns glow at night? Its pretty cool I hear. I havent had a night walk in ages. I love Chanterelle mushrooms. I am quite serious when I say this, but here in Tennessee the whole woods is covered with Chanterelles. I had a soup from them, on top of filling my freezer for winter soup and ones I was frying and baking, every single day from summer till end of fall last year. I didn't have to touch my freezer stash, which is really only good for soups after they are frozen, until whatever that winter season was. I ate my last Flame Chanterelles a week ago. Ready for this year. Ready for some rain. I literally had a patch, that walking a little on turned into six separate patches together, that I harvested from five times last year full size mushrooms. Golden and smooth Chanterelles mixed in with each other. I picked no less than fifty each time. No joke. Someone should go for a walk with me the locals don't go to the woods anymore. A month before that I had Flame Chanterelles out the wazoo. I even found a whole junk load of the Peach Chanterelles in one location lined on a mossy creek bank. I will shoot for a picture of that this year it was a sight. The Winter Chanterelles came out with the Hedgehog Mushrooms at the end of last year. I love mushrooms now, hunting them. I don't think there is one I haven't found. I thought I wouldn't find the winter ones because of the area I am in but I was shown I was wrong. Maybe there might be one or two that grow somewhere else, but I only know the southeast.