I won't tell you where, but I will then you when.......

Chanterelles and boletes come up 2-3 weeks after the first fall rains. Both the Cascades and the Coast Range just got over an inch.

Circle Sept 24/25 on your calendar; and plan accordingly. Good luck.

If the rains continue, it should be a great year. But probably not as good as the colossal year we had in 2013.

Sore subject for me today. Got up this morning and asked my youngest daughter if she wanted to go pick some chanterelles. She gladly obliged. Got to a not-so-exclusive but reliable spot and found nobody around. Looking good!

It didn't take long to figure out that the entire area had been picked clean, save for a few buttons that had popped up after the rain. The thing that really sucked was realizing that the marauders hadn't left the roots intact, and had apparently just pulled everything up. This was clearly the work of newcomers and amateurs; I know a handful of people who pick this spot, and they always cut them off and leave a couple in each patch to re-seed the colony. Not these folks.

I guess it's time to find a new patch, but I'm not overly optimistic about the prospects. I talked to a friend at the grocery store, and he said he's seen many "not the usual pickers" beind his property lately, and it's been similarly ravaged back there. Hopefully, someone will educate these people before they wipe out every local colony. I have no problem sharing the resource, but the resource will cease to exist if people don't learn to practice stewardship - much as is the case for another natural resource we discuss a fair amount on these forums.

A Mushrooms reproductive process is through spores. Cut or pull doesn't make a difference when it comes to chantrelles. The stems do not regenerate.

In my neck of the woods the King Boletes have already come and as far as I know are mostly done. Got a few last weekend and saw a few way past prime condition. Chantrelles have now been out for over a month and a half. The thing I find interesting is Chantrelles are suppose to grow all over the place and be easy to find in Northwest Washington, I've yet to have that experience. I've got a few places to pick but by far I'm not the only one picking there. Still trying to find that "secret" private patch of my own, into my fifth year of looking and as of yet not much luck.

The mushroom is just the fruit of the mycelium, an organism consisting of a (sometimes very) widespread network of very fine, root-like hairs. Pulling up the mushroom has no more effect on the health, or the productivity, of this organism than the picking an apple has on its tree.

and on this note I will say I am signed up for a class to learn the ends and outs of mushrooming in the next week. its put on every year by the guy at sultan pharmacist. he is sold out currently but will do another trip in the spring I hear. I have no idea what you get and when so I am looking forward to learning.

Well, perhaps mycology isn't my strong suit, but I've picked in the same area for the past 7 years and found all I needed within 30 minutes. Not so this time. The people that showed me the spot and everyone who had told me about mushroom picking all told me to cut them off at or near the ground and be sure to leave a couple in every patch so they can go to spore. I assumed the reason for cutting them instead of pulling them (which would be faster) was to protect the mycelium from excessive damage; I wasn't of the opinion they regenerated from cut stems. If you guys say it makes no difference, I guess I have no reason to argue otherwise.

Sounds like the issue where I have been picking is simply too many pickers.

Fishbreath - Check out these folks. Join them, and they'll show you the type of habitat you should seek when hunting chanterelles:

www.northwestmushroomers.org

I've been associated with mushroom hunting clubs all around the country. Without exception, they are some of the most knowledegable, and friendly bunch of folks you will ever meet. They will be very happy to pass on their knowledge to you, just as long as you are picking for yourself and family. They take a dim view of commercial pickers, but you clearly ain't one of those. Good luck.

There is a lot of back and forth RE: pick vs. cut. Personally, I cut... moreso to keep my food clean than to protect the mycelium, but I can say for sure cutting or picking keeps way more dirt and bullsh!t out of you bag and dinner!

I think I'm gonna get my girl to go mushroom pickin with me when she gets off work!!

I believe elevation is the key in the early season. >300ft for the yellow chanterelles.

Curious about this, too...I have a perfectly good dehydrator that I've used for a bunch of things, even made fish jerky in it...but I have not used it for mushrooms yet.

Anything necessary beyond just sticking them in there and turning it on until they are dry?

Fish on...

Todd

I have not had good success with dried chanterelles. they just don't seem to reconstitute well.

Dried mushrooms are nasty and chewy. I learned that at a beach party.

In my youth we would sun-dry boletes with good results.
Depending on the weather, sometimes they were finished in a warm oven.

I have dehydrated Morels and have had good success. Cut shroom in half, Dehydrate, vacuum seal, and freeze. Before cooking you have to re-hydrate them in water or milk, then cook as desired. Have not tried Chanterelles or any other mushrooms for that matter but I would imagine the principals are the same??

One reason why chanterelles do not dry well is due to the cellular structure.

Chanterelles have long stringy fibers. you can pull them apart into stringy pieces when you're preparing fresh ones for cooking. However, when dried, these stringy fibers do not reconstitute well, and the result is like chewing on a wet rope.

Boletes, lobsters/russulas, and other mushrooms have a cell structure that allows them to be broken up into smaller pieces, rather than long strands of fibrous material like chanties. These boletes, lobsters/russulas with that particular cell structure seem to dry and reconstitute much better.

Cheapskate is right. You can dry morels and bolete very nicely. Reconstitute them in water, milk, wine, etc, but be sure to use that liquid in whatever you're cooking. The most of flavor will be in the liquid, not in the rehydrated mushroom. So don't throw out the liquid.

I never dehydrate chanterelles, for the reasons already stated. I just saute them lightly and freeze.

Also, for drying morels with a dehydrator, use the racks but don't turn on the fan. Just cut them in half, and dry them in a warm place on the racks. Using a fan will eliminate all the spores from the morel. The spores are where the flavor is. All the spores will be stuck to the fan blades, and not on your mushroom. And they will be fairly tasteless. The voice of experience on that one.......

As mentioned above, there is no method of preserving Cantherellus sp. that is as good as fresh and my attempts of dry-sauteeing and then freezing worked as poorly as dehydrating.

What I have found to extend the bounty a bit is to pickle them. Olive oil and vinegar. Surprsingly delicious and keeps their texture better. Wonderful in pasta dishes and soups/stews.

As noted above, drying chanterelles is doomed to failure. I would actually reconstitute them, throw the mushrooms away and use the broth they rehydrated in for mushroom stock in risotto. That was the best use I found.

Lately I have been cutting them up into 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces, tossing them with olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper to coat, then spreading them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and baking at 375 until they dry up and get crisp. They end up looking like bacon bits and taste the same. I actually fooled my dad, who was sure they were bacon. They keep up to two weeks in the fridge this way in air tight containers. I have not yet tried freezing the bits. I think they taste better this way fresh out of the oven than they do fresh out of a sauté pan.