First Pines Near Nanimo

Same forest near Nanaimo, very large and waterlogged White Chanterelles, Firm and no bugs on the Red Juice Milky Caps, and lots of Elfin Saddle. First two Hedghogs I've found near Nanaimo this year.

Above lower left, the one White Chanterelle that I brought home. Even when they were newly emerged (last two weeks?) like this one, most were too waterlogged to bring home.

Last of the Whites for 2016

Spent a pleasant day yesterday wandering through the local forest where I've been picking White Chanterelles all summer, to find most of them now too mushy for keeping -- but I did find a few keepers. No Goldens yet, in that patch of woods. Heading up Island tomorrow to see what I can find. Here is a video of some of the finds yesterday:

The White and the Blue

I've seen blue mould on mushrooms over the years and generally I just leave them in the field to do their thing, i.e. reduce the mushroom to a dead dark lump. But I heard from a mushrooming veteran that the blue moulds are only skin deep, so you can cut away the mouldy portions and eat the rest. Anyone know if this is true for sure?

First White Chantrells

The unusual amount of rain this June brought out a flush of many different mushrooms that I don't normally see till late August or early September, including one of my favorites, the white Chanterell. Here is a video from today's walk in the forest above Nanaimo.

Russula Rosacea or Russula xerampelina?



White Chanterelle (Cantharellus subalbidus)

Is the Admirable Bolete really that Admirable?

Well, yes actually, it is a very admirable bolete. Many say it is second only to the King Bolete in our area, but I wouldn't know because I've never found a King. Jessica Wolf says she just found a Queen Bolete. Lucky girl. So far, for me, Boletus mirabilis is the best boletus I have tasted.

Mostly in the past I've seen it growing on old stumps and very well decomposed logs. Like this one:

But this year they are everywhere, on ground which I can only surmise is full of rotting logs and woody mass.

They supposedly love hemlock, so the further up-island the better, but I have found that they like older forests, generally 30 years old or older.

And they tend to pop up in strange places, usually very dense dark woods, although this year, many are on mossy ground usually spotted with Chanterelles.

The above beauty was growing out from between a tangle of roots and sticks.

This one was at the base of a stump.

My video from today showing a variety of the ones I collected today.

And this one of some nice Winter Chanterelles.

Happy hunting!

White Chanterelles

Monday 08 September 2014

Several days of rain in August and a day of light rain a week or so ago has brought out the White Chanterelles.

I filmed a little video of the find:


Cooked a bunch of them for dinner last night, and breakfast this morning. Very firm, on the verge of being too dry, but they pick up the butter really nicely, making for a very creamy smooth texture in the mouth with good tooth. This reminds me of just how nice White Chanterelles are compared to their more popular sisters the Pacific Golden Chanterelles.I think I like them better than the goldens.

White Chanterelles are Out!

Walked through a forest near Nanaimo and after about 40 minutes found some White Chanterelles, and then found a very large patch a little further along. Ended up with several pounds of them.

There had been pickers out before me, as evidenced by cut stipes, and I met a man and his son who also had a bag of Chanterelles. We chatted about the best places to find them in the area and it seems that both he and I have been finding them beside logs and in the lower slopes of hillsides.

Here are some photos from the field:

And a couple of videos. This first one shows a typical forest habitat favoured by Chanterelles, and the second one is a few questions for other enthusiasts.

Questions:

Close up:

White Chanterelles

Remains of the Season -- Chanterell, Hedghog, Cailiflower, Meadow Mushroom

Drove to my reliable picking spot about 20 minutes from my house to see if there was anything left in the woods after the cold snap.

There was still snow in the ditches of the logging road (it has warmed up a lot since then).

The place was clearly picked over, lots of evidence of other pickers, which is to be expected so close to town, but within an hour  I found some waterlogged chanterelles still worth picking (and some I left in the field that were not!) and a bunch of small hedghogs, nothing very big.

Lots of rotting mushrooms of all sorts, clearly done in by the snow.

Here is what I came home with:

Brought home a sample of the mushroom I thought might be a Meadow. Sure looks like it is, but also looks like the bugs beat me too it. Might be the same story with the Cauliflower, which I was shocked to find within feet of the road at this time of year. One Cauliflower I saw the other day was past its prime, but this one looked ok in the failing light. I will wash it up and see.

Cantherellus subalbidus (White Chanterelle) and Cantharellus formosus (Pacific Golden Chanterelle)

Mike Orr's video from the 23rd motivated me to get in the vehicle and drive to some spots where I have found Chanterelles in the past. The first 1/2 hour was disappointing, and then I stumbled upon a patch of tinny golden Chanterelles.

Interestingly there was evidence that someone else had been there before me -- I could see the neatly cut stipes of larger mushrooms beside the small ones I found. I wandered around in a wider circle, went up the hill a ways, found nothing, so circled back and proceeded downhill from where I had found the small ones. Then I came across a patch of White Chanterelles and picked a bag full.

I walked quite a while after that but did not find another patch.

I did, to my great joy, find a red legged frog. Quite unexpected in the forest. And she sat still so I could take some photos with my iPhone.

After leaving her to her -- I'm not sure what -- burying herself in the mud for the winter??? I went down the road to another place I have had luck in the past and found one small Golden Chanterelle in well over an hour of tramping through the wet salal and deep woods.

It was a lovely spot with the sun streaming through the trees and just before I gave up I came around a big old stump and found this:

The fungus had an unpleasant smell.

 But was impressive in heft and detail.

 A little further on I found some polypores:

I'm going to guess that this is Coltricia perennis (Tiger's Eye). There were several lovely speciments: