Boletus edulis and the hearty cooking it inspires are just the thing for crisp fall evenings, but by the time we’ve finished our Yule feast we’re ready for something lighter and more delicately flavored. We’re ready, in other words, to eat some chanterelles. How good that the chanterelles oblige us by fruiting so heavily at just this time.
On the way to a likely spot for chanterelles, we pass silver bush lupine (Lupinus albifrons) already in bloom.
Some oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) growing on an old tanbark oak log. Oyster mushrooms are good, but we’ll leave these alone since, in our opinion, they taste better when they grow on cottonwood.
It’s starting to rain, but what do we care? We’ve just found a big Lion’s Mane (Hericium erinaceus). This not-so-humble fungus is as at home in the world of the haute cuisine (where they call it Pom Pom du Blanc) as it is in the forest primeval.
Yes!!! Here’s what we’ve been looking for. See the telltale glint of yellow through the leaves?
Clear the leaves away and there’s a fresh young chanterelle (Cantharellus californicus).
… and where there’s one, there’re generally more hidden close at hand.
But the rain was getting harder and we didn’t want to ruin another camera, so that’s the end of today’s photos.
We filled our bag and went home …
Once gain, please note: This post is intended for entertainment purposes only. Only a suicidal maniac would ever consider eating wild mushrooms – which are uniformly deadly poisonous. The ones growing in our favorite patches are especially lethal. You have been warned!
Xasáuan Today 