Chanterelle mushrooms are among the most highly prized of all the mushrooms. Known to the Italians as Girolle, and in German as Pfifferling, they are known to Fred as his Favourite Mushroom, and he knows how to recognize them... has the patience to track them down... and jealously guards his knowledge.
I had to be sworn to secrecy after taking this photo of them growing in the wild. They only grow in the wild. All efforts to cultivate them have been less than successful.
It is imperative that anyone collecting wild mushrooms educate themselves, and be sure that the mushroom you have is indeed the mushroom you think it is.
Chanterelles have thick stalks, with flutes on the underside, and a delightfully apricot scent to them.
Fred also harvested some Bolette -- both King Bolete and Birch Bolete. These are also popular with mushroom hunters. The Italians call them Porcini mushrooms, because you have to get to them before the pigs find them. The pigs like them even more than you do.
Boletes are different from other mushrooms, with pores rather than gills on the underside of the cap. Spores are released by the thousands from the inner walls of hundreds of tiny round tubes, making up the lower cap surface. This spore-bearing area resembles and acts like a sponge. They look like small hamburger buns, to be unromantic about the whole thing. Avoid any that have red spores on the underside, however. And be sure you've got someone along who -- like Fred our resident Hunter/Gatherer KNOWS mushrooms.
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