Monday, July 22, 2013

Les chanterelles sont arrivées!

The last really good chanterelle year in Indiana was 2009. That year Eli and I filled a burlap coffee bag with chanterelles in about two hours. We also found numerous black trumpets at the same time. Indiana has been in a drought since 2005. The years since 2009 have been very very dry, while the air has been its usual 90% humidity. With the ample rain fall this year, the chanterelles have been out!

Yesterday, Eli and I were able to fill a shopping bag. I had been out a number of times previously and found a decent number. The previous times were not accompanied by the wasp stings that yesterday brought though. We would have filled a number of bags yesterday due to the profusion of mushrooms out, but had to cut it off after about an hour. I got attacked by some wasps and ended up with about fifty stings. I'm not allergic, so I was just in pain and felt a little wonky in my head. I'm hoping to go out some more this week.

If going to look for chanterelles, you should look through a field guide or two to acquaint yourself with Jack-O-Lantern mushrooms. I have known others who ended up harvesting the bioluminescent mushroom along with chanterelles. Don't harvest chanterelles off of wood! Unless vomit and diarrhea are your thing.

Keep an eye out for Black Trumpets when out. They are also a chanterelle but are black and grey. They are pretty tasty too, especially after having been dried. 

I've been finding the best patches on the north side of a well forested hill in Bloomington. Like in the picture below...



Eli was finding a good number of them. 


We've been eating them with our meals and have started drying some as well.


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