Finding Gold(en) Chanterelles at the end if the Rainbow

In my last post I posed a few questions to you for our first ever Standards of Excellence Best Bites Poll:

1. What was the best food item you tasted in 2010?
2. What is your favorite “cheap eats” spot?
3. What is your favorite winter get away?

I am so excited to get your answers; I love the fact that we can so easily share our recommendations!

Our secret trail in a mystical landscape

My favorite food item and best “cheap eats” spots will be featured on Thursday, but I did have my best winter get away this weekend. I am so torn by my undying passion for West Marin and by all of the luscious brilliance of San Francisco, but nothing beats my annual soggy, drippy, poison oak riddled mushroom hunt with my husband Rob. Sounds real appealing, right? For those of you who have hunted before, you know exactly why we love it so…

In any discussion of foraging for mushrooms, it must always be stated that you must study mycology and learn all about mushrooms before ever venturing out. Mushrooms can contain deadly toxins and look very much like other types. San Francisco has a very active group called the Mycological Society of San Francisco at www.mssf.org. In mushroom lore it is said, “There are old mushroom hunters and bold mushroom hunters, but no old, bold mushroom hunters.” You dig? 

the “Sentinel” Chanterelle and his back up team

While many varieties of mushrooms can be cultivated, many of the most prized varieties can only be found in the wild. The frilled, golden, meaty and delicious Chanterelle is one of those “wild ones”. The mushroom itself is just the visible part of an underground biological network called mycelium made of tiny thread-like tendrils that can grow to cover miles and works in relationship with trees and the soil around it. Forgive my pop-culture brain, but mushroom hunting invokes images of Avatar’s planet Pandora for me at every turn. Oh, and no 3-D glasses required.

I always look for “the Sentinel”, what I call the first chanterelle I spy. He usually has back up. It is so fun to spot him, suddenly, the game is on! They are a glowing, apricot color unlike the thousands of inedible “false chanterelles” that are crowding the hill outside my window, right there, taunting me. Fakers!

Careful cutting is a must!

The real ones range from thumb size in Europe to fist sized on the East Coast to up to 12 inches or more here in the West! They grow under layers of leaves and are so hard to find. To preserve the spots, which produce year to year one must carefully cut the mushroom at the base and leave the area as undisturbed as possible. We have names for each location such as “the Nugget Nursery”, “the Giving Tree” and more. I even painted a map of the spots in 2004 and it is still accurate today. Where is it located?  We will

never tell. 

Treasure Map

After a painstaking process of brushing and hand cleaning each mushroom, I leave them out for a day or two to dry off a bit on a layer of clean paper towels. They can be stored in a paper bag in the fridge; I use them up before that. Chanterelles do not dry well, they lose flavor and texture. I usually slice and sauté them in butter with shallots and add a bit of wine and chicken stock at the end and finish with cream. They are excellent with shrimp and scallops, artichoke hearts and chicken, more delicate flavors. I am excited to cook them tonight; I will share my recipe on Thursday. What shall I make?

My kind of fun

So now when you buy the costly but oh, so sumptuous Chanterelles you can think of the wild ‘shroom chase that brought each and every golden nugget to your favorite restaurant, store or farmer’s market. Isn’t that just wild! 

Oh and be sure to post your “Best of” answers below!