John Myers
Chanterelles are one of the most popular edible mushrooms of all. But avid mushroom pickers are wondering: when are chanterelles in season? We’ll tell you everything about harvest time, purchasing, and what you have to pay attention to when collecting.
Chanterelle season
Summer time is chanterelle time. From June to the end of October it is worth keeping an eye out for the delicious chanterelles during a walk in the forest. Humid, mild spring weather allows the mushrooms to sprout from the ground as early as the end of May. The first specimens of the year appear especially on mossy areas.
Tip: To get the most out of the typical chanterelle taste, you should collect the mushrooms in August at the earliest. Young mushrooms in early summer do not taste like mature specimens.
Differences in chanterelle harvest time
When and how many chanterelles grow in the forest depends largely on the temperatures. Hot days with high humidity promise a productive season. Under these conditions, the harvest time can even be brought forward by four to six weeks.
Commercial availability
Chanterelles from the trade do not come from crops like mushrooms, for example. As a result, they unfortunately only show up on supermarket shelves in certain months during harvest time. When shopping, make sure that the mushrooms have a firm consistency and do not have an unpleasant smell. Discoloration or rotten spots, for example, also indicate that the chanterelles are not fresh.
Collect chanterelles
The limited availability in the supermarket should not bother you. Because freshly collected mushrooms taste best anyway.
Already knew?
Did you know that chanterelles form a symbiosis with various conifers? For this reason, you’ll most often find them on root suckers of:
- spruces
- Pine trees
- red beeches
- firs
The most successful is the search for a summer thunderstorm. The mugginess in connection with the precipitation let the mushrooms literally shoot out of the ground.
Tip: Chanterelles grow mainly in moss-covered forest areas. Therefore, you should clean them thoroughly when processing them after collecting them. Fortunately, this type of fungus is very robust against pests.
Always use a sharp, sterile knife to harvest and cut off the stalk just above the ground. So that the chanterelle also tastes like something, its hat should have a diameter of at least 1 cm. Give smaller specimens some time to grow. Collectors who come looking for you will thank you.
Identify false chanterelle
Despite a very precise location, it is better to leave the found objects in the forest if you are not sure whether it is really a chanterelle. There is a risk of confusion with the so-called “false chanterelle”, which can cause gastrointestinal problems.
To find out if you have a chanterelle in front of you, you can simply cut it. The chanterelle has white flesh with a yellow edge. The flesh of the false chanterelle, on the other hand, is colored yellow-orange throughout.
