6 Things to Know about Chanterelle Mushrooms

Chanterelle Mushrooms, aka “golden chanterelle” and “egg mushroom” are the golden prizes of the mushroom kingdom – golden looking, golden tasting and their price is equivalent to gold.

The Hungry Goddess loves mushrooms and chanterelles rankquite far up on the list.

Here are a few things to know about Chanterelle Mushrooms …

1.  Chanterelles are common in northern parts of Europe and North America, including Mexico, in Asia including the Himalayas, and in Africa including Zambia.  In Europe and Asia, chanterelles tend to be about the size of a thumb while on the east coast of the USA, they are the size of a fist and on the west coast, they can span two hands from little finger to little finger.

2.  When buying chanterelle mushrooms, they should be golden or apricot in color with no dark spots or slimy bits and they should have a fragrant odor.

3.  Do not soak fresh chanterelles to clean them – take a toothbrush to get into the crevices under a slow running faucet.  The less water, the better.

4.  Chanterelles are best sauteed in a pan or baked – when eaten raw, they have a peppery and slightly unpleasant flavor.

5.  The false chanterelle (Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca) has a similar appearance and can be confused with the chanterelle. Distinguishing factors are color (the true chanterelle is uniform egg-yellow, while the false one is more orange in hue and graded, with darker center) and attachment of gills to the stem (the true chanterelle has ridges or wrinkles, which can be quite deep, but not true gills).

6.  Chanterelles do very well in sautés, soufflés, cream sauces, and soups.  Eggs, chicken, pork, and veal are great pairings.

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