Chantrelles

[p kurt]

Did some shroom hunting today, picked some chantrelles and some chicken of the woods. Could of picked lots more chantrelles but no way we could eat em, don't want to waste.

[Kyflintguy]

How are you going to prepare those Kurt? I have found both but had no real idea of the best way to cook them? Thanks for sharing, I like free food from the woods!

[p kurt]

Aye josh. It is so fun to find such good food just laying on the forest floor. Or in case of the chicken of the woods on the side of a tree. I have eat morrells nearly my whole life but i have a brother who partially got me into rock hunting that eats mushrooms all year round. He has taught me things on which mushrooms are good to eat. But back to fixn, I spent over two hours cleaning and rinsing these critters. Due to an over abundance of rain there is literally no leaves in the woods, they have washed away. This makes the underside dirty due to rain splashing litter on the shrooms. I cleaned up in sink best I could, soaked em in salt water for bout four hours, drained em, took butter knife and scraped underneath till clean , dried on cloth, and cooked em in olive oil and butter with fresh garlic and drizzled with lemon juice. The chicken of the woods could be egg dredged like morrells because the pieces don't shrink much but the chantrelles shrink down ALOT. They are delicious, I like the texture of the chicken of the woods best but both are equally good. There is some look alikes so study your shrooms, I am getting taught by a feller who reads and studies on em alot. He also eats em" my tester" , lol. everyone should know how to eat native foods, if you dont study it you should because we are one catastrophe away from a survival situation.

[Kyflintguy]

Awesome! Hopefully I come across some again soon. I couldn't agree more though, it's good to know what you can or can't eat in case it really matters. Those look delicious! Thanks for sharing the way to handle them!

[Scorpion68]

I love mushrooms but being originally from Illinois, we only hunted and ate morel mushrooms. I think I've seen the ones that p kurt collected but never knew they were safe to eat. I'll keep my eye on this post and maybe learn another mushroom source to eat. ...Chuck

[sneakygroundbuzzard]

i envy those like you who know how to properly identify wild shrooms
only one i can identify is the morel

congrats on harvesting a bunch of free fungi

[Ron Kelley]

Hey Kurt, That is a huge pile of good eats. We dry them for later use.

[Scorpion68]

Ron - do you use a dehydrator or oven to dry them out. I never thought about drying them out. Should be able to do that with morels to.

[Ron Kelley]

We have dried them in a dehydrator. Before the dehydrator we dried them on a string hung up indoors to dry.

[p kurt]

Larger pieces are chicken of the woods, smaller pieces are chantrelles, raw shrooms are chantrelles after cleaning before cooking. Dang good!!!

[Scorpion68]

Ok Kurt - I'm assuming you're frying those bad boys. Do you fry them in butter or deep fry in oil. My mouth is watering and I can almost taste them. Sorry - I missed your comment on cooking them above. ..Chuck

[p kurt]

Chuck I asume you are aware of the Collinsville artifact show in the spring. I want to go because it is posed to be one of the best. It would be a good time to make a visit .

[Scorpion68]

Did not know about it. Kurt, can you send me some info (dates, place etc) and mayhaps I'll make a trip up to visit my sister and attend. I'd really like that.

[gregszybala]

I'm with Chuck, just drooling here! Yum.

[BabaORiley]

Scorp. Never knew u were a former flatlander. I will be a former flatlander as well one day also. With the rain and humidity it will be an early mushroom season here.

[Scorpion68]

Yea Baba - I was born in St. Louis, Mo but we moved to a place called Kinmundy, Ill in the early 1950's and I stayed there til I was 18 then I headed for the big city of Granite City to work the steel mills. Still try to get back ever so often. My sister still lives there in Collinsville, Il.

[Mojomike]

Nice pickins!We hunt those chantrells down here in Louisiana too.I like them saute'd with a hunk a steak.You can't miss those orange clusters in the woods.

[p kurt]

Mojo you are right they stand out for sure.

[2ndoldman]

If any of you are into Facebook you might want to look at this site. https://www.facebook.com/groups/270485909965678/
Chris and his wife Kathy have been living off of the land for years and recently there have been a ton of posts re mushrooms.
He is also a detectorist and has found quite a few archaic copper artifacts.

PS Kurt I wish that I knew more about mushrooms because there are so many different ones that I see on my travels. My luck though would be to pick the poisonous look a like.

[OBION]

Bruce, I too was worried about "the look alike " so I stick with morels,chantrels, oyster., and non staining boltes. They are fool proof if you follow the rules!

[OBION]

Thanks for the post. I'll be looking this weekend!

[Kyflintguy]

Is this a chantrell? It's big whatever it is...

[Kyflintguy]

Actually now after doing some more looking I don't think it is, too light colored, smooth and big. The bottom is what made me think chanterelles. I'll leave those were they are lol...

[p kurt]

Glad to see you got it right on your own josh.