Munchy Monsters

A long, dry summer followed by soaking autumn rains on the Olympic Peninsula have brought out clouds of mushrooms, including the jewel of the forest, the chanterelle.

Hoping we'd timed it right for our annual hunt, Nearest and I headed out on Tuesday, September 15, to our favorite spot. Strictly amateurs, we pick for the love of it and our own table. But we've been asked by virgin hunters where and how to find chanterelles.

First, a warning; mushrooms can kill you; there's no use pretending they can't. Some of the prettiest, like the stately Destroying Angel, can melt your liver and kidneys, and it's been found in the northwest. Galerina autumnalis, Deadly Galernia or Autumn Skullcap, is said to contain the same substances as rocket fuel. It's one of the LBJ's, or "little brown jobs." Don't pick small, brown, nondescript mushrooms. Ever.

In the words of veteran pickers: "There are old mushroom hunters, and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters." You'll have no firepower to protect you on a mushroom hunt, only your brains. Use them.

Take a mycological class, go out with a picking expert, or get a good mushroom book, with clear photos. Read, study, pick and compare before you ever put a mushroom in your mouth. Our favorite field book is "All That the Rain Promises, and More," by David Arora. It has excellent photos and descriptions, and is small and lightweight. There are other, more detailed books, but they're so big you might be tempted to leave your book at home. Again, don't.

The chanterelle itself is one of the safer mushrooms to identify. It comes in several colors, including gold, white, light yellow, and even dark blue, but it has one singular identifying feature: its gills are wide-spaced and run down the stem. There are other mushrooms that resemble it, including the False Chanterelle, but none of them have gills on their stems. Most people can detect their delicate, apricot-like odor.

Chanterelles are like riverboat queens; they flourish in beauty, but they travel in Bad Company, popping up cap-to-cap with companions that can be everything from tasteless to nasty to dangerous.

Chanterelles prefer rich forest loam under widely-spaced trees. There are no more real old-growth forests, so look for well-recovered clearcuts, or coniferous plantations, with their humps of soft, rotting wood and thick needle fall. If native understory plants are present, chanterelles prefer low salal to ferns; these plants also signify ground with few or no human-introduced toxins.

Chanterelles like filtered sunshine and well-drained slopes, and they tend to grow in lines; once you spot a line, continue along it to locate more. They like moss; chanterelles gleaming in sun-patterned shade, like golden sparks scattered across a soft, emerald-green carpet, is one of loveliest images of the northwest forests.

Don't use plastic bags, that sweat. Pick into cloth bags with wide shoulder-straps; a good harvest, with its high moisture content, can get heavy. Place the bags in a cooler for the ride home. Make sure to take plenty of water and a lunch. Wear good shoes. Take your time, enjoy yourself, and don't try to pick over the edge of a cliff, unless you're looking for those kinds of stories. Leave the smaller mushrooms to mature and spread for next year's harvest. Stop and breathe and listen to the ravens calling in the distance.

Chanterelles can be dried, or packed in vinegar or salt, but we prefer to simply fry them in plenty of butter, some salt and black pepper, then press them into canning jars, pour in enough olive oil to cover, and refrigerate. I don't know how long they will last, because we eat them too soon, usually with pasta. They go well with herbs, cabbage, onions and garlic, and any seafood.

Before eating any wild mushroom for the first time, cook and sample a small portion before consuming more, to assure your own system accepts them.

Mushrooms can catch fish or pick berries; neighbors with lots of salmon or cans of jam are often happy to trade a fillet for a nice bag of forest fungus.

While you're in the woods, take along a large trash bag to gather the soda and beer cans, frying pans, oil cans and other garbage that are left by less mature or appreciative forest users. They'll grow up someday. Like cleaning a beach, a good example spreads. Sometimes you just have to be the grown-up.