My First Foraging Experience
After my first backpacking trip, I fell in love with mushrooms. I bought books, joined Facebook groups, and learned as much as I could about foraging. On the trips after that, I would forage or at least take pictures of the mushrooms I found. When I got home, I would try my best to identify them using books, apps, and the internet. I watched the Facebook groups and waited for people to post their scores to understand when and where specific species were fruiting. Although a forager usually won’t give you their exact spot (don’t even ask, people get mad), they will provide the general conditions they find their mushrooms (elevation, mountain range, etc.). Then I looked for hikes and wilderness areas where these conditions were met. In the fall of 2022, I went on my first foraging hike in search of Golden Chanterelles.
I picked a hike near the Oregon Coast where the conditions were right for Chanterelles and brought my roommates and a friend along. For miles, all we found were False Chanterelles and other species, but we learned a ton. I used my field guide, All The Rain Promises and More by David Aurora, to identify every mushroom we found.
Just as we were losing hope, we saw stems of Chanterelles that had been picked along the trail and looked to our right: an east-facing hillside with tons of young, coniferous trees. My roommates had sped ahead, but my friend and I went off-trail and up the hillside. The further up the hill we went, the more mushrooms we saw. As mossy groves began appearing, we allowed Russula species (Sickener and Shrimp Mushrooms) to guide us. The air turned humid, fresh, and earthy. I could tell this was where mushrooms wanted to be. After about 10 minutes walking uphill, I found my first Golden Chanterelle. Then I saw them everywhere. Hooting and hollering with excitement, I began collecting the fruiting bodies. I yelled out for my roommates so they could join in the fun, but they were too far away to hear me. Luckily, I still had a bit of service and called them. After a while, they managed to find me and started foraging as well. We collected as many as we could, while still leaving some of the smaller ones to grow. Chanterelles are also great because they don’t get bugged out like Boletes. They have a natural defense against bugs in their chemical makeup, making almost every chanterelle you find edible (after cleaning of course). Gathering 7-10 pounds of Golden Chanterelles, we left the forest feeling accomplished. All of the time spent learning and researching had finally paid off, and the best part, Chanterelles grow in the same spot every year, so I could keep going back, year after year.
When we got home, we cleaned off the mushrooms with moist paper towels, rubbing them gently, with some of the skin peeling off. Then I inspected them to make sure no False Chanterelles snuck in. There were also some species I had never seen, so I pulled out my other (more elaborate, but heavier) book and identified them. After wiping off the dirt and tossing the nasty ones, I put the mushrooms on a drying rack and grabbed some to sauteé. For the next week, I ate Chanterelles with almost every meal. I put them in my eggs, made a mushroom risotto with wild-caught salmon (thanks, Nick), and even made a soup. The reward of eating freshly foraged food had me hooked. I went back to that spot every year for Golden Chanterelles and tried new recipes.
