chanterelles mushrooms...

[Jameson]

Fought some skeeters today and found some chanterelles and a shed...

The chants grow at the base of white oaks...

I left many if the woods that were already too eaten by the bugs. Some were nice and fresh...

Now it's time to rinse these babies off and get to eating them!

....and as always with wild mushrooms, please don't try this at home. Please consult a "professional" first. There are some real close looking deadly, or wish you were dead, look alikes out there.

[crawdad]

Nice find! Are you S.MN? Maybe time to start checking around here. Great to see you took the time to cut them off also. Those look like red oak (pointed leaves) from last year but maybe there was a mix of both? Thanks for posting the pics.

[Jameson]

These are from the Twin Cities area. Western burbs. The forest is about 3:1 red oaks to white oaks. I would prefer more whites, but take what I can get. Good Luck hunting up that way crawdad!

[crawdad]

Note taken on the whites....do you prefer to dry yours if you have enough? Nice thing about chants is the longer season, and we've had good moisture this year, should be good finds out there. Thanks, good luck too.

[MOBY RICHARD*]

Do you guys know any good ways to tell the edibles from the inedibles without a chemical test...by sight???

[Jameson]

Do you guys know any good ways to tell the edibles from the inedibles without a chemical test...by sight???

Moby, here in MN, with a little experience one can confidently pick out a large number of edible mushrooms without any tests. I have never chemically tested a mushroom, and I can confidently identify a good number of edible MN mushrooms. A chemical test is often used when folks are trying to identify EVERY species in an area(heard of a BIOBLITZ?), but for regular foraging very few people use a chemical test.

If you are wanting to get out and learn a few edibles I would suggest looking at the Minnesota Mycological Society. They have had a "Paul Bunyon" chapter in northern Mn the last couple of years. MMS has both "classroom" identification meetings, and group forays. I was a member the last two years. I found the hands on learning of the forays creates a very fast learning curve. Of course one could and should also purchase a couple of field guides.

Even with a field guide I strongly encourage anyone who is starting mushroom foraging to start with a mentor.

Also always remember, "When in doubt, throw it out." and "There are brave people who eat mushrooms. There are old people that eat mushrooms, but there are no old brave people eating mushrooms."