Most 'chanterelles' in French markets may not be the species people think
Chefs rank the golden chanterelle alongside truffles and morels. Yet DNA work keeps splitting what looked like one mushroom into many, and French specialists Eyssartier and Roux say 90 percent of chanterelles sold in French markets belong to a pale variety that reddens when touched, not the classic Cantharellus cibarius.
Chanterelle is a common name spanning several fungal genera, including Cantharellus and Craterellus. These mushrooms are meaty, funnel-shaped and orange, yellow or white, and instead of true gills they carry rounded, forked folds running down a stem that tapers out of the cap. Many smell faintly of apricots and taste mildly peppery, which is why the German name, Pfifferling, refers to pepper. The English word goes back to Greek kantharos, a cup or tankard, for their shape.
Genetics has redrawn the map. All golden chanterelles in western North America were once lumped as C. cibarius; DNA analysis revealed a cluster of related species, beginning with the Pacific golden chanterelle in 1997 and continuing to C. enelensis in 2017. The confusion extends to lookalikes. The false chanterelle has true gills, a more orange, graded colour and a darker centre; once thought dangerous, it is edible but reportedly dull. Turbinellus floccosus gives itself away with a vase shape, scaly cap and hollow stem.
Chanterelles grow across Eurasia, North and Central America and Africa, often in clusters in mossy conifer woods, but also under beech in central Europe and birch in the mountains. The Pacific Northwest season runs July to November, and in the UK from July to December. People ate them by the 16th century, but fame came in the 18th with French cuisine, when they appeared in palace kitchens and on noble tables. In 1836 Swedish mycologist Elias Fries named them among the best edible mushrooms, and in January 2024 California adopted its golden chanterelle as state mushroom.
Their flavour compounds dissolve mainly in fat, so butter, oil and cream suit them, with a minor share soluble in wine. Some chefs think dried and rehydrated chanterelles taste better than fresh, though chewier. Raw, they are 90 percent water, and sunlight exposure makes them produce substantial vitamin D2.
Source: Chanterelle
