Mushrooms a prize for foragers

Pappardelle with shrimp, garlic and mixed mushrooms from il Giallo Osteria & Bar. STYLED BY JAIME ADAMS/EXECUTIVE CHEF. CONTIBUTED BY ADRIENNE HARRIS/SPECIAL

Pappardelle with shrimp, garlic and mixed mushrooms from il Giallo Osteria & Bar. STYLED BY JAIME ADAMS/EXECUTIVE CHEF. CONTIBUTED BY ADRIENNE HARRIS/SPECIAL

Chanterelles have been characterized as “golden looking, golden tasting and golden priced.” These trumpet-shaped mushrooms aren’t something a grower cultivates, but a prized crop for foragers who search forests for edible treats.

This spring and early summer’s plentiful rains mean chanterelles are equally plentiful at local farmers markets. When I talked with Jonathan Szecsey of Abundant Harvest Gardens of Winston a few weeks ago, he had just harvested 25 pounds of chanterelles. He sells them to local chefs and brings them to his local patrons at the farm’s booths at the Saturday morning Roswell and Peachtree Road farmers markets.

“Chanterelles were the first mushroom I found growing wild and really the first thing I foraged unless you count the blackberries I gathered when I was a kid. I first found them on our farm and in the woods around us. Then I asked our neighbors for permission to forage their land. We find chanterelles everywhere when it rains.”

Two weeks after a good soaking rain, the chanterelles will start to pop up. Ranging in color from yellow to deep orange, they have wavy caps with their ridged undersides. They might be some of the prettiest members of the mushroom family. The taste is distinctive with a little peppery bite.

If there’s too much rain, the chanterelles will soak up a lot of water so the ideal time to harvest them is when there’s been a few days of dry weather after soaking rain.

When you buy chanterelles at a farmers market they’ll be sold to you in a paper bag. It’s important to keep the chanterelles in paper rather than plastic so any moisture in the chanterelles won’t get trapped and spoil them. “Some people recommend washing them just before you’re ready to use them, but I work hard to bring clean ones to the market and to the chefs. If you see a little dirt, brush them with a pastry brush or a paper towel, or gently blow off any loose dirt.”

When Szecsey has time to enjoy his chanterelles he treats them very simply. “I just tear them down the middle and then gently sauté them in butter. I got some ramp butter from Banner Butter recently and that was great with the chanterelles. Cooked that way, the mushrooms are great on toast. Or served with pasta or stirred into scrambled eggs. They’re a very versatile mushroom. Just don’t overcook them. They don’t want to be crispy.”


FOR SALE AT LOCAL FARMERS MARKETS

Just coming to market: eggplant, field peas, figs, garlic, Malabar spinach, peppers, spaghetti squash

Vegetables, fruits and nuts: arugula, Asian greens, beets, blackberries, blueberries, broccolini, cabbage, carrots, chanterelles, chard, collards, cornmeal, cucumbers, cutting celery, dandelion, English peas, green and pole beans, green onions, grits, herbs, kale, leeks, lettuce, melons, microgreens, microherbs, mushrooms, mustard greens, onions, peaches, pecans, polenta, potatoes, radishes, rhubarb, strawberries, sugar snap peas, summer squash, tomatoes

From local reports