Monday, May 7, 2012.
Chanterelle Mushrooms. Beans On The Boofay.
I try to fit a stroll through my woods every day. I do it more for the purpose of removing my carcass from the desk chair in front of the computer screen--where I spend entirely too much of my day--than for the pleasure of it.
Today, there was a third reward. On the oldest part of my trail, in an area of live oaks, black tupelos, pines and sweet bay magnolias, I saw some brilliant yellow-orange mushrooms coming up from the ground. I plucked one and knew immediately that I was looking at a chanterelle. There were four or five of them in the immediate vicinity.
Chanterelles are as beautiful as they are delicious. They look like the bell end of a trumpet, including the golden color. I have long heard that they grow in this area. I've even heard that they've been found in Audubon Park. And I've found many bolete mushrooms (a.k.a. porcini or cepes) around the grounds. But this is the first outcropping of chanterelles ever at the Cool Water Ranch.
Of course, the first job was to be certain that these really were chanterelles. I am not a mushroom expert, but I have cooked and eaten many chanterelles. And I have a lot of reference resources. Everything about these fit the chanterelle profile:
1. They grew from the ground, not a log, and singly, not in clumps.
2. The gills underneath the cap are not true gills. They run down the stem, and don't pull away easily from the body.
3. They were found in a wooded area with a lot of different trees.
4. Their aroma was like that of a peach or apricot.
5. They have a mildly peppery taste.
I'm writing this two days after I had that taste, and have suffered no ill effects. I have chanterelles! Yay! You can't cultivate these things, but the heavy rains lately will probably give me some more of them. This made my day.
Mary Ann suggested lunch at the Camellia Café. I went along with that even though I breakfasted there only two days ago. She was thinking about the fried chicken on the buffet. I was in a red bean mood, and that too is on the buffet. I avoid buffets, but red beans are among the few dishes that improve when they sit on a steam table for a couple of hours.
