Chanterelles, boletes, coral and jelly

I had my first real mushroom hunting success of the season this weekend. In addition to ¾ of a pound of chanterelles, I found about ¼ pound of boletes, a decent-sized coral mushroom and a huge fruiting of pale jelly fungus that I have not yet been able to identify. There were a good number of other, less interesting species also fruiting, and some rather abundantly.

Can you see the chanterelles?

Here they are, ready for cleaning:

They were scattered in two areas about 20 feet apart. As you see, they are fairly small and a kind of buff color. I also found two very small, bright golden chanterelles that were a little ways off. I’m not sure if they were fruiting separately or were a different color for some other reason. I left the smallest mushrooms in the ground on Saturday and came back for them on Sunday. Their 24-hour growth was detectable but not significant. I picked ½ a pound Saturday and the rest Sunday.

I also met a middle-aged Asian couple foraging in the area on Sunday who asked me for some guidance. I told them that the red-capped, yellow-pored boletes that are fruiting in the area are almost certainly edible, and that I had already eaten some with no issues. I also, perhaps foolishly, showed them where the chanterelles were fruiting so that they would know what it looks like. Probably too generous. The woman is holding out for oysters anyway, apparently. The man said that he had been told the coral mushroom I had is edible, which I already suspected was the case. He wasn’t sure about the jelly fungus, but he has heard that the edible “jew’s ear” grows in the area.
Here are the other mushrooms from Sunday (jelly not pictured):

I cooked the boletes I collected on Saturday and ate them with gorgonzola polenta. They are no King Bolete, but still have a nice taste.


The coral mushroom is kind of earthy with a nice, chewy texture. It is also extremely peppery when raw, less so when cooked. I think small raw pieces would be really good in a salad.

I sautéed the second batch of boletes with the coral mushroom and ate them with cream and some pasta.