Growing chanterelle mushrooms can be easily done at home using various different techniques. The majority of individuals choose to use a kit. Kits contain everything that is needed to harvest a bountiful crop of mushrooms. Other options include buying the mushroom spawns and other materials for production.
Are chanterelles edible?
Chanterelles are considered a choice edible mushroom. However, as with most wild mushrooms, they should not be harvested from potentially contaminated areas, and should be cooked before being eaten.
Slugs and maggots sometimes feed on chanterelle mushrooms, though these fungi are mostly resistant to these pests. While you are trying to grow chanterelle mushroom, sometimes other species of fungi may develop that are not chanterelle. Do not try to consume the mushroom until you have positively identified that it is a chanterelle.
Where do chanterelles grow in the US?
Chanterelles thrive in hardwood trees, but sometimes, they also grow around white pines. In parks and forests, you can find them on the edges of roads or paths or near the edges of streams and wetlands. Anywhere rich in moisture, shade, organic matter is an ideal habitat for chanterelles.
Wherever you want to place your chanterelles, whether inside or outside your home, a log or a piece of a dead tree is where they will grow. In the wild, they thrive on tree roots. For best success, choose Douglas-fir, spruce, birch, beech, or oak trees.
This is why chanterelles are likely to grow where trees have difficulty getting the nutrients they need – like areas with mineral-rich soil or a lot of un-decomposed organic matter. Evidence also suggests that ectomycorrhizal fungi protect seedlings from bacteria and herbivores.
How much do chanterelles cost per kilo?
Some varieties of chanterelles cost at least $80 per kilo. If you become a successful cultivator, then you can even make money from your prized shrooms! Home growing mushrooms isn’t that difficult.