First Blog, First Forage of 2025

It's that time of year; fungi season is just getting started and so I decided to visit some of my chanterelle spots ahead of my scheduled tours. Over the last twelve months my son Auryn has also developed a taste for mushrooms and so it was the perfect opportunity for a foray.

It did not disappoint, it's still early in the season but this year has the potential to be a bumper year for chanterelles. They like it mild and damp, and whilst we've certainly had plenty of hot sunny weather, there's also been plenty of cool wet periods in between to keep these little yellow treasures happy.

Five minutes into our walk, we were spotting chanterelles in places we don't normally find them. Once we arrived at some known locations, there were plenty of mature chanterelles to collect, with countless babies just starting to pin.

Chanterelles grow very slowly for mushrooms, up to around 5cm per month. Compare this to for example a porcini which can mature in a matter of days and it becomes apparent that patience is needed when finding these sought after fungi. To avoid being munched by mini-beasts during their slow growth, chanterelles have developed the ability to produce a natural insecticide. Other than the occasional bite from a hungry slug, these delicacies are often untouched.

With that in mind, we'll definitely be returning in a few weeks to check their progress. And they should be mature just in time for some of my August foraging events. In the meantime, we've been enjoying them in a number of dishes and chanterelle pizza is on the cards this weekend - see my recipe section if you'd like to have a go at this yourselves.

Happy foraging everyone,

Jesse