Pacific Northwest Fungi Forager
Chanterelles
Chanterelles are a favored beginner mushroom because their bright golden yellow hues are easy to spot against the mossy green of the forest floor and they are very easy to differentiate from potential look-alikes.
Chanterelle Identification Check List:
1. Cap is smooth, free of scales or hairs
2. Gills are blunt, forked, and run down the stem
3. Flesh tears like string cheese
4. Cap and stem can be egg-yolk yellow to white
Compare Chanterelles to Look-Alikes:
Photo by: Ron Pastorino
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Golden Chanterelle
Gills: blunt, forked, decurrent
Cap: Smooth
Flesh: Peels like string cheese
Color: Golden egg--yolk yellow
Edibility: Delicious!
Photo by: Drew Henderson
White Chanterelle
Gills: blunt, forked, decurrent
Cap: Smooth
Flesh: Peels like string cheese
Color: Creamy white
Edibility: Delicious!
Photo by: Dick Culbert
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Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca
False Chanterelle
Gills: blades, crowded, decurrent
Cap: Somewhat felty
Flesh: Thin, hollow
Color: Orange yellow to red orange
Edibility: Harmless but bitter
Photo by: Rand Workman
Golden Chanterelle
Gills: blunt, forked, decurrent
Cap: Smooth
Flesh: Peels like string cheese
Color: dull egg-yolk yellow
Edibility: Delicious!
Photo by: Holger Krisp
Craterellus tubaeformis
Winter Chanterelle
Gills: blunt, forked, decurrent
Cap: Smooth
Flesh: Thin, tough, pliant
Color: Dark yellow to tan to brown
Edibility: Also delicious!
Photo by: Michael Beug
Golden Chanterelle
Gills: blunt, forked, decurrent
Cap: Smooth
Flesh: Peels like string cheese
Color: Yellow on top, white on bottom
Edibility: Delicious!
Photo by: Allyzilla
Turbinellus Floccosus
Woolly Chanterelle
Gills: Very blunt, forked, decurrent
Cap: Woolly scales
Flesh: Fibrous
Color: Orange to yellow to cream
Edibility: GI Upset
Photo by: Dick Culbert
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Lactarius rubrilacteus
Orange Milk Cap
Gills: blades, crowded, stop at stem
Cap: Concentric pattern
Flesh: Pale yellow to orange
Color: Orangey red, stains green
Edibility: Edible but bitter
