FORAGING FOR FUNGI
City chefs share best ways to search for chanterelles
Chefs the world over know about Saskatchewan for one key reason: Wild chanterelle mushrooms.
That’s because the province’s unique climate and terroir helps to produce some of the world’s most vibrantly coloured and robustly flavoured chanterelles.
Beth Rogers and Thayne Robstad have been foraging mushrooms for years.
The couple opened Hearth Restaurant in Saskatoon in 2018, a place that highlights the province’s unique local food bounty in chef-focused dishes, often with ingredients they foraged.
To find the best quality mushrooms, it’s best to go picking at the beginning of the season in early to mid-August. On a picking trip last summer, the chefs were happy to share the tricks of the trade, but were strict about one thing: Their picking spot, in a jack pine forest northeast of Prince Albert, must be kept secret.
JEWELS IN OLD GROWTH FORESTS
An old growth forest is key to finding the best chanterelles, Robstad said. Speaking from personal experience, he attributes it to nutrients from dying and rotting trees leaching into the ground.
“You can walk 200 metres (toward) where it’s been logged, and you won’t find a single mushroom.”
Gnarled trees with twisted branches signal an old growth forest. So too does a forest floor littered with trees, fallen so long ago they’ve become part of the ground. A varied terrain that helps capture moisture is also ideal for chanterelles.
In Robstad and Roger’s prized picking spot, the ground feels spongy underfoot from a blanket of reindeer moss. Crispy on the outer edges and cushy soft underneath, the moss has silvery tips that descend into earthen colours at the root.
Chanterelles burst through the moss, often in the small spaces between fallen logs. Thanks to the moss’s texture, the chanterelles stay clean, leaving the bright orange colour easy to spot if you keep your eyes trained to the ground.
A starter on Hearth’s seasonal menu features wild mushrooms the couple foraged and is served with melty cheese and topped with sprigs of reindeer moss.
The moss doesn’t have a ton of flavour, but it carries acidity well. It’s tossed with a vinaigrette and used as a garnish to balance the rich cheese.
Chanterelles also add a pop of colour and an earthy flavour to Hearth’s seared pork belly dish.
Rogers and Robstad grew up in Saskatoon and met in their early ’20s. They began cooking in local restaurants before setting out — like many young chefs do — on a culinary journey that saw them working in top-notch kitchens.
Travelling North America in a camper-van later followed, along with a stint picking mushrooms for the commercial market.
They’ve picked mushrooms across the country, but Saskatchewan’s forest jewels are particularly special.
“They should probably be on our flag,” laughed Rogers. “We love food that is naturally from the land. These mushrooms taste like how the forest smells.”
Sharing that expression of Saskatchewan terroir is the couple’s focus at Hearth.
“The way we look at it, these mushrooms are a concentration of this (forest),” said Robstad. “And then when we cook them, we concentrate them again. It’s like a punch in the face of forest.
“It’s very indicative of only this part (of Canada). I’ve had chanterelles from all over the country, but these are the ones that taste like (Saskatchewan).”
A FORAGERS’ GUIDEBOOK
Saskatchewan chanterelles are compact, dry, clean and full of flavour. The colour is “wicked orange … almost unnatural it’s so beautiful,” Robstad said.
Chanterelles generally have a vase shape, which becomes more pronounced in older mushrooms. Another sure way to tell it’s a chanterelle is by turning it over. The prominent gills on the underside are thick and attached to a dense stem. The smell is a mixture of moss, damp wood and, oddly, peaches.
Walk slowly and methodically, paying close attention to the ground beneath your feet. Chanterelles are small — look for little orange hats peeking out of the reindeer moss.
Timing is everything with chanterelles. Mushroom season varies. For chanterelles, it begins in early to mid-August and continues until the first freeze.
The earlier in the season, the better, especially if it’s a dry year. Without enough rain, the mushrooms will only flourish for a few weeks at best.
Usually, when you find one, you’ll find many more in the same area. Think of chanterelles as apples growing on a tree — except this tree, called the mycelia, is growing under the ground.
There are two schools of thought when it comes to picking. Some pluck the mushrooms out of the ground, while others use a knife to cut the stem. Robstad and Rogers believe in the latter method as they think it’s healthier for the mycelia to leave the chanterelle stems in the ground.
“We feel that if you pluck, you disrupt that (system). We’re just doing our best,” Beth said with a smile.
They don’t clear-cut an area, leaving behind large mushrooms to reproduce and repopulate.
“They need to live their whole life and their spores need to fall to the ground and grow more mushrooms,” she added.
WHY THE SECRECY?
The jack pine forest is a hobby spot for Robstad and Rogers. The mushrooms they pick there are “something we can bring back to share at the restaurant.”
However, the spot helps support others’ livelihood, so the couple doesn’t reveal the location.
After a morning of picking, they like to picnic in the forest, a Thermos of coffee at the ready. It’s a relaxing place, a nice afternoon picking spot.
Commercial picking in remote areas of northern Saskatchewan is a different story.
The secrecy among pickers comes from the competitive nature of the business.
“Everyone wants to have the best spots and the biggest hauls and make the most money,” Rogers said.
It’s those spots, with highly concentrated fungi, where people from all over come to make their living on the ‘mushroom flush,’ as they move across North America throughout the growing season.
Rustic bush camps pop up, without running water or cell service. The mushrooms are sold to buyers who package the product and sell it to stores or exporters.
What began as a little orange hat poking up through the moss can later become a coveted delicacy on international grocer’s shelves and on world-renowned restaurants’ menus.
In Robstad and Rogers’ case, the chanterelles they pick travel south just a few hours and spend life in Hearth’s cooler before tantalizing Saskatoon tastebuds.
Saskatchewan chanterelles are truly unique. Chanterelles thrive in other parts of the country, but often grow much larger than in Saskatchewan.
“And then you cook them and they’re just full of water — which is fun and tasty. But these … they punch above their weight class for chanterelles,” Rogers said.
Saskatchewan’s drier climate means the chanterelles are small and the flavour is concentrated, making the province’s little forest jewels in demand globally.
“Chefs all over the world know how to say Saskatchewan because of these mushrooms,” Rogers said.
It’s just one more reason to be proud of Saskatchewan’s diverse local food bounty.