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Chanterelle mushroom season is almost the entire year, depending on where you live. It starts in the Deep South, where you can have chanterelles as early as May. Summertime is when most of the country gets its chanties, and early autumn they show up in Canada. One real fall hits, our Pacific chanterelles come in, and they can stick around until March.
When the season is on, you can rack up big numbers of these pretty golden treasures. Dealing with abundance is usually a matter of drying. Most mushrooms are perfectly good dehydrated and stored in the pantry.
Not chanties. Chanterelles lose almost everything that makes them special once they’ve been dried out. The only thing I’ve ever successfully done with dried chanterelles was infuse them with vodka. Weird, but good.
Now pickled chanterelle mushrooms are an entirely different story. When I first delved into pickling mushrooms, I wasn’t too optimistic about the results. I grew up in an era of canned mushrooms, which are slimy and so unpleasant I am certain it is a reason that most Americans won’t eat any mushrooms to this day.
Little did I know that pickled mushrooms are a classic appetizer in Eastern Europe. I use a Polish recipe for salted, fermented mushrooms mostly with saffron milk caps. But that works with chanterelles, too. You can find pickled mushrooms on the antipasti plates of Italy as well (Here is my Italian method of preserving mushrooms).
Far from being limp and slimy, pickled chanterelle mushrooms are firm and zingy — a great addition to a pickle plate, or alongside cured meats.
Once made, these will keep for a year on the shelf, although you should refrigerate the jars after opening.
Can you do this with other mushrooms? You bet. I’ve done it with blewits, hedgehogs, Amanita velosa, porcini and honey mushrooms. Even button mushrooms are good this way — just be sure to dry saute. It makes all the difference.
Pickled Chanterelle Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 1 to 1 1/2 pounds chanterelles or other mushrooms
- 2 cups white wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
Instructions
- Get your canning gear ready and a large pot of water hot. Clean your mushrooms of any dirt, mold or wet spots. Cut large ones in half and keep small chanterelles whole.
- Dry saute the mushrooms in a large frying pan. When they give up their water, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of salt on them, along with the thyme. Once the chanterelles have given up most of their water, pour over the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Turn the temperature down to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat.
- Fish out the mushrooms and pack firmly into jars, leaving at least 1/2 inch headspace. Make sure each jar gets a bay leaf and some peppercorns.
- Ladle in the cooking liquid. Make sure it covers the mushrooms. Add more white wine vinegar or distilled vinegar to top off if necessary. Wipe the rims of the jars and seal. Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Are there any recommended changes you would make of doing this recipe with yellowfoots?
What time of allowing to rest before eating do you recommend? 2 weeks? 1 month?
Victoria: Two weeks is a good waiting time.
Hey Hank,
I just tried this recipe last night and I can’t wait taste the results! I have two questions for my next batch:
– How do you know when the mushrooms have given up enough water?
– Do you recommend placing a lemon slice or something
Erin: Sure, add lemon if you’d like. As for water, you will see them mushrooms flood the frying pan with moisture. When that’s largely gone, you’re ready.
One time I tried drying chantrelles on the dashboard of my car but…. It rained for a whole week non-stop. Usually, chantrelles will dry on my dashboard in a matter of hours but this time it took days. Since the shrooms took so long to dry, they turned a bit in the process. I’m not sure what happened. They didn’t mold nor did they rot exactly but they did develop an extremely strong mushroom/chantrelle smell but not at all unpleasant just very pronounced. I don’t know if they’re safe to eat or not so I never did. I just stuck them down in a jar and I still have them. Its going on 6 years now and they still smell just like they did the day I stuck them in the jar. Any thoughts on what happened? The variety is Cantharellus cinnabarinus. They are a small, pretty mushroom and never have much flavor but rehydrating them into a dish of stuffing adds some very nice color and texture. But, what I did here really brought some aroma out of these things. Perhaps somehow they fermented a bit? Is open air fermenting possible? Is fermenting mushrooms even safe?
Found bout 5 lbs of em today. did 2 pints with this recipe and lookin forward to the results. Early canada season opens in a few days here, so was wonderin if ya had anything up your sleeve for the pair? Btw, they are great with ramp butter stead of reg. thanks and love the site.
I just finished canning a quart of pickled chanterelles!
It looks like this summer’s going to a good one for the chanterelles here in North Georgia.
Thanks for the recipe.
Warren distilled vinegar is much more sharp or acidic tasting. In a recipe such as this it may overpower all other flavours. Sometimes if you dilute – with water or temper with sugar you can sub distilled in a recipe like this but typically a wine or cider vinegar will give better, more mellow results.
One possible way to make your mushrooms more palatable, if in fact your product is unpleasantly acidic might be to drain the vinegar off a few hours before you want to use and marinate in a good olive oil?
Can distilled vinegar be substituted for the white wine vinegar? My first batch is bouncing away in the water bath as I type. I can’t believe I have been walking past “chanties” for the last 5 years hunting Blacktails’ in the Washington foothills. It has been a good October in the woods, a buck in the freezer, and chanterelles in the cupboard. Thank you for the recipes.
“I haven’t died of botulism yet” is no joking matter. There are cases every year of someone eating improperly canned foods and either dying or suffering greatly. All it takes is once, and if you don’t die, you WISH you had.
Hank, can you direct me to sources you use for evaluating recipes to ensure safety when canning and pickling? T’is the season! An excellent source I use is https://extension.oregonstate.edu/lane/food_safety
Thanks! You have the best job in the world. The pictures are fabulous.
Thank you! I tried your recipe and it’s delicious! Thank you so much for sharing! Now, I will never have to dehydrate them again. We had a great score of 17lbs!! I can’t wait to get busy!
Sue: You only need to keep them refrigerated if you have not canned them in a hot water bath. If you’ve canned them properly, they are shelf stable.
Why do you have to keep them refrigerated? Why can’t you store them in the pantry and refrigerate when ready to eat?
Thank you for the recipe. I am going to try it with some MI Black Trumpets and Cinnabar Chantrelles that I just picked yesterday!
Just broke open a jar of pickled chanterelles that have been in the fridge since last March. Still taste delicious and I haven’t died of botulism yet, so I guess they didn’t go bad. I can’t wait for our local chanties to fruit again!
Hank, I disagree with you on the dried chanterelles: I find their flavor intensifies greatly. My favorite thing to do with them is grind them in a spice grinder to a fine powder then sprinkle on lots of stuff for a dose of chanterelle umami! A liberal coating on fish, (especially black cod) before sauteing, frying, grilling or roasting is a really wonderful experience… BTW, I love pickled chanties too and will be trying your recipe!
Chanterelles are about to dip out of season here and this is my first year getting stuck into pickling and preserving so I am ever grateful for the apt timing of this post!
Gorgeous Swedish summer chanterelles are just entering the markets (if only I could find my own field of gold in the forest!). Many thanks for the inspiration of what to do with them. I will definitely give this a try.
Outside of risotto with fresh chanterelles this is my favorite thing to do with them. They go great on spring salads.
Sam: No, why would you? This is a pickle. Plenty of acid involved. You only need a pressure canner when you are canning mushrooms without vinegar.
You don’t use a pressure canner?