Mushroom
Chanterelle
RebozueloRossinyolCantharellus cibarius
Egg-yolk yellow, with ridges instead of gills and a faint smell of apricot. It's one of the most obliging mushrooms: it travels well in the basket and keeps well in the fridge.
When
Around: Jul–Nov · At its best: Sept–Oct
Around: Jul–Nov · At its best: Sept–Oct
Around: Jan–May · At its best: Mar–Apr
Around here
In Catalan it's the rossinyol, and it's part of the mushroom-hunting tradition along with ceps and camagrocs. It's one of the first to appear: summer storms bring it up in mountain woods, and it carries on until late autumn in holm oak, oak and pine woods. Rossinyols with potatoes or with rabbit are proper home cooking.
At the market
- Only pick or eat what you know for sure: other orange mushrooms look similar, and some are toxic. If in doubt, ask a mycological society such as the Societat Catalana de Micologia, or buy them at the market.
- In the woods: a basket, not a plastic bag; a knife to cut it at the stem; leave the small ones, they grow slowly. Some areas need a permit or set a limit in kilos: check first.
- At the market: bright yellow, firm and dry, with the ridges underneath intact and running down the stem.
- Avoid wet, slimy ones or ones with dark edges: they're past it.
At home
- If you're not sure what it is, don't keep it or eat it: throw it away.
- Brush off the soil and pine needles; if you must, a quick rinse and dry them straight away.
- In the fridge, in paper or a cloth: they keep four or five days, longer than almost any other mushroom.
If you have too much
- Freeze them sautéed, not raw: raw, they turn bitter and rubbery. About six months.
- Dried, they lose most of their charm and go tough: frozen or preserved is better.
- In oil or escabeche, in sterilised jars, to dip into.
In the kitchen
- Sautéed dry first so they give up their water, then with garlic and parsley.
- With new potatoes and a fried egg.
- Rabbit with chanterelles, stewed with a splash of rancio wine.
- With sautéed green beans at the end of summer.
- In a rice dish with pumpkin and a handful of saffron milk caps, when their seasons overlap in autumn.
What it brings
Per 100 g, raw.
- Energy
- 32 kcal
- Water
- 90% water
- Carbs
- 6.9 g
- Sugars
- 1.2 g
- Fibre
- 3.8 g
- Protein
- 1.5 g
Stands out for
- Source of potassium506 mg · 25% of what you need in a day
- Source of iron3.5 mg · 25% of what you need in a day
- Source of fibre3.8 g
Data from the USDA (FoodData Central). See the full table ↗ · How we decide what stands out
Goes with
- New potatoMay–AugYou can tell a new potato because the skin rubs off with your thumb. It's the spring and summer one; the all-year potato is something else, and it's been waiting for you in a store for months.
- Green beanJun–SeptIt's the same plant that gives dried beans, only the pod is picked before the beans swell. The test of a good one: it snaps cleanly.
- PumpkinSept–FebIt's harvested in autumn and, whole, keeps for months without a fridge: it was the vegetable that lasted till February. In Spanish, «giving someone pumpkins» means turning them down.
- Saffron milk capSept–DecCut it and it bleeds orange milk; handle it too much and it bruises green. Both are normal, and both help you recognise it.