Mushroom season came early

June was wet and warm this year, which meant the chanterelles came out in the middle of July instead of August. A neighbour mentioned it over the fence on Friday, very casually, the way people mention things they do not actually want you to act on. I went out on Saturday morning.

The woods after a week of rain smell of earth and pine needles and something sweet that I can never name. The chanterelles were where they always are, under the spruces on the mossy slope past the old forestry road, glowing a little in the low light like dropped coins.

I came back with half a basket. Enough for one dinner, fried with onions and dill and eaten with new potatoes. That is the whole recipe. It does not need anything else.

The one rule that matters, and that I repeat every year whether anyone asks or not: only pick what you are completely certain of. Not fairly sure, not “it looks like the picture”. Completely certain. I pick perhaps four kinds of mushroom and walk past everything else, including a lot of things that are probably delicious. Probably is not good enough.

Also: cut, do not pull, and leave the small ones. The slope will be there next year, and so, hopefully, will I.