Yellow foot chanterelles in November! 14 November

Sunday 14 November, sunny cold morning, 4°C, ideal weather to get to the forest and check what mushrooms could still be found there... As for the place, we chose the island of Selaön, in the lake Mälaren, around 100 km from Stockholm. For picking the spot, we relied on a Swedish friend telling us to go on the southern shore of the Lake Mälaren for picking mushrooms. The reason is that Lake Mälaren is what remains from the glacier lake located on the south of the ice cape on the North pole during prehistoric times, 12,000 years ago. The good soil that had accumulated over the years rose over the sea/lake level in relation with the rising of Sweden after the melting of the ice cap. On that basis, we checked on Google Earth which area could be good. Criteria were: 1) presence for a forested area, 2) on a flat ground, 3) far from villages and habitations. These proved to be very good criteria as you can see in the picture below, gathered in 2 hours.

4 kg of yellowfoot chanterelles!

We got 4 kilos of yellowfoot chanterelles, alias Craterellus tubaeformis. This is a very good mushroom often called as the winter mushroom as you can pick it in Sweden until the snow covers the ground. In recent years, if any snow in Stockholm area, it will not be before mid-January. So we decided to get there to check, as we are planning a good diner with close friends, and would like to offer them a "tartiflette forestière" as we experienced for many years in the restaurant, La Salle des Gardes, in Annecy. For epidemiologists, Annecy has been the site of the Charles Mérieux Foundation where the first French applied epidemiology courses had been organised since 1984 (?). The annual gathering of field epidemiologists in Annecy resulted in turn in the project of the creation of a European Centre for Disease Control which was established in Stockholm in 2005, and where I became the head of the preparedness and response unit. So, a lot of connexion with the "forestière tartiflette"! 

The recipe of the "tartiflette forestière" is straight forward, as below for 4 persons:

• Slice 600 gr of potatoes and brown them in oil in a frying pan;
• In parallel, lightly fry the yellow-foot chanterelles with a drop of oil until water is out;
• Optionally, add some pancetta in the frying pan;
• Set in a baking dish potatoes and yellowfoot chanterelles; 
• Cover with Reblochon cheese, crust down, and sprinkle with chives;
• Brown in the oven, 180°C for 20 minutes;
• Enjoy.

But these weeks, we are getting more mushrooms that we can consume in tartiflette or other "gratings". So, to preserve them, and in the perspective of settling in Croatia, we decided to dry them. When dried, Yellowfoot chanterelles can be preserved for many years and contribute to pasta dishes, or potatoes such as "gratin dauphinois", "tartiflette" or even "Jansson's temptation", the Swedish version of the dish. 

Dried yellowfoot chanterelles

Now, for those interested, having read to this point, this is the spot where you can get these kilos of yellow-foot chanterelles at any time in the autumn and winter! Follow and enjoy!

Here is the location of the spot: 59°26'27.7"N 17°14'30.9"E

Enjoy!