Some of the most sought after mushrooms in French cuisine cannot be cultivated. Ceps (Fr. cèpes, It. porcini), morels, chanterelles and girolles amongst others must be wild harvested. Only licenced foragers are allowed to sell them. Everyone else is only allowed to forage for personal consumption.
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| Wild girolle mushrooms from the Sologne for sale at Loches market the other day. |
You can see it's not an especially good year for wild mushrooms this year in the Loire Valley. The quantity and variety in the market is minimal. A small quanity of girolles gathered in the Sologne and that's it. They are retailing for around €30 kilo, which is not out of the ordinary for wild mushrooms. Cultivated button mushrooms retail for about €4 a kilo.
Confusingly, girolles are called chanterelles in English, and chanterelles, which are a different species, are called chanterelles as well. Girolles are Cantharellus cibaria and one of the most truly prized mushrooms in the forest. They don't have gills, but rather 'pleats' or raised veins.
1 comment:
I like them very much! I have collected girolles, trompette de mort, and pied de mouton in the past. I bought pied de mouton at the market. I have thought that chanterelles and girolles are the same thing.
bonnie in provence
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