Wow! You are so lucky to be able to forage such a selection. Are you an expert on which are poisonous?
Yes, certainly. We only pick four species/varieties: the
basic (yellow) chanterelles (which usually grow in well-known places and beside trees - mycorrhiza roots - and have a distinguishable, vigorous structure and a distinct, acerbic smell), brownish
funnel chanterelles/yellowfeet (which have an easily identifiable, crispy stem, wide, distinct gills and a familiar scent),
black chanterelles/horns of plenty (which are of their own kind) and
ceps (
Boletus edulis): the famous "porcini" mushrooms with a brown, matt cap and detectable pores under their caps. We used to pick milk caps (
Lactarius sp.) for salting (and savoury Christmas/Midsummer mushroom salads) but we no longer bother as it's quite a task to parboil/blanch and preserve them. The ugly (black) milk-cap was also recently found to contain a low amount of carcinogens. My hubby is luckily an expert in biology.
There are only a few truly poisonous mushrooms in Finland: destroying angel (
Amanita virosa), death cap (
Amanita phalloides), deadly web-cap (
Cortinarius rubellus) which feels "gluey", not crisp, has denser gills than funnel chanterelles, smells different, doesn't grow in large clusters and has a tiny "knob" on top,
Galeria marginata which is quite similar to the previous, false morel (
Gyromitra esculenta) which is a delicacy when it has been parboiled thrice and prepared with care (we sometimes have it in restaurants; it's also sold canned) and fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) with its distinguishable, orange red cap and white spots. All in all, we've been picking mushrooms for decades with our parents, so there is nothing to worry about. The familiar shroom species/varieties usually grow in familiar places year after year, they are spotted in distinct terrains/grounds or typical clusters and have a familiar look, feel and smell.
