Cinnabar Red Chanterelles (Cantharellus cinnabarinus): Enjoyably Edible Wild Red Mushrooms

One day in mid-July as I was scurrying towards my car, my peripheral vision registered lusciously red twinklings amidst the greenery of my front yard. To my surprise, greatly appreciated guests, answering to the common name of red chanterelles, were homesteading in my front yard, equidistantly among the Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima) and Virginia red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) to the south, honey locust sapling (Gleditsia triacanthos) and English yew (Taxus baccata) to the southeast, English yew (Taxus baccata), silver maple (Acer saccharinum), and box elder (Acer negundo) to the northeast, and two Eastern white pines (Pinus strobus) to the north.

Their appearance in my front yard likely is occasioned by massive nearby displacement of soil and vegetation as a developer uproots long-standing woody grasslands in this bucolic, rural county.

With their flamboyant coloring and petite size, red chanterelles are the red dwarfs of the mushroom universe. Considered to be one of the most beautiful New World mushrooms, red chanterelles are fragrant, flavorful delicacies which promise a feast of the senses.

Red chanterelles are also commonly known as cinnabar red chanterelles and cinnabar chanterelles. Their scientific name is Cantharellus cinnabarinus. The genus name, Cantharellus, and the common name, chanterelle, are derived from the Greek κάνθαρος (kantharos), which refers to a deep drinking cup with two handles arching above the cup's mouth. The species name, cinnabarinus, is a Latin descriptor, derived from the Greek word κινναβαρι (kinnabari), for the color of cinnabar red, also known as vermillion. The mineral cinnabar, which is a common ore of the metal mercury, displays a color range of bright scarlet to brick red.

As a mushroom, red chanterelles belong to the fungi kingdom, which is separate from the animal, bacteria, and plant kingdoms. Mushrooms are actually the fruit, which is produced aboveground by the organism. The organism's essence lives below the ground as the mycelium, a vast structure of hyphae (Greek: ὑϕή, huphe, "web"), which are long, branching filaments.

A New World native, this spectacular little mushroom is found in southern Canada and in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, primarily in the eastern and southern states.

Red chanterelles often appear in great numbers in the area of the Chesapeake Bay, in the old-growth Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) stands of Pennsylvania, and in the mixed conifer-hardwood forests of New England.

Red chanterelles take their first fruited bow in summer, around June or July, and linger into autumn, around September or October.

In the woods, red chanterelles usually peek out in exuberant multitudes from under leafy covered soil in proximity to hardwood forests, such as beeches (genus Fagus), birches (genus Betula) or oaks (genus Quercus), or mixed forests of hardwoods and conifers, that is, cone-bearing trees, such as hemlocks (genus Tsuga), pines (genus Pinus), and spruces (genus Picea). Their nearness to hardwoods expresses their mycorrhizal (Greek: μυκός, mykós, "fungus" + ρριζα, rriza, "roots") relationship with trees.

• In this mutually beneficial, or symbiotic, relationship, the cells of the mycelium ensheathe the tree's rootlets, thereby easing the tree's absorption of nutrients and water.
• In return, the tree transmits sugars, such as glucose and sucrose, as well as amino acids, to the mycelium.

Red chanterelles are considered to be small mushrooms. Their cap, botanically termed a pileus, measures about 1/2 to 2 inches (1 to 5 centimeters) across. With a length of 3/4 to 2 inches (2 to 5 centimeters) and a width of 1/8 to 3/8 inches (3 to 9 millimeters), their stalk, botanically termed a stipe, casts a slender silhouette.

The color of their cap is mirrored more or less uniformly in their stalk. Initially, both cap and stalk range vibrantly in color from cinnabar red or red orange. The redness, which fades with age, pales into pinkish orange or flamingo pink.

The characteristic red color of youthful red chanterelles derives from canthaxanthin, an organic pigment which also occurs naturally in the feathers of certain species of flamingoes (genus Phoenicopterus) and in crustaceans such as brine shrimp (genus Artemia). Unknown until the mid-twentieth century, canthaxanthin was isolated in red chanterelle specimens and identified by marine biologist Francis Theodore Haxo (March 9, 1921 - June 10, 2010) in 1950 while he was an assistant professor in the Biology Department at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University.

• Canthaxanthin occupies the same family of carotenoid pigments as carotene, which is responsible for the orange color in carrots.
• Approved as a food additive by both the European Union and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), canthaxanthin is not approved by the FDA for tanning pills because of its side effects of liver and retinal damage.

In biology, a morph is a visual or behavioral difference in a member of a species. Sometimes yellow morphs of red chanterelles sprout as a homogeneous group. Or a morph may emerge in solitary distinction among the usual red color scheme of red chanterelles.

The shape of a red chanterelle's cap and stalk are likened to a funnel. Somewhat circular with wavy edges, the cap transforms vertically from the outwardly rounded convexity of youthful red chanterelles to more or less even flatness and finally at maturity to a depressed center which shapes the cap into a shallow vase. The cap's surface is smooth with wavy margins, or edges, which charmingly curl under. The stalk tapers downwards as a cylinder from the cap.

The underside of the cap has false gills which, unlike the structurally separate, knife-blade-like tissue plates of true gills, are narrow, blunt-edged folds in the cap's undersurface. Widely spaced and forked, they are decurrent (Latin: decurrere, "to run down"), which means that they extend down onto the stalk from under the cap.

Petite size, fairly uniform coloring of all parts, their flamboyant redness, and the distinctive outline and spacing of the false gills all distinguish red chanterelles.

Spores, by which mushrooms propagate themselves through dispersion, are individually invisible, but a pile of multitudinous spores is discernible. The color of this mass, obtained in a spore print, is a critical identification feature. Spore prints in the wild are evinced in colored dust on a leaf or on the ground below the gills or false gills. Otherwise, to make a spore print, remove the stem, place the cap onto a piece of paper or a glass, and cover with an upside-down cup or glass to protect from air currents. The massive release of spores soon occurs. The smooth, thin-walled, ellipsoid spores of red chanterelles print as pinkish cream.

Unlike their golden, greatly prized relatives, the golden chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius), red chanterelles do not emit a noticeable or distinctive odor.

Red chanterelles are deliciously edible. An agreeable peppery taste is released, first subtly and then unmistakeably. Nevertheless, mycophagists (Greek: μύκης, mykēs, "fungus" + φαγεῖν, phagein, "to eat"), who eat fungi (especially mushrooms), and mycologists (Greek: μύκης, mykēs + -λογία, -logía, "branch of study”), who study fungi, do not recommend identifying mushrooms in the wild through taste tests. Mild gastrointestinal distress -- such as mildly upset stomach or mild diarrhea -- sometimes occurs in those unaccustomed to consuming noncultivated mushrooms.

Jack-o'-lanterns (Omphalotus illudens), classified as toxic mushrooms, are mistaken for chanterelles by the unitiated. Close inspection of key points removes all doubt.

• Jack-o'-lanterns are the fireflies of the mushroom world as their bioluminescent gills glow blue green at twilight and in darkness.
• Jack-o'-lanterns are bright orange to orange yellow with no hint of red or pink.
• Jack-o'-lanterns have true gills.
• A pleasant aroma, which is often noticeable, does not confuse red chanterelle hunters who know that reds tend to be odorless, but may confuse seekers of other chanterelle species.
• Jack-o'-lanterns form dense clusters with all their stems either fused together or closely packed at the base.

The question arises whether to pluck red chanterelles out of the ground or to leave the base attached to the mycelium underground by delicately slicing off the stem just above ground level with a knife.

Either method is acceptable, although a 13-year study of long-term growth patterns of chanterelles in Pacific Northwest forests in Oregon apparently revealed a slight decline in future mushroom growth with the knife method (Greg A. Marley, Chanterelle Dreams, p. 65).

Red in nature may signal toxicity, as, for example, with Satan's mushrooms (Boletas satanas).

But cinnabar red chanterelle mushrooms are as healthy and delicious as they are strikingly attractive.

So they are pretty on the outside and pretty on the inside as well.

And their flamboyant appearance, especially in autumn as their redness flashes beneath colorful, leafy coverlets, prettifies the landscape and heralds, for aficionados, culinary enjoyment.

My special thanks to:

• Talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the Internet;

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University for superior on-campus and on-line resources.

Bessette, Alan E., Arleen R. Bessette, and David W. Fischer. Mushrooms of Northeastern North America. Syracuse NY: Syracuse University Press, 1997.

Boa, Eric R. Wild Edible Fungi: A Global Overview of Their Use and Importance to People. Rome, Italy: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 2004.

Dufour, L. (Léon). Atlas des champignons comestibles et vénéneux: 80 planches coloriées représentant 191 champignons communs en France, avec leur description, les moyens de reconnaître les bonnes et les mauvaises espèces et de nombreuses recettes culinaires. Paris: Librairie des Sciences Naturelles.

• Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library at: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3270696

Kuo, Michael. “Cantharellus cinnabarinus.” MushroomExpert > Major Groups > Chanterelles and Trumpets. June 2003. MushroomExpert.Com. Web. www.mushroomexpert.com

• Available via MushroomExpert.Com Web site at: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/cantharellus_cinnabarinus.html

Marley, Greg A. Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmare: The Love, Lore, and Mystique of Mushrooms. White River Junction VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2010.

McKnight, Kent H., and Vera B. McKnight. A Field Guide to Mushrooms: North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1987.

Miller, Dr. Orson K., Jr., and Hope H. Miller. North American Mushrooms: A Field Guide to Edible and Inedible Fungi. Guilford CT: FalconGuide, 2006.

Phillips, Roger. Mushrooms of North America. Boston-Toronto-London: Little, Brown and Co., 1991.

Rolfe, Robert Thatcher, and Frederick W. Rolfe. The Romance of the Fungus World: An Account of Fungus Life in its Numerous Guises, Both Real and Imaginary. London: Chapman & Hall, 1925.

Weber, Nancy Smith and Alexander H. Smith. A Field Guide to Southern Mushrooms. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1985.