First Forage - Cinnabar and Golden Chantrelles

Gathered my first mushrooms yesterday! I am pretty confident that they are cinnabar and golden chanterelles. My field guide is still in the mail, so I have been using internet sites to confirm since I am super hesitant to cook and eat my first find.

I see these a couple days ago, did some research, and went back and picked them yesterday. I've been triple checking to make sure they are in fact chanterelles. Planning to cook a couple with dinner this evening!

Howdy,

The photos do look like chanterelle type.

When I am unsure of edible type I check with friends of mine to help with identification.  If you know someone who collects/eats fungi near you, you might be able to get positive ident, just to be sure.

I do know a few people who have eaten mushrooms and had reactions so they will not eat wild fungi anymore.... even when identified by friends who know, gather and prepare them, when these people are around.

I have been harvesting golden chanterelles here in Oregon for about 35 years now, and as a former professional wildcrafter I can tell you with confidence that the yellow ones you have are indeed golden chanterelles. (Although because of DNA analysis golden chanterelles have been split into a bunch of different species/subspecies, your yellow mushrooms would definitely appear to be Cantharellus cibarius, the main species in the eastern US.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantharellus_cibarius

I have no direct experience with cinnabar chanterelles, but the reddish ones look exactly like the description in my field guides. Check out the wikipedia entry for this one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantharellus_cinnabarinus

However,  I would agree with Randal 100%, it's always best for a beginner to get a local expert (like a mycologist or mycological society/ mushroom  club member) to check your finds in person before eating any wild mushroom. Beginners should not blindly trust people online- like me! Randal is also correct in saying that some folks have allergies to certain kinds of edible wild mushrooms that could cause severe digestive problems. So beginners should be extremely careful about eating a new species. That being said, it looks like you are probably correct in your identification. Have fun and stay safe- "when in doubt, throw it out".

By the way, here is a thread from permies about this same topic from a few years ago:

https://permies.com/t/49370/True-Chantrelle

(I think the scientific names have been changed yet again since this post! DNA can be so confusing!)