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Chanterelles are demanding and do not grow every season. Those who are familiar with the harvest time leave the forest with a full collection basket. This guide will familiarize you with everything you need to know about the chanterelle season.

Peak season is in summer

Golden-yellow chanterelles arouse the passion for collecting among enthusiastic friends of freshly harvested mushroom dishes. In order to indulge in the enjoyable hobby, the time window is only open to a limited extent. The popular edible mushrooms consistently refuse to grow under the controlled conditions of commercial cultivation like year-round button mushrooms. The only option for a bulging basket of crisp, dewy chanterelles is to wander through the woods. The date has to be chosen wisely, because the yolk-yellow natural treasures thrive according to the motto: If you want to be popular, make yourself rare. Because nature is reluctant to be forced into a fixed date corset, the following information is based on empirical values:

  • Peak season: late June/early July to mid/late October
  • early start of the harvest season: from the middle/end of May depending on the weather
  • Extended harvest time: until mid/end of November depending on the weather
Source: By User:EPO - Own work, Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7850055

The climate has the last word on the beginning and end of the collection period. In the following sections you will find out which three weather phenomena explicitly affect the chanterelle season.

Influencing factor meteorological singularity

Three weather phenomena are directly related to the harvest time of chanterelles. We are talking about meteorological singularities that occur or do not occur at certain times of the year without any recognizable reason. If the ice saints are canceled, the time window for the season opens parallel to the start of the planting season in the garden. While October spoils us with a magnificent Indian summer, the collection period extends well into autumn. Sometimes the sheep's cold gets involved and keeps expectant mushroom pickers in suspense for a particularly long time.

An old peasant rule is closely connected with the memorial days of five saints between May 11th and 15th. As a result, a stable, frost-free weather situation can only be expected from May 15th, when the last ice saint has said goodbye with the cold Sophie. In the course of global warming, there are often mild temperatures from the beginning of May, so that there can no longer be any talk of ice saints. Then, from mid-May, golden chanterelles will smile at you from the foliage of the forest.

With bright sunshine and mid-summer temperatures, an Indian summer activates the growth of chanterelles. You can't miss out on glorious weather well into October and they continue to grow happily. Thanks to the welcome extension of the season, the delicious mushrooms are on the local menu until All Saints' Day.

The disruptive factor for a long harvest season is the sheep's cold. With rough weather, the phenomenon makes warmth-loving chanterelles shiver, which then postpones the start of growth until the general conditions improve. The meteorological singularity sometimes occurs around June 11 with a wintry cold snap. In recent years, however, the climatic evil was only rarely to be lamented.

Source: Игорь Лебединский, Cantharellus cibarius, edited by Plantopedia, CC BY 3.0

Notice: Did you know that there is a legal maximum for collecting chanterelles? The coveted edible mushrooms are subject to the Federal Species Protection Ordinance. According to Section 1, § 2, chanterelles may only be taken from nature in small quantities for personal use. Depending on the region, the permitted amounts are between one and two kilograms per mushroom picker.

Find Premium Mushrooms - Tips & Tricks

When the weather is warm and muggy, chanterelles turn on the turbo and flood the forest floor with promising mushroom caps. Hot summer weather with a chance of thunderstorms lures hordes of mushroom pickers into the forest for profitable collecting tours. Damp heat makes mushrooms literally shoot out of the ground. Anyone who is familiar with the special preferences of chanterelles can find the most beautiful specimens. How to do it:

  • typical occurrence: near the roots of spruce, fir, pine, oak and beech
  • promising locations: light, east-facing slopes with young, regrowing beech trees
  • frequent locations: loose soil, covered with the leaves of old beeches
  • best time of day: early in the morning in warm, humid weather
  • keep looking: a chanterelle rarely grows alone
  • Note the risk of confusion: check each chanterelle individually
Source: Thomas Schoch, Omphalotus olearius Mallorca, edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0

A finger test unmasks poisonous doubles of chanterelles. All edible species of chanterelles thrive as oysters with firmly attached ridges under the cap running down the stem. On the other hand, false chanterelle (Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca) and poisonous olive tree fungus (Omphalotus olearius) are lamellar or agaric mushrooms. The narrow leaves under the hat can be loosened and moved with light finger pressure.

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Vegetable garden