Chanterelles
The Chanterelle mushrooms (Cantharellus cibarius) is a species of edible mushrooms of the Cantharellaceae family and Cantharellus genus, which co-habituates, being mycorrhizal symbionts (they form micorides on the roots of the trees). They are known to the people primarily under the name of the buckwheat, yolk, yellow sponge or yamahar.
The sponge grows in Romania, Bessarabia and Northern Bucovina in hardwoods (under beeches, oaks) of conifers, often on mussels and among blueberries, or by bushes of raspberries and blackberries from May to October or November.
The hat of the mushroom is 3-8 cm in diameter, smooth and yellowish. The spongehas orange or white color variations, in the youth having regular edges downward, and at maturity it takes the form of a deep, deeply wrinkled funnel with lobed edges or irregularly curled and sometimes cracked. On the surface there are often small holes. It is very rarely attacked by worms.
The fungus has pseudo-lamellae, like bifurcated and protruding windknots, of the same color as the hat, which often draw almost to the foot. The sputum powder is slightly yellowish.
The leg has a height of 3-8-10 cm and a thickness of 0.7-2 cm, it is robust, hard, smooth, in the shape of a truncated cone, first full and fleshy, in old age. The color is the same color as the hat on the outside, on the inside but white.
The meat is strong, fibrous, generally white-yellow with a slightly peppery taste and a pleasant peach or apricot scent.
Cantharellus cibarius or Cantharellus minor contains beta-carotene antioxidants such as keto-carotenoid canthaxanthin, as well as Cantharellus cinnabarinus and Cantharellus friesii. This yellow sponge has a significant amount of vitamin D.
For some people it may cause gastrointestinal symptoms that include nausea and even vomiting. But the sponge is not toxic. This can happen to people with intestinal problems which had an exaggerated consumption because the fungus is digesting hard.
Fresh sponges can be prepared as a ciulama, also with other forest mushrooms, as well as added to meat sauces or cuttings and macaroni. Very tasty, they are prepared like Duxelles (a kind of zucusca). Besides, they can be boiled and frozen. It is not recommended to dry them, because they remain strong, sticky and sometimes bitter even after they have been soaked.
The yellow sponge may be confused primarily with the same or very closely related species, such as Cantharellus friesii or Craterellus tubaeformis, as well as Hygrocybe aurantiosplendens, Hygrocybe quieta, Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca or Pleurocybella porrigens, all edible, but also with the poisonous Omphalotus olearius.
Consumption could prove to be fatal if a beginner would pick up a mushroom genre that grows o stubs and logs, such as Marsh Galerina or even a species of the genus Cortinarius such as Cortinarius orellanus Cortinarius rubellus, both of which are lethal.
