Hedgehogs and a Chanterelle For Halloween

Invigorated by a late October spell of wet, balmy weather, wild mushrooms are making unexpected late season appearances. In the last week, I have seen pristine wood blewits, elm oysters, late fall oysters, shaggy manes, and velvet foot mushrooms (enokitake). These are all hardy fall fruiters, but unusual to find going strong by Halloween in northern Vermont.

I must admit that I laid my basket and knife down too early this fall, hanging up my mushroom hunting hat a couple weeks ago in favor of a few last casts in the brook trout streams. Yet today, hiking with Jenna and Noemi on the lower slopes of Camel’s Hump, we saw two gourmet species that I was shocked to see fruiting so late, especially at a higher elevation.

First, I spotted three mature hedgehog mushrooms, fresh and plump, with long teeth covering their undersides. I rarely see fresh hedgehogs any later than early October in the region, and it felt auspicious to see an old friend once more before the winter.

But what we saw next was startling – a heat-loving mushroom that thrives in July and August, and which typically goes to bed by the time hen of the woods picks up in September.  Jenna spotted the signature deep yellow-orange hue of a golden chanterelle. This was not the chanterelle’s cold hardy relation the yellow-foot chanterelle, but a classic golden with rich orange autumnal coloring. Typically, even a heat wave in October would not be enough to summon summer chanterelles. Temperature and rainfall are important variables, but so is the date and timing.

My evidence may be too anecdotal to speculate that these late season finds were anything more than an aberration. That said, as mushroom hunters, part of the role we play is one of ecological awareness. With this awareness comes responsibility, and we can all contribute to citizen science by taking notes about the timing, patterns and abundance of wild mushroom flushes in our favorite patches each year.

It takes time to gather meaningful data, due to the highly seasonal, unpredictable and ephemeral nature of wild mushrooms. Still, it is important to understand whether wild mushroom fruiting habits are shifting in a changing climate and forest ecosystem.