Wednesday’s Photos

Mushroom Fever Strikes the Arrow Lakes

While everyone in the valley is waiting for the pine mushroom (official name: Matsutake) season to kick off, my wife and I made use of the recent heavy rains to harvest the chanterelles (Pfirrerlinge in German) in one of our most favourite spots. It is located in the narrows between the Upper and Lower Whatshan Lake. A recent video gives you a review of the beautiful landscape here.

Since we only had a short afternoon, we took our Ford Escape to reach the place over a bumpy logging road. The first photo shows the scenery at the lake, the following pictures show the chanterelle mushrooms as they had popped up in great numbers in the forest and had been gathered into the shopping bag.

We prefer the chanterelles over the pine mushrooms. The chanterelles are easier to prepare and have an incredibly tantalizing flavour. The Japanese love the pine mushrooms and pay a premium price for what they consider a delicacy. Local buyers in a good season pay as much as $20 per pound, resulting in a veritable mushroom bonanza. Enjoy.