If I hadn’t been scanning the ground for mushrooms, I likely would never have spotted one of the smallest – and tastiest - of the Blue Ridge Mountain’s edible fungi… the cinnabar chanterelle. Cantharellus cinnabarinus is one of the most beautiful chanterelle family members, as its vibrant reddish/orange color bedazzles the eye. However, this fungi’s diminutive stature (I’ve infrequently encountered individuals at their maximum size of 1 ½-half inches) tend to make it hard to spot among the forest duff. Cinnabars thrive in mixed hardwood forests and are most likely to be encountered in July and August.
Bruce Ingram
Cinnabar chanterelles growing in a Roanoke County, Virginia hardwood stand.
Regarding descriptive traits, the cinnabar’s convex caps often come with wavy margins and lobes. The underside features false gills. An extremely important identifier is that the flesh is white…which is true with many true chanterelles. The noxious jack-o-lantern, which is sometimes misidentified as a chanterelle, sports an orange flesh and should never be consumed.
Cinnabars are so tiny that they seldomly can become the main part of any meal where edible mushrooms constitute a significant portion of a recipe’s ingredients. That’s why Elaine and I typically only use them as the extra touches in an egg dish or add-ons in a salad. As always with any wild mushroom, never consume one without first stir frying or otherwise cooking it or having an expert identify it for you. Even edible mushrooms sometimes cause some individuals to have gastrointestinal stress.
Bruce and Elaine Ingram will profile a different wild edible every month. For more information on their book Living the Locavore Lifestyle, contact them at bruceingramoutdoors@gmail.com.