Common Chanterelle Look-Alikes

Mushroom identification can be tough, which is why it is always good to consult more than one field guide and forage with experts until you are confortable identifying mushrooms yourself. Check out our articles on some popular field guides below:
  •  Top 5 Washington State Mushroom Books
  •  Top 5 Pacific Northwest Mushroom Books

Understanding the differences between the mushroom you are searching for and their common look-alikes, is one of the most important things you need to learn before going on your search. In this article, we'll go over two common Chanterelle Look-Alikes and some of the ways you can spot them.

As we always say, DO NOT CONSUME ANY MUSHROOMS UNLESS YOU ARE OKAY WITH THE RISKS OF MISIDENTIFICATION!! You can have just as much fun searching for and just taking pictures of mushrooms as you can foraging for them, it is up to you to decide what you are comfortable with.

Chanterelle's: The Real Deal

Chanterelle's are one of the most popular wild edible mushrooms. They taste meaty and buttery They come in three colors, yellow, white and orange. Chanterelle's have forked ridges underneath their cap, THESE ARE NOT GILLS, they are more blunt in nature and they actually run down the stem a bit (click the photo for a close-up). A big difference between gills and ridges is that gills can usually be easily removed while ridges are part of the actual mushroom. There also tends to be a fair amount of irregularity with ridges, a lot of squiggles, starts and stops, while gills tend to be pretty uniform. The last thing I'll mention is that Chanterelle's never grow in wood, only in the ground, we'll talk about this a little more later.

In summary, here are some hints you may have found a Chanterelle:
  •  White, yellow or orange in color
  •  Squiggly ridges, not straight gills
  •  Wavy, uneven cap
  •  Grows in the ground, never on wood

Remember, if you're not sure, just leave the mushroom be, take a picture and share it with some experts. You can always come back for them another day.

Look-Alike #1: The False Chanterelle (Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca)

This is probably the more tricky of the look-alikes on this list, with a yellow-orange color, a forked gill and a vase-like shape, it's easy to understand where it gets the name 'False Chanterelle'. But fear not! We have some tips to help you spot this fake. While this mushroom can have forked ridges, they are often very flimsy and will break easily, unlike the stronger ridge of a true Chanterelle, if you aren't sure, try prodding the mushrooms ridges too see how much they give. False Chanterelle's also tend to be fairly uniform in their cap making a nice round shape as you can see in the photo above. Lastly, many report that they can smell the difference between a true and false Chanterelle, reporting that a true Chanterelle will smell fruity while a false one will just smell like a mushroom.

In summary, here are the traits of a False Chanterelle:
  •  Thin, breakable gills, not ridges
  •  More uniform cap and gills
  •  Fruity smell

Look-Alike #2: Jack-O-Lantern Mushrooms (Omphalotus olearius)

As you can see from the photos, Jack-O-Lantern's look somewhat like Chanterelle's, but not as close as the 'False Chanterelle'. The big giveaway (as I eluded to above) is that this mushroom grows on decaying stumps, at the base of trees, or buried roots. A true Chanterelle will never be growing out of wood. Once again, just like False Chanterelle's this mushrom has gills, not ridges which are very flimsy. Another way to check this mushroom is to break it open and check what color the flesh is, a true Chanterelle will be more cream colored while a Jack-O-Lantern will be more orange.

In summary, here are the traits of Jack-O-Lantern Mushrooms:
  •  Thin, breakable gills, not ridges
  •  Grows from wood (stumps, roots, base of tree) not from the ground
  •  Orange flesh inside

Conclusion

Remeber, if you're not sure, just take some pictures and leave the mushroom alone, it's not worth poisoning yourself for a snack. There are plenty of mushrooms to go around and there will always be more next year or, when you're in season, even next week! Just be patient, be safe and have fun.