Pickled Chanterelles

Pickled chanterelle mushrooms in a mason jar

A simple and versatile small-batch fridge pickle recipe (no hot-water bath or pressure canning involved) that beautifully captures flavour of fresh chanterelle mushrooms.

Got lots of chanterelles? Great! This recipe is very easy to scale up.

Course Pickle/Chutney/Salsa etc., Preserves

Cuisine Canadian, North American

Keyword foraging, fridge pickles, mushrooms, pickles, wild food

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 5

Pickling Time 1

Total Time 1 25

Servings 125 ml (4 oz) jar

Calories 103kcal

Ingredients

125 g chanterelle mushrooms
1/2 cup rice vinegar (see note for variations)
1/2 cup water
2 tsp sugar
2 thin slices ginger
1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

Clean a small mason jar (or similar) and lid. Set aside.
Thoroughly clean the chanterelles, then trim them to remove any damaged or wormy sections (see note)
Chop the chanterelles into bite-sized pieces (small mushrooms can be left whole)
In a small pot over medium heat, bring brine ingredients to a gentle simmer.
Place a dry medium-sized skillet or frying pan over medium heat. Add the chanterelles and gently stir them to keep them moving. Cook the mushrooms until they release water into the pan, then continue to cook until most of this liquid has evaporated. Actual cooking time may vary depending on the size of your chanterelle pieces, but will usually only take a few minutes.
Pour half of the brine into the pan with the mushrooms to gently deglaze.
Transfer the mushrooms, deglazing liquid, and remaining brine to your clean jar. Remove the ginger pieces. Cover the jar with a lid, then let the pickles cool somewhat before moving them to the fridge overnight.

Notes

Vinegar Variations Note - I like rice vinegar here because it has a lovely mellow flavour while still clocking in at 5% acetic acid. You can substitute white wine vinegar as well. I don't recommend plain white vinegar, as I find it too harsh and biting here.

Cleaning Chanterelles - There are a few tricks to cleaning chanterelle mushrooms that you'll want to be aware of. A great and detailed overview can be found here - but I'll provide a simple summary here as well:

Gently brush off any debris or coarse dirt. A soft hand-held brush is ideal here.
Look for any damaged or wormy areas and remove them.
Rinse the mushrooms in cold water, working quickly to keep them from soaking up too much moisture.
Transfer the clean mushrooms to a paper towel to dry for a few minutes.

Nutrition