Chanterelles are growing well this year in the region. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

Bumper season

‘It’s like night and day’: Chanterelle buyer impressed by 2019 crop

Aug 7, 2019 | 11:49 AM

Mushroom season is in full swing as chanterelles are experiencing a healthy bloom.

That’s according to Keewatin Community Development Association CEO Randy Johns, who said chanterelles are big and plentiful this year due to the cold, damp weather this summer. He noted people were starting to find mushrooms by the second week in July, adding most pickers generally start the week before Saskatchewan Day in August.

“It’s like night and day,” Johns said. “Last year was a short season without very many mushrooms, so it started off OK maybe in the third week in July and then it just stopped. Within a couple weeks it was done.”

While his quota is smaller than other buyers in the region, Johns stated he stopped accepting chanterelles on Tuesday after hitting his goal of 750 pounds. On that day alone, 400 pounds of mushrooms came through the door at Boreal Heartland Forest Products where they are marketed and distributed to stores throughout the province. Johns mentioned, however, the season for chanterelles could be quite long this year and they could still be around in September.

Meanwhile, Boreal Heartland hasn’t received any morels from pickers this year. In 2018, Johns said there was a large crop out of the Pelican Narrows area due to the fire they had the year before. Most of the morels in Saskatchewan are fire morels meaning they only grow the year after a fire. Johns was hopeful some morels would come out of the Waterhen Lake area, but he didn’t receive any reports of them growing.

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“There’s probably a couple weeks left anyway,” Johns said of the chanterelle season. “It’s up to the weather and up to the mushrooms.”

It’s been a busier summer at Boreal Heartland as Johns mentioned they’ve met their quota for a number of plants. He’s currently accepting wild mint and in September or October he’ll be collecting juniper berries.

Chanterelles from the region are considered a delicacy in South Asian countries and mushrooms sold to buyers at the junction of Highway 2 and 165 likely end up there.

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno