This morning I went for a walk before work with a dog in the woods nearby the house and ended up mushroom picking. I am not good with wild mushroom so I only pick what I know – orange Chanterelles. And to double check I got the right ones I check with my neighbors who pick wild mushroom all their life to make sure I didn’t picked the poisonous twin.

In this post I would like to share with you how to clean chanterelles from dirt but mostly sand. You need to know that the most effective way is washing mushroom under running water, however, they loose some of their taste and aroma.First you an try to clean them gently with a brush but if that doesn’t help and there is lots of sand between gills – water with salt is the last resort. 

Steps to clean:

1. Brush gently the leaves and sand
2. Fill a bowl with 1 litre of lukewarm water + 1 tbsp salt and mix well
3. Place few mushroom in water, and stir
4. Leave for a minute or 2, the sand, dirt and gross bits should fall on the bottom while mushroom should stay on top
5. Remove mushroom gently one by one with strainer spoon
6. Place on paper tower or cotton cloth until they dry
7. Store in paper bag, never in plastic