It's been Chanterelle season in Alabama since July, only recently have they been not fruiting. Eastern chanterelles, however, are smaller. Gotta say though, the variety has been amazing! I go grab my list.......Cantharellus Cibarius (a white-fleshed/yellow cap variety and an all-yellow flesh variety which was more delicious), Cantharellus Cinnabarinus (red chanterelles, have a spicy taste raw but a very rich flavor when sauteed); Craterellus Minor (yellow funnel chanterelle - tastes just like the Cibarius but very thin....large collections fail to add up to more than a bite!); Craterellus Ignicolor (orange funnel - tastes like a cross between chanterelles and cinnamon); Craterellus Fallax (the salmon-tinted black trumpets - almost tastes exactly like morels, only more....chanterelley...I love them dearly!); Craterellus Odoratus (yellow trumpets! They're pretty much like an exact cross between black trumpets and cibarius - the shape of the trumpet with the color and fleshy thickness of the cibarius, and a flavor somewhere in between....kinda like ultra-awesome-goodness, but they're more rare around here than the black trumpets); and Craterellus Cinereus ("black chanterelle" pretty much a barely-there black trumpet with the insides fused together into a single mushroom-shaped mass which, like so many other little chanterelles, fail to add up to more than a small bite)....

I can understand the word "Cantharellologist"...fascinating stuff. Tasty too. On cooking: I prefer a butter or olive-oil sautee. Made a souffle once, it was okay, made a quiche and it was much better but hard to find the flavor of the mushrooms in it, so I've largely been just eating 'em right off the pan.