SASKATOON – It has been a summer of thrills and disappointments for Saskatchewan mushroom gatherers.
Last year’s widespread forest fires created perfect conditions for a bountiful morel mushroom harvest, but when pickers went out to gather the fungi, they found merely an average crop, said provincial agrologist Gerry Ivanochko of La Ronge, Sask.
“We got some, but not the volumes expected,” said Ivanochko. He guessed the late, cold spring stopped the early-maturing mush-rooms from taking advantage of good growing conditions left by the fires.
Many buyers from outside the province were disappointed. Only about 7,000 kilograms of morels were gathered.
But that was followed by an excellent chanterelle mushroom haul, Ivanochko said.
“It’s been a fantastic crop,” he said of the small, firm, orange mushrooms. Because the season is just finishing , it will be some time before he knows how many chanterelles were gathered.
Northern mushrooms can’t be cultivated. They grow naturally inside cool forests, relying on low temperatures and dampness to allow them to swell and grow.
