By Derek Cornet

Bumper crop expected for chantarelle mushrooms in northern Sask.

Aug 9, 2022 | 4:50 PM

LA RONGE, Sask. — Chantarelle mushroom buyers are anticipating a bumper crop this summer and are currently offering $8 or more per pound.

Lac La Ronge Indian Band member, Jane Clinton, is one of several buyers operating in the region at the moment, doing so about 30 kilometres south of La Ronge at the Highway 2 and 165 Junction. She began purchasing mushrooms about two weeks ago and she explained it’s really starting to get busy.

“The old timers who have been doing this for so long, they prefer to wait until the mushrooms are a decent size, and then there are the early birds who want to get that money from the mushrooms,” Clinton said. “Now they are decent size, so the pickers are just starting to come out.”

Clinton is buying chantarelles on behalf of Ponderosa Mushrooms and Speciality Foods, a wholesaler based in Maple Ridge, B.C. There the mushrooms are cleaned, sorted and then finally shipped to destinations all over the world.

Chanterelles are the most sought after mushroom in northern Saskatchewan. Clinton noted they are one of a kind and have a uniqueness found no where else.

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“I buy in B.C. also and the yellow chanterelles there are just as yellow, but they don’t have the same smell and flavour,” she said. “There are mushrooms in Ontario. They look the same, but they don’t have the spicy, zesty taste that we have here.”

Gailene Cook is also buying chantarelles about a kilometre away from Clinton. Both women are offering $8 per pound, but reportedly slightly higher prices can be found in the Bear River area.

Cook, who is buying for Burnaby, B.C.-based West Coast Wild Foods, stated weather conditions are optimal for a bumper crop.

“It was slow at first and small mushrooms, but now they are coming in and they are beautiful,” she said.

Gailene Cook has been coming to the area to pick or buy mushrooms for eight years. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

Cook also noted the chantarelles that grow in northern Saskatchewan are top-grade and are supposed to be better tasting. She added it is an important industry for many northerners.

“For [the] people to be able to go out and pick like they do and make money out of here,” Cook said. “It’s very important to them and they love doing it. They are good, clean pickers.”

Both women expected to continue buying mushrooms until at least the end of August.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno