Gardening: Chanterelle mushrooms are a good as gold to chefs

Q. I have been walking in a wooded part of our property and have noticed large patches of bright golden yellow mushrooms. They have ridges but not “gills.” What are they and are they safe to eat?

A. The golden mushrooms are Chanterelles, one of the most favorite of all mushrooms. A new flush of these mushrooms is appearing after the heavy rains we have had.

You can find them dried in in cellophane bags in grocery stores at a steep price. A lot of mushroom hunters go after the morels in spring, but chefs prefer this group of mushrooms. They have a fruit flavor. They are commonly found in hardwood tree forests. They usually have a sweet odor when freshly picked. If you place one on a piece of white paper and cover the cap with a coffee cup overnight, you should find pinkish or yellow spores (depending upon the species) on the paper in the morning.

If you want to dry Chanterelles, use a small brush to cleean off most of the dirt that may be on them, wash them and place them in a food dehydrator. The flavor intensifies when they dry to the consistency of leather.

Q. I have a rosebush I started from a twig my father gave me in 1988. He told me to stick it in the ground and it would grow into a bush. He had started this twig from his own bush. He had Alzheimer’s at the time so I was a “Doubting Thomas,” but we did it anyway. Low and behold the twig did blossom into a bush. It is still blooming beautifully year after year to this day.

I would like to start a new bush for my siblings so that they too will have roses from my father’s plant. My husband has tried to do this several times and we have never been able to produce another bush from a twig. Do you have any idea how we can start a new rosebush from an existing one?

A. Take cuttings from the healthiest branch of a plant that has just produced a flower. Cound down from the point of the flower to the sixth set of leaves to get the right texture for a cutting. Cut off the remains of the flower just above the first set of leaves. Then remove the two bottom sets of leaves. This will allow nodes to show where the leaves were attached.

Place this cutting in a location which receives only the morning sun and dig the stem into the soil so only the leaves are showing above the soil level. You may want to dip the stem into a rooting hormone, which will speed up the rooting process. Then cover each cutting with a glass mason jar and push the jar into the soil securely. Water the soil around the outside of the jar. You usually do not have to worry about adding any more water because the moisture will condense on the jar and run back down into the soil.

New shoots may appear within three or four weeks. But you want to make sure that the roots have developed. This technique can be done anytime from midsummer until about two weeks before the first frost (usually Oct. 20 in our area). You may have to shade these cuttings during July and August so that the afternoon sun does not shine directly on them. Wait until the following spring to move the plants just to be sure there is a great root system for success.

This story was originally published July 23, 2015 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Gardening: Chanterelle mushrooms are a good as gold to chefs."