Pig's ear or Chanterelle

Fruiting body funnel-shaped or spatula-like, 4-15 cm tall and wide, with an uneven wavy or deeply cleft edge. It often grows as a cluster of “ears” fused on a common base. Upper surface color: young ones are violet-lilac, turning purplish brown to brown with age; the center is darker, the edge paler. The surface is smooth, faintly shiny in wet weather and matte in dry.

The chanterelle's cap is 3–10 cm across. In young mushrooms it's convex with an inrolled margin; with time it becomes flattened and spread out and noticeably funnel-shaped — the margin lifts upward and takes on a wavy outline.

The color is bright yellow-orange or egg-yolk yellow, more rarely paler — from light ochre to almost whitish in shady spots. The surface is smooth and dry, slightly velvety to the touch, like apricot skin. In mature specimens the cap often merges into the stem with no visible transition — the mushroom looks as if carved from a single piece of ochre wax.

The hymenophore is not gilled and not tubed — it consists of folds and wrinkles running down the “stem”, uneven, forked and blunt (like a chanterelle's but coarser). Color violet-lilac to purplish brown, paler than the top of the cap. Spore print yellowish ocher.

The chanterelle's hymenophore is its main identifying feature. These are neither gills nor tubes, but characteristic forked ridges (false gills) that run far down the stem. The ridges are the same color as the cap: an even yellow-orange or egg-yolk yellow.

The ridges are widely spaced, thick, and joined by cross-veins — creating the impression of a three-dimensional net. The color doesn't change when pressed. It's by this feature that the true chanterelle is easy to tell from the false chanterelle, which has regular, thin gills.

There is no separate stem — the fruiting body is one piece, funnel-shaped. The lower part narrows into a sterile base 2-5 cm high, the color of the hymenophore or slightly paler.

The chanterelle's stem is short and sturdy: 3–7 cm tall, 1–3 cm thick. Cylindrical, often narrowing toward the base, often flattened and bent or slightly off-center. The surface is smooth and dry, the same yellow-orange as the cap or slightly lighter.

There's no ring and no volva — the chanterelle belongs to a family without veils. The stem is springy, dense and fleshy to the touch, with no hollows. Often several mushrooms grow together at the base into a single shared stalk.

The flesh is whitish to yellowish, firm in young ones, fibrous in old ones. It doesn't change color when cut. It has a pleasant, mild taste.

The chanterelle's flesh is dense and fleshy, cream or pale yellow when fresh. When cut or damaged, the color barely changes — it just yellows slightly over time. This is an important diagnostic feature: a true chanterelle doesn't "blue" or "redden".

The taste of the fresh flesh is mild, with a light peppery bite that's especially noticeable in the cap. In old specimens the flesh becomes a bit tough and fibrous but keeps its aroma.

A faint, pleasant mushroomy smell, sometimes with a fruity note. The taste is mild, with nothing sharp.

The smell of a fresh chanterelle is one of the most distinctive among edible mushrooms. Warm, fruity, apricot-like, with noticeable notes of dried fruit and a light hint of pepper. Some tasters detect something like dried apricots or sun-dried cherries in it.

When cut, the aroma becomes deeper and richer. Dried, the chanterelle keeps a light fruity tone but loses its freshness — so it's rarely dried, and more often pickled or frozen fresh.