Summer Flavours of Boston....

As a recent resident of Boston whom lacks the passion for this city, the farmer's market at Copley Square is a great escape, twice a week during the summer months.


Though with the limited selections, and prices that can easily top off similar stalls in the Big Apple....in the presence of fresh produce in pristine colours, and the fragrance from the woods that recalls your memories of summer wilderness, it is hardly a challenge for ones' mindset to transform from tiredness towards adventurous, looking forward to the challenge to the upcoming dinner.


The excitement doesn't end there when you have the pleasure to stumble across a store while its proud owner is presenting the rare variety of the mycorrhzial edible fungus....picked from the wild....the Golden Chantrelles, or the Cantharellus.


The chanterelle exists by forming symbiotic associations with plants, thus making it very challenging to cultivate. C. cibarius is the best known species of this genus is the Golden chanterelle, which is orange or yellow, meaty and funnel-shaped. On the lower surface, underneath the smooth cap, it has gill-like ridges that run almost all the way down its stem. It has a fruity smell and a mildly peppery taste, and the gill-like ridges helps with the release of its intense flavour into your dish....though, they also make water a lethal weapon for leaching out the flavours and aromas from the chanterelles. With such delicate structure, this mushroom is best cleaned with a slight moist paper towel, using it to gently dust away the soil.


I couldn't help but admire them closely with my camera....with my mind drifting off thinking of the type of adventures these jewels are destined to head....