Found chicken of the woods today

Considered one of 4 the safest mushrooms to identify, and considered gourmet eating. Off the log I got just over 3 1/2 lbs of really nice fresh mushrooms, I left behind anything that was not choice, old or had needles on and in them, I left about 2 or 3 times what I took home.


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Here are the ones I found today, the top one is oner 12 inches long. The darker orange side is down, look how nice these babies are!

Do they have a look alike that can't be eaten?

I love picking and eating oyster mushrooms and reishi mushrooms and....

Cool! What kind of recipes do you like the mushrooms in?

Soooooo jealous!!
YUM!!!

a reply to: onequestion

Here in SE Alaska I know of no look alikes, but did link some info.

Entering the Mushrooms class I was a mycophagophobe; I was someone who was afraid to eat mushrooms, especially ones that I had collected. Any wild mushroom was too dangerous for me. It was not until I discovered Laetiporus sulphureus– Chicken of the Woods, that I felt comfortable enough to identify a fungus and then eat it. David Arora remarks in Mushrooms Demystified that this is one of the “foolproof four” — an unmistakable mushroom.

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As with all foraging, the safest way to learn how to find Chicken of the Woods is to go hunting with an expert before heading out on your own. There are a few inedible, shelf-like mushrooms that beginners sometimes confuse with Chicken of the Woods, such as Hapalopilus croceus, Inonotus, and Bondarzewia berkeleyi. Although these polypore species are not poisonous, they taste like wood.

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a reply to: Atsbhct

Sautéed with green onion is a favorite, though tonight’s mushrooms will be made into a scramble with chives, cheddar and mozzarella cheese.

Some ideas on cooking and harvesting...

A NOVICE MUSHROOMERS SEARCH FOR SULPHER SHELF MUSHROOMS... AKA "CHICKEN OF THE WOODS"....THE FAMOUS POLYPORE.....Laetiporus sulphureus...EASILY IDENTIFIED ,NO POISON LOOK ALIKES....BUT IT IS RECOMMENDED NOT TO BE EATENED OFF OF LOCUST....EUCALYPTUS...AND CONIFERS...SO DO YOUR RESEARCH...WHEN IN DOUBT...THROW IT OUT....SAFE TRAILS

a reply to: AlaskanDad

For next time,

Take what you need and smash the remaining thus spreading the spores.

The re-growth next year will double.

Jude

a reply to: AlaskanDad

Beautiful.

We get a lot of chantrelles down here in Louisiana this time of year. They are delicious. They look a little like these, pretty orange/yellow color with fins under the cap, but grow on a stalk in the ground.

One of my favorite ways to eat those is to make a chicken broth (with stock or bullion) and do up like I'm going to fix a chicken soup, but use chantrelles instead of chicken meat.

Of course, sauteed with anything (in butter or olive oil, with garlic and other goodies) is always good.

Now I want to go check my favorite chanterelle patch, there is nothing like fresh chanterelle mushrooms, venison steaks and a good homebrew!

We have had lots of rain since the 4th of July, which has been good for the mushrooms.



Edit: incoserv I just posted this, then I saw your post. I love the chanterelles too!

a reply to: AlaskanDad

I've never heard of these. Thanks for sharing. Do you know what states they grow in?

a reply to: Skid Mark

I've picked the on the wet side of WA and here in SE AK, but reading says they grow on both coasts.

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a reply to: AlaskanDad

Thanks a lot. I'll have to go looking for them this fall then. They said in the videos not to eat them if they're growing on softwoods or conifers. Why is that? Does it make them toxic or is it that they taste bad if they grow on them?

ETA: I just asked my buddy about them. He said they grow in this area. Yes! I can't wait to go get some.

a reply to: Skid Mark

Up here they grow on Sitka Spruce, we don't have much hardwoods in this area.

In some cases eating the mushroom "causes mild reactions . . . for example, swollen lips" or in rare cases "nausea, vomiting, dizziness and disorientation" to those who are sensitive.[4] This is believed to be due to a number of factors that range from very bad allergies to the mushroom's protein, to toxins absorbed by the mushroom from the wood it grows on (for example, eucalyptus or cedar or yew) to simply eating specimens that have decayed past their prime

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Only shrooms I hunt for grow up north under cow crap or next to pine trees.

Gold cap with a white stem or red cap with white spots...They don't taste the best but it will make your walls melt and you will never laugh so hard in your life.

Mick Dodge loves em, too…

ETA: the warning from other members here about identification should be taken seriously. Unless you know how to accurately identify exactly which species you are after don't go "mushroom hunting" in the woods.

Some of the most serious Bio warfare agents are derived from some species. If you don't know what a 'spore print' is you don't know how to even begin to hunt for shrooms.

We have chicken of the woods here in many places. We have lots of oyster mushrooms too. There is hen of the woods too. I do know the chicken of the woods to ID it and also the oysters. The hen of the woods I know is out there from a friend who showed me some of them he had collected.

a reply to: rickymouse

Once I thought I found some oysters mushrooms here in Alaska, they were on a dead log that was down and they were smaller than what I had picked in WA. Just was not sure so did not pick them, better safe tan sorry.

Another mushroom I have picked here in Alaska and Washington is the angel wing;



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a reply to: Murgatroid

Thanks for those videos! Fun thread.

a reply to: AlaskanDad

About the only thing I can find here in SC AK with any consistancy is king bolettes. Not a fan. Between the ridiculous number of them that are bug infested and inedible and the fact that neither my wife nor my children are mushroom fans, I've stopped mushroom hunting completely.