Laetiporus aka Sulfur Shelf or Chicken of the Woods Mushroom

Autumn is the time to find these edible mushrooms, I hapened upon a nice batch of them driving home from town this afternoon..

Nicknamed chicken of the woods, it's an easily identifiable fungi, and one that would be a source of food should the SHTF..

If you are going to try these out, sample a small amount at first since some people do have a mild allergic reaction to this one..

Here are some references on this mushroom...

www.wildmanstevebrill.com...

www.localharvest.org... (pretty pricey)

en.wikipedia.org...


Here's the batch I harvested an hour ago:




Wonderful color

They say that these do well if you freeze them for future us..


I am wondering if any members have had the opportunity to dine on these beauties and would love to hear your recipes, and experiences with the chicken of the woods

My mushrooms ALWAYS turn into a slimy black mush when frozen. Unless you dry them out thoroughly first. Those do look tasty though. Better eat them fresh. I have heard of troops of folks that follow forest fires because after a fire for some reason the mushrooms grow much better. These people harvest the shrooms and make money to keep up the nomadic lifestyle. They probably chow down on lots of tasty gourmet dining while they are at it.

Sweet Find! After the "other thread" on the subject I actually had to go and do a little reading on edible shrooms. If I remember right, don't you just use the outer, softer meat when preparing those?

I used to live in upstate N.Y. when I was young and those were literally everywhere. I absolutely intend on doing a little "wild" mushroom hunting myself in the future.

Enjoy em'!

Peace

reply to post by groingrinder


I think you have to blanche these as you would fresh veg that you want to preserve before freezing...

If I remember correctly that stops the enzyme process..

I am still searching for some good ways to preserve, I have another batch that I haven't touched, and this haul is over 2lbs, no way I will be able to put these down all at once..

The Mrs. won't touch anything called mushrooms, so they're all mine

Will post if I find a good preservatio method for these..


@ lernmore, I think it depends on how young you find them, this batch is tender from top to bottom, as they age the bottom starts to get firm and woody, that's the part you would cut off..

best way to preserve is to dry them .

get some clean peices of printing paper about four. tape them together to make a big envelope. open at one end. cut them up put them in htis envolope. and weigh down the corners. now set up a desk fan infront of it so it blows air into it.
(right infront of it) and leave this running for two days.

this should get them cracker dry. then get a xiplock bag chuck em in, and put em in glass, jar. and these will keep indefinatly in the freezer.

reply to post by MR BOB


Sounds easy, then just rehydrate as necessary whenever the need for these arises?


warm water soak deal?

reply to post by JacKatMtn


its that simple to dry

never rehydrated them myself but i would imagaine so. if making soup i would just chuck them in .

reply to post by MR BOB


Thanks! Going to try your way in addition to a couple of others for comparison purposes..

Drying them sounds like the best so far, especially if you are in the survival mode, since freezers may not be viable

reply to post by MR BOB


I made a frame with screen at both ends and a box window fan at the top pointed down. The top screen lifts out. A couple days and mine are dry as a cracker. I like to eat them with orange juice or cranberry juice.

I love mushrooms, but I've never had enough faith in my identification skills to harvest my own. My parents used to get me these little button mushroom grow them yourself kits to grow your own in your closet, though. I even entered some in our county fair a couple times as a kid.

reply to post by groingrinder


That sounds like a good idea, do you have any pics of the rig?

reply to post by JacKatMtn


I collected a bunch like in your OP yesterday. I was on my quad in the high mountains. They were growing on a oak log.
They were home to several salamanders and spiders.
Can I sue you if I die from eating them? lol

reply to post by Donny 4 million


This is America! You can sue anybody for anything. Collecting, however, may be a different deal. Personally, I'd avoid eating salamanders and spiders under any circumstances.

~rimshot~

The only wild fungi I've ever been confident enough to harvest and eat are the morels. Black ones don't get huge but the yellow (or big yallers, as they're colloquially called) can grow pretty big.

Split lengthwise and cleaned, egg wash and cracker crumb coating, fried up in an iron skillet, there never seems to be enough left over to dry. Diced in an omelet or scrambled eggs with ham and cheese pretty awesome as well.

For those chicken of the woods, I might try them in this recipe for creek bank skillet taters as reported by local legend and all-around outdoor guy, Bayou Bill Scifres.

Figured I'd add these as well as they are my favorite wild mushrooms.

Morels. MMMMMMMM..



Fall Sponge Mushrooms (they grow at the base of white and black oak trees) are almost as good.

reply to post by JacKatMtn


My camera is broken at the moment. You simply make a plywood frame about six inches deep so that the two frames that are screened can fit snugly inside. The bottom screen is glued in, but the top one rests on half inch square supports about an inch long glued along the inside edge of the top. I prop it up on bricks to let the air flow out the bottom.

reply to post by yeahright


I will have to visit Bill's site more often. My mouth is still watering.
Throw in a few chocolate covered sallys and crickets for desert. Wow!
Dehydrate the critters before coating.

Being colorblind, mushrooms scare the bejesus out of me. They would be a resource of last resort because I just know I would end up killing myself by choosing the wrong ones.

reply to post by JacKatMtn


A friend of mine has adapted an old frig for drying wood. It uses the original light bulb and he installed a fan for convection. There may be a small vent. Not sure. The racks are great for air flow.

I have used them instead of chicken in enchiladas...came out quite good.

reply to post by burdman30ott6

As an experienced fungi hunter I offer these suggestions...

Get more than one guide book cross referencing is all important and helps weed out mistakes since names can change depending on region and the ever changing nature of fungi species identification...trust me its complex.

After going through dozens I recommend these three:

The Audubon guide to the mushrooms of North America

Roger Phillips Guide to the mushrooms of North America (he also has an excellent website: www.rogersmushrooms.com... )

David Arora's Mushrooms Demystified

For my money they are the best ones out there...they all have their strengths and weaknesses.

Use the Audubon guide as your carry along in your basket or back pocket.

Use the other two when you get home...Arora's for its excellent identification guides and user friendly approach and Phillips for the most scientific approach (but not so user friendly)

I always cross reference every single mushroom I pick even if I know it like the back of my hand...

AND always when in doubt throw it out...If you use that as a mantra and practice it religiously you will live to be a dirty old man.

There are as they say old mushroom hunters and there are bold mushroom hunters but there are no old bold mushroom hunters.

[edit on 29-9-2009 by grover]