Laetiporus aka Sulfur Shelf or Chicken of the Woods Mushroom

reply to post by JacKatMtn

There are only one or two toxic boletes and all of them have red or orange/yellow gills and none that I can think of are deadly.

I wish Porcini were down here...I used to hunt them in Maine.

Porcini are fairly easy to know once you have studied it. Also known as Boletus Edulis or King Bolete....it is one of the three along with truffles and Morels finest edible mushrooms.

There is old man's beard...3 in that genus none toxic all delish and no lookalikes and easy to know...

Hen of the woods grows at the base of trees and is also good

So are oysters and chantrelles.

All are easy to know once you know what to look for.




[edit on 29-9-2009 by grover]

reply to post by grover


porcini? the one's I believe are in the woods nearby were this type:



King bolete = porcini?

Never connected the two, though I have heard they are delicious..

look like the above, and have a spongy underside, not finned... hmmmm..

reply to post by JacKatMtn


That is the porcini without a doubt...It is a bolete in that it has pores instead of gills...both of which can be separated from the body of the mushroom unlike bracket or polypore mushrooms of which chicken of the woods is an example of in which its spore producing pores are an intergral part of the flesh of the mushroom.

It has a bulbous stalk that is often thicker at its base than where it connects with the cap which is brick red.

If you brush the gills they should not blush but some varieties will.

It is often maggot riddled so the best time to hunt for them is in the very early morning.

The flesh is dense and delicious with a complex woodsy meaty flavor which is highlighted if dried. I just bought a pound of dried porcini from an Italian grocery when I was up in Maine a couple of weeks ago and the scent off dried porcini hints of chocolate.

They make an incredible cream soup both fresh or dried and fresh they can be treated like steaks.

What about the possibility of smoke drying?
Has any one tried smoking any mushrooms?

reply to post by Donny 4 million


I've never done it, but I know people who have. it doesn't take very long to smoke mushrooms. I'm guessing if you smoked them during the drying process, they'd be way too smoky. You could probably smoke them and then dry them, I never really thought about it. But both the smoking and the drying really intensifies the flavor. It may be too much, unless you're intending to use the end result as a seasoning rather than a real ingredient.

reply to post by JacKatMtn


Yuck mushrooms *shudders* but nice to see a fellow forager

This year i've used my local food map to collect a ton of food.

Thread about making a food map


Blackberries, strawberries, bullaces, horseradish, apples, garlic, and much much more. I have around 16 jars of jam! Perfect for winter toast and a good source of vitamin C I love collecting the wild foods, they are healthy, very tasty and it saves a ton of money.

Wild horseradish is absolutely fierce stuff though!

reply to post by yeahright


Makes good sence. I guess you would apply the smoke early in the drying process to set the flavor in the pores and then remove the smoke and continue drying. Getting me hungry. Bon appetit!

reply to post by grover


Thank you for the link to Rogers mushrooms .
The Easy key and Visual key are awesome.
Great group of sites.

Holly Morris is featuring Mushrooms on Fox today.
I think something about a festival at Brookside Gardens near DC.

Hi Jack,

nice-looking mushrooms you got there. We get them here as well and know them by the name "Sirovec zlutooranzovy". These have a good flavor, but it's best to pick and eat only the young ones. When they are older they are too tough and don't have much flavour either.

The Czechs are passionate about collecting mushrooms, so much so that we have dictionaries/encyclopedias of mushrooms on sale here, as well as ones online. Besides giving details of appearance, where to find them and when to pick, they also explain how to store or cook them and often give recipes as well.

Here's the Laetiporus on one of our Czech websites. (I'm not uploading images from this site as they are copyright and -- errrm -- I live here. )
Laetiporus sulphuraeus

We classify mushrooms into several categories, both in terms of their appearance and also their value. I won't go into the details here but the basic classifications are non-poisonous versus poisonous and then edible and non-poisonous versus the others. However, the Czechs have saying that "every mushroom is edible, but some only once." As another poster said, there are no old, bold mushroomers...

Surprisingly, many that are seen as "toadstools" in the West are actually delicious and not poisonous at all, while some of the tastiest "mushroom" ones can be deadly. For example, Hmmm... Maybe I should start a thread about mushroom-collecting in Europe if it's not been done already. There are hundreds of edible fungi if a person knows where to look.

Edit: btw that Boletus Edulis is a superb mushroom. We call them "Hrib smrkovy", "smrk" meaning "spruce", and "Hrib" meaning it's one of the Boletus family. They are most common in forests where needle-leaf trees grow. (ie Conifers) This is due mainly to the ph value of the soil or humus they need to grow in. One reason we like them -- besides the taste -- is that they are fairly hard-bodied so they don't tend to get so readily infested with larvae. They are also excellent for drying and can then be stored, preferably in muslin bags (not glass jars). It's best not to dry mushrooms in direct sunlight as the sun's rays can deteriorate their quality. Sliced thin and laid out on a screen and dried over a couple of days is best.

Most Boletus mushrooms are safe but some are poisonous. For example, Boletus Satanus (we call it Hrib satan) is one to avoid as it can cause pretty nasty gastro trouble. (It's not deadly, though.) Fortunately it's pretty easy to identify by its creamy to silver-grey coloured cap, the deep orange-red sponge underside and the bulbous stem. If you slice one lengthways the inside changes to a blue colour. (Slicing a mushroom in half is often an excellent way to assist in identifying it.) You can cook these mushrooms in ways to make them edible but it's not recommended!

The "taste test": a mushroom's taste is no guide whatsoever to its toxicity or lack of it. Some mushrooms which taste foul or bitter are non-poisonous and will not do you harm (if you can manage to eat them ), while others, including possibly the deadliest of all ( Amanita phalloides ) are just the opposite. In one of my references it says "according to survivors, the Amanita tastes delicious". In short, if you have no idea what it is, then don't taste it.

Final notes: someone mentioned that mushrooms sometimes seem to pop up in large numbers after a forest fire. Yes, this can happen. The reason is that if the fire's radiant heat is not too intense, it serves to warm the ground. Fungi are very temperature-dependent, and so if it's warm and there is adequate moisture some varieties will grow. Unfortunately, other varieties that are highly symbiotic to certain trees or even mouldering logs can be decimated and it can take years for them to recover -- if they ever do in the affected region.

People, if you find a mushroom that you know is poisonous or inedible, please don't kick it out of the ground or harm it in any way! The symbiotic relationships of some fungi are very fragile, with certain inedible species helping edible ones to grow. They also serve useful purposes by helping to break down organic matter, and besides that, some species that are inedible to us are food for animals. (eg. Some types of squirrels can eat death caps with no ill effects!)

Mike

[edit on 6/10/09 by JustMike]

reply to post by JacKatMtn


Here's a nice recipe for this fungi:


lucilleiacovelli.blogspot.com...

[edit on 17-10-2009 by covelli]