Where To Find Chicken Of The Woods Mushrooms

Chicken mushrooms get a bad rap from many mushroom hunters.

Where to find chicken of the woods mushrooms.

The chicken of the woods mushroom is the closest non meat ingredient to well chicken. It is available to harvest the last 6 months of the year and it tastes just like chicken. Laetiporus is a genus of edible mushrooms found throughout much of the world. Popular among novice mushroom hunters hen of the woods are commonly found growing at the base of an oak tree.

This makes them easy to spot and identify which is great for amateur mycologists. It causes a reddish brown cubical heart rot with thin areas of white mycelium visible in the cracks of the wood. Chicken of the woods mushroom is a choice edible mushroom that is jam packed with a whopping 21 grams of protein in a 2 cup serving size. They say they re tough or bland or that they don t pick chickens as some type of personal prejudice which is a shame.

You ll find them growing on the side or at the base of trees in a bright ruffled rainbow of oranges golds and yellows. The different species of the chicken of the woods mushroom are both saprotrophic feeding on dead trees and parasitic attacking and killing live trees by causing the wood to rot. For those who have found a chicken of the woods and would like cook with it here is a delicious recipe for a polypore omelet care of wild mushroom cookery. Whatever their method of feeding you ll always find them growing on or at the base of a living or dead tree.

Chicken of the woods is parasitic and saprobic on living and dead oaks also sometimes on the wood of other hardwoods. Chicken of the woods mushrooms are incredibly common in the woods and they re commonly found at farmers markets and specialty stores. These mushrooms do not appear until well after the fungus has attacked the. It is considered an annual favourite.

Wild mushrooms are only just beginning to become a part of american culinary traditions and it can be tricky to find chicken of the woods recipes. Some species especially laetiporus sulphureus are commonly known as sulphur shelf chicken of the woods the chicken mushroom or the chicken fungus because many think they taste like chicken the name chicken of the woods is not to be confused with another edible polypore maitake grifola frondosa known as hen. They are grayish brown in color and resemble the ruffled tail feathers of a sitting. 3 tablespoons butter 1 cup diced chicken of the woods 1 4 cup shredded monterey jack or cream cheese 2 or 3 shallots diced 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley 5 or 6 eggs.