Fall Mushroom Hunting??

[1861navy]

Anyone been out and about hunting Maitake and sulphur shelf? Better known as hen of the woods and chicken of the woods respectively. Found a few pounds of Hens, was a little late on the Chickens, but still got some for dinner. Managed to get a few pounds of Hens frozen too.

 

[hooky]

I'm not familiar enough with anything other than morels to trust them/myself enough to eat them.

 

[jimbobcooters]

a buddy found some nice chicken of woods just a few days ago out in brown co. i personally have never checked my woods

 

[dusty88]

interested but not knowledgeable about this

 

[mom45]

I have been looking and seeing lots of mushrooms, but even with the book I bought, I am not sure what I am seeing are good to eat. We got some "sheepshead" given to us last year and I love them, but my husband got sick on them and won't touch anything but morels now.

 

[1861navy]

For those who might be interested in reading on the subject a little I'll post some links in a sec.

mom45; "sheepshead" is another common name for maitake, or scientific name Grifola Frondosa.

As with all mushrooms and plants some people may have allergies that cause various symptoms, or if the mushroom is not gathered from a clean environment, I.e. near major highways or polluted waterways this can also cause sickness. Sometimes the mushroom is aged, or in the case of most mushrooms, especially Hens and Chickens they will grow through whatever is in their way and nasties get in. In hen of the woods because of all the crevices and moisture content, and it's habitat, growth rate, and climatic growing conditions. It can harbor a white mold that resembles it's spores, because it has a white spore print this also can cause sickness. On top of that all mushrooms have a sign that they are too bad and start to yellow, in hens the yellowing happens on the under side, this as well can cause sickness. I'm not saying one of those was the case, but they are possibilities.

Grifola frondosa: The Hen of the Woods (MushroomExpert.Com)

Hen of the Woods, Maitake or Sheepshead Mushroom (Grifola frondosa) - AmericanMushrooms.com

A couple videos on maitake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw7JwLBvkPY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtLp0oaLdEw

 

[hooky]

Thanks for the info

 

[bwframe]

Greenedog has:

[video=youtube_share;zVnOQUfgyYs]http://youtu.be/zVnOQUfgyYs[/video]

 

[1861navy]

Hooky; you're welcome.


That was a good video bwframe/greenedog. They are exceptionally heavy, I pulled three out today the size of basketballs. I'm guessing each weighed around 8-10 lbs. I've definitely got enough to last till spring and I've only gathered 5 mushrooms, morels have nothing on these and their season is longer than morels.

 

[Yeah]

I've found enough maitake to sate my appetite for them, my woods always show more than enough.

How do you prepare your sulphur shelf? I also have plenty of those but they've never fit my taste.

 

[mom45]

Thanks for the info as well. The mushroom we got was taken from a clean area in the woods so I doubt it was contaminated, other than some sand. I washed it wel and got 99% of the sand out of it. It isn't gritty at least when we eat it so I assume I did pretty well with cleaning it.

Hubby has a sensitive stomach apparently. Lots of things seem to upset him that don't cause problems for anyone else.

 

[1861navy]

Thanks for the info as well. The mushroom we got was taken from a clean area in the woods so I doubt it was contaminated, other than some sand. I washed it wel and got 99% of the sand out of it. It isn't gritty at least when we eat it so I assume I did pretty well with cleaning it.

Hubby has a sensitive stomach apparently. Lots of things seem to upset him that don't cause problems for anyone else.

That's understandable, since mushrooms are hard to digest sensitive people do occasionally have trouble with them. As far as dirt, I know from experience that you wouldn't know it unless it was a big chunk, same goes for bugs etc. I've often eaten and a few times cooked for people(I did tell them beforehand, and show them) hens with bits of leaves, dirt and bugs, after cooking, they couldn't tell. Often the hens after sporing will get small worms in the pores, these things are tiny, a little larger than fleas. Sorry I'm rambling.

 

[mom45]

That's understandable, since mushrooms are hard to digest sensitive people do occasionally have trouble with them. As far as dirt, I know from experience that you wouldn't know it unless it was a big chunk, same goes for bugs etc. I've often eaten and a few times cooked for people(I did tell them beforehand, and show them) hens with bits of leaves, dirt and bugs, after cooking, they couldn't tell. Often the hens after sporing will get small worms in the pores, these things are tiny, a little larger than fleas. Sorry I'm rambling.

Okay...I'm going to pretend I didn't read the part about worms. I can handle dirt. It is good for my immune system (that's what I said about my kids when they ate dirt) but ewwwwww on the worms. I will just have to assume that freezing the mushrooms kills them and between freezing and cooking, they absolutely don't stand a chance!

 

[hooky]

Protein

 

[1861navy]

I've found enough maitake to sate my appetite for them, my woods always show more than enough.

How do you prepare your sulphur shelf? I also have plenty of those but they've never fit my taste.

Oh the maitake are so plentiful, I pulled 8 this week the size of basketballs. Had to use my crock pot, large stock pan, and all 3 large mixing bowls to soak them. I've got enough to last past morel season now.

As far as the chickens, after soaking a good few hours in saltwater and drying, I cook them like most things, in butter. In the pic you see above, there was onions, red and green pepper, butter(grassfed), celtic sea salt, fresh cracked black, red and white peppercorns, garlic powder, celery salt, and a little paprika. That night the chickens went into turkey spaghetti. I've also just cooked them in butter, salt, pepper and garlic, and they still taste great. I cook mine until I see some browning on the mushroom usually 10-15 minutes, on medium. Another word about sulphur shelf, there are overall several species that are similar none toxic. But two more common species, both edible and choice, but one is more so than the other IMO. There is Laetiporous sulphureus, Laetiporous Cincinnatus. Cincinnatus variety is generally much more pale on top, almost pink in most cases, though it can be orange, orange red etc. This is the one that is IMO better tasting, but not much of a noticeable difference to the average person. The underside of Cincinnatus is white instead of yellow. Also the whole of Cincinnatus is edible, unlike sulphureus where only the outer 2 inches are edible.

Some info on the Cincinnatus variety: Laetiporus cincinnatus (MushroomExpert.Com)

 

[1861navy]

Okay...I'm going to pretend I didn't read the part about worms. I can handle dirt. It is good for my immune system (that's what I said about my kids when they ate dirt) but ewwwwww on the worms. I will just have to assume that freezing the mushrooms kills them and between freezing and cooking, they absolutely don't stand a chance!

That's one way of doing it, you could soak them a few hours or overnight in saltwater, that gets rid of them as they don't tunnel deep into the flesh of the mushroom. But either way they are good protein like hooky said.

 

[mom45]

That's one way of doing it, you could soak them a few hours or overnight in saltwater, that gets rid of them as they don't tunnel deep into the flesh of the mushroom. But either way they are good protein like hooky said.

I did soak them well overnight so maybe that wasn't it. Oh well, I get plenty of protein in my apples every day too. I should be plenty healthy.

 

[hooky]

"The only thing worse than biting into an apple and finding a worm is biting into an apple and finding half a worm." ~ Grandpa Hooky

 

[Michigan Slim]

Was bowhunting with my daughter Saturday. I thought I was seeing a big white deer belly in the next CRP field. Walked by on the way out and there were puffballs the size of basketballs. I just missed them being good. They had just started to turn inside. HUGE

 

[1861navy]

Was bowhunting with my daughter Saturday. I thought I was seeing a big white deer belly in the next CRP field. Walked by on the way out and there were puffballs the size of basketballs. I just missed them being good. They had just started to turn inside. HUGE

I went out today and caught some pear shaped puffballs, and gem studded puffballs. Things were looking overall pretty dry in the woods today.