So many questions about the sulphur shelf mushroom that we found on an oak tree while walking out to the hives on Saturday.
Did we really eat it? Yes, and had plenty leftover for storage.
Sulphur shelf is also known as Chicken of the Woods and is one of the “Foolproof Four”–one of four edible mushrooms that you cannot mistake for anything poisonous in North America. Many claim this is a favorite to eat, and though I enjoy sulphur shelf very much, I must say that Hen of the Woods is my favorite thus far (I have yet to sample giant puffball).
Though sulphur shelf can be huge and yield quite a bit of food, the best parts are the tender outer edges. I cut off about an inch of flesh off of each bracket for a few reasons: fewer bugs, more tender and flavorful flesh, it’s more likely to keep growing and we can harvest again this summer, and other critters might want to eat it.
Even just taking the edges, I still had an over flowing bowlful of food! This is such a colorful fungus, it’s really fun to just take a moment and admire all the beauty of bright orange and sunny yellows, even after you cut into the flesh.
A good sign that you are cutting the fungus at the right time is that will drip after you cut it, this sulphur shelf was dripping like crazy–a good sign for freshness and flavor. We took the pieces inside and Mr. Neil rinsed them in water and filled the bowl with about equal parts water and white vinegar to kill off any bugs still inside. If you ever find chicken of the woods–don’t let bugs keep you from trying it–the vinegar trick works GREAT and the flavor is well worth it.
The fates were with us, because the night before, Mr. Neil had roasted a chicken and he saved the carcass. It’s a good idea to cook fungus before eating, this makes it easier to digest. We put the carcass, some potatoes, carrots, and a little chicken stock in a pot with some water and added the sulphur shelf–it was a wonderful aroma. The fungus boiled in the broth for about a half hour and we removed three baggies worth for freezing and saved the rest for dinner.
Just from simmering in the chicken broth, the chicken of the woods was most tasty. Even though this is a safe fungus to eat, it’s still a good idea to only eat a small amount for your first serving to see how your gastrointestinal tract reacts with it, so we only had a small amount with dinner. When you eat it, you can really feel a chicken like texture in your mouth, but the flavor reminds me somewhat of eggs. We ate the sulphur shelf from the soup, but saved the broth for later.
And speaking of eggs, this morning I sauteed some of the sulphur shelf in butter with some onions and corn tortillas and mixed that with some scrambled eggs. Sort of an extra ingredient to my migas recipe.
Our friend, Jody the Librarian added some melted cheese and it was a mighty fine breakfast (we also had some of our plain yogurt with honey from the Olga hive–decadence!)
For lunch, Mr. Neil took out the soup he started the night before, heated it up and added some eggs–for a sort of egg drop soup. I think this was my favorite way we had the fungus all weekend. It was so meaty and juicy from being in the broth all night. We even had some roasted with marinated chicken breast for dinner and as I type this, more sits in the freezer, and yet even more is growing on the tree–another brand spanking new bracket was found this evening. Now that’s what I call a giving tree.
There are several books out there on getting started with wild mushrooms. One I started with was written by my buddy Stan called Start Mushrooming. Another good one is Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America.
Just because it’s a product of nature doesn’t mean it’s good for you! Those fungi are a sign the tree is disease! I have a degree from Cal Ploy for crying out loud! In my studies, I never heard of cooking them! Maybe it’s okay. However, pray be careful. Also, he cooked a soup overnight? I’m also a great cook (taking classes in one of the finest culinary schools in South Pasadena)and hope he properly stored it in the frig!
Yummy? Tell us how you feel in 28 hours!
The “sulfur” then, must refer to the color. How big are the growths relative to a person?
They should be perfectly edible. I have some nice recipes for them in a mushroom cookbook at home.
What a idyllic weekend, being one with nature that way!
It sounds almost like camping, but without the irritating sand invasion or uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.
Of course things from nature are good to eat, or our ancestors would have starved to death. Knowing what your doing helps of course and it seems that you do.
Also, I’ve always thought soup and stew was better the next day after the flavours have mingled…I’ve cooked that way for years.
I guess we’re lucky to be alive.
“Cal Ploy.” Yep.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sulfur shelf, just the ordinary toadstools on trees in the North Woods. But maybe I just wasn’t looking for them, or recognizing what I was seeing enough to remember them now.
I’ll be up there next month and will be sure to keep my eyes open for dinner potential!
Very cool! I never knew there was such thing as the “Foolproof Four” and thanks for the book recommendations. I’ve been looking to get a ‘shroom book.
Neil, the author of “Babycakes,” eats chicken now? Since when?
“Babycakes”
http://ljconstantine.com/babycakes/page1.htm
Birdchick: as an addition to your migas recipe, try this for topping:
1 big tomato, sliced or chopped up
cilantro (to taste)
cumin (a little shake–like a 1/4 tsp)
salt and pepper to taste
Put the tomato pieces in a saucepan with a little water; cook them until they’re soft enough to mash with a fork (just a few minutes), then add the rest of the stuff. Simmer while you finish the migas. Use more or less water in this, depending on whether you’d like a watery salsa or dry salsa on your eggs. Then put on top of the cooked migas, then add some grated cheddar (the sharper the better!). Enjoy! Courtesy of your hispanic birding pal.
Great info! I’ve been a moderate fungophile for years, but living in the Yakima Valley, Washington (in the dry 2/3s of the state) I only ever found small puffballs (none of the morel hunters would ever take me hunting with them–wah!).
A year ago I moved to Sonoma County, CA, just north of San Francisco. I’ve found such delicacies as matsutake and various boletes, but just yesterday I discovered a good-sized sulphur shelf growing on my neighbor’s oak and asked if I could harvest some (in exchange for some of the spoils). I love David Aurora’s “Mushrooms Demystified”, but there were no real directions for preparation of this mushroom; great pics and very detailed descriptions, though…I highly recomend it for those who are just getting started mushrooming.
A word on fungophobia…it’s very prevalent. Most of the hype is just that: hype. There are some very, very poisonous mushrooms out there…even some that are easily confused with prized edible ones. However, a serious mushroomer will study his books, be careful in IDing his mushrooms, and follow the suggestion to limit his initial trial to a few bites of properly cooked mushroom. Even after, he will limit his intake of mushrooms (overindulgence is one of the prime causes of “mushroom poisoning”). After all, anything in excess can be harmful.
Just a comment to Yoga Gal…I happen to be a REAL chef and yes you can eat these mushrooms and they are quite delicious. And NO they dont mean that the tree they come from is diseased! Also as far as the soup goes as long as you keep the soup OUT of the temperature danger zone 41-140 F you can have it cooking for weeks!! I dont know what mail order school you are getting your degrees from but you better go back and ask for a refund cause you have no idea what you are talking about!
Chicken of the Woods, yummy!!!! My fiancee and I, we own a mushroom farm in SC – Mushroommountain.com, and we go mushroom hunting very often, almost every weekend. Yesterday we found 13 lbs of Chicken of the Woods.
Chicken of the woods is a very tasty mushroom, but it can cause some gastrointestinal issues in a lot of people. My best advice is before you actually prepare your chicken of the woods, cook it in water, and discard that water. the it is ready to be integrated into your recipes.
To comment on Yoga Gal, mushrooms use wood to feed on, they actually break the wood down, without mushrooms, we would have lots of wood debris on Earth and barely any soil. while the mushrooms are breaking down the wood, they metabolize lots of different goodies from trees, and if you make extracts out of lot of different species of mushrooms, they are very good for you.
For example Reishi mushroom, which is also called the Mushroom of immortality, it is anti-bacterial, anti-candida, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-tumor, anti-viral, it lowers blood pressure, it is a blood sugar moderator, great for your cardio-vascular system, a colesterol reducer, immune enhancer, kidney tonic, liver tonic, nerve tonic and a stress reducer.
I don’t get sick anymore, been super healthy ever since I started taking my mushroom extracts, and eating lots of veggies and fruits.
This is just one of the awesome fungi out there, not to mention ones that we can use to biremediate our environment.
Bon apetit, Olga
I just discovered one of these a couple days ago, and what a treat! It was fairly small maybe 1-2 lbs, and the entire thing was quite edible and delicious. I think they have in fact surpassed hen of the woods as my fav.
Mycophages of the world gotta unite to combat this mycophobia.
My first fungus find which I dared to eat. What a treat this was as well as a challenge. I am a vegetarian and sometimes I miss my non veg days. This was perfect. I found my Chicken of the Wood at the base of an old oak tree. It caught my eyes immediately, so beautiful it was. All this happened while my husband was getting his tires fixed at a gas station. As soon as I got home that day I looked up my specimen. My instinct was right. This marvel was edible. Next day I left the house with bags and knives in hand to go capture my chicken. I told my husband he said doesn’t eat it, I told my friends, and all said don’t eat it. However I had faith in my education as a horticulturist at NC State, and felt my research was sufficient to support my conclusion. I took the plunge, next day I washed the fungus which filled up 3 shopping bags and boiled in batches just like cubed chicken breast. I made a wonderful stew with vegetable stock, olive oil, lots of garlic and onions, carrots, potatoes, and Brussels sprouts and my chicken. Dinner was absolutely delicious. My husband didn’t eat it. That leaves more for me. The rest of the Chicken I put in freezer for my next meal. Thank you for all the suggestions for recopies I can’t wait to try them all. I did find somewhere that if this fungus is growing on a conifer that it can be slightly toxic… so be careful where you harvest yours. Funguses do grow on rotten trees which may be diseased, but think about it like this. The soil on which all our produce grows is nothing but dead and decaying plants even the excrements of other animals such as earth worms, cows, chickens, horses etc. Good to be cautious but do try to experience new things in life.