The Chicken of the Woods mushroom, also known as Chicken mushroom or Sulfur Shelf is a true gem. Laetiporus sulphureus is technically what’s known as a Polypore, or Shelf mushroom. Polypores are so named due to the thousands of tiny pores which line their undersides, and release spores into the wind. Although there are hundreds of different types of polypores out there, there are only a few that are considered edible. And of these, it is the Sulphur Shelf that wins the prize for best edible shelf mushroom.
With a texture like no other mushroom, think boiled chicken, and a wonderful flavor, it is easy to see why this fungus is a culinary delight. Not to mention, chicken mushrooms are easily identified, and even easier to spot. Put all these qualities together, and you have one of my favorite foraged foods I regularly find in the Green Mountains of Vermont.
Identifying Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms
This is one of those easy to identify mushrooms, that beginners and first timers can feel confident about eating. There are really no look-a-likes, and any mushrooms that could be possibly confused with a Sulfur shelf will have a completely inedible tough texture associated with it. Here is a list of identification factors
- Sulfur shelf. I like this name better than chicken of the woods because of how accurately it describes the mushroom. For one, the underside of these mushrooms is the color of sulfur (bright yellow), while the top cap is bright orange. Also, the mushroom grows out into big shelves as it matures.
- Large numbers. Chicken mushrooms often grow in vast quantities all over the base of standing, or down hardwood trees. While I have found chickens on living trees before, it seems to be quite rare, where as decaying stumps are a much more common host for the fungus. It is not uncommon to find such large numbers of this mushroom that one could not possibly eat all of them. This is a great mushroom to practice your sustainable foraging practices on!
- Huge. These mushrooms can get to be over a foot across. Of course when they are young they will be much smaller, and they are best eaten when they are young, but if you find a foot long bright orange shelf, with a yellow underside on it, you know you have found a sulfur shelf.
