The Pheasant Back mushroom Cerioporus squamosus, also known as Dryad’s Saddle begins to appear in Vermont and New England forests around the month of May. Thus making it one of the first things to forage for in the northeast. Although this mushroom is by no means a culinary all-star, it does have some qualities that make it a worth while foraged food.
There are a few characteristics you will be looking for when identifying a Pheasant Back or Dryad’s Saddle mushroom. The most obvious and perhaps best way to I.D. this mushroom is just by looking at it. There is not much else that resembles this fungus in Vermont or New England, and although not always a reliable method for identification, sight is nearly foolproof for this particular mushroom.
You will notice the mushroom has an off-white, brownish, cream color, and that it is covered in darker brown to black scales. The scale placement can be pretty sporadic, and you don’t need to concern yourself with the arrangement.
The next thing you will want to look at with this mushroom is the underside. Being a polypore, it has a quite distinct look from that of the traditional gills. You will notice tiny tube looking structures that resemble tiny pores. You can see this in the picture below.
Lastly you will notice that the pheasant back mushroom will be growing on a dead or living hardwood tree and attached via a noticeably short stalk. If you are still uncertain, you can take spore print to confirm. The spore print will be white.
Like I mentioned earlier, this is no all-star mushroom in the culinary world. It can be downright inedible if you pick an older specimen. The older the get, the harder and more firm the mushroom becomes. Really, once the fungus is more than a few weeks old, you can pretty much forget about eating it.
So if you find a young specimen, no bigger than the palm of your hand, you are in luck. These young mushrooms will be tender enough for you to forage and enjoy the unique flavor the Pheasant Back mushroom offers. It is often described as having notes of cucumber and lemon, and I agree.
You can cook this mushroom like any other by sauteing in butter for a short period of time. And like every other mushroom, it is fantastic eaten this way. However, I do believe there has to be a better way to utilize this mushrooms unique cucumber flavor, I just have yet to figure it out!
