Topic: woodland fungi

[jesssands]

Was out with the dogs today and found some very attractive fungus growing on the base of a tree. Thought I'd share with you all.

Was wondering if it was of an edible variety?

[Big Gee]

Was out with the dogs today and found some very attractive fungus growing on the base of a tree. Thought I'd share with you all.

Was wondering if it was of an edible variety?

It looks like "Chicken of the Woods". As its name suggests, it has the texture and flavour of chicken. It is one of the few edible bracket fungi and is a delicacy in Germany.

However, BE VERY CAREFUL, if it is Chicken of the Woods this species causes gastric upsets in some people, so if you have not eaten it before its best to try only a little to begin with.

If you're not 100% sure that it IS this species leave it well alone. You should never eat any fungi taken from the wild unless you are absolutely certain you have correctly identified the species.

Get it checked out properly before you decide to try it. Don't take my word for it!

[jesssands]

Thanks Big Gee. I won't be eating it, I was more curious as it was such a good looking specimen!!
There is an organised walk with an expert in that woodland next month. Think we may go along, just for interest.

[Big Gee]

Thanks Big Gee. I won't be eating it, I was more curious as it was such a good looking specimen!!
There is an organised walk with an expert in that woodland next month. Think we may go along, just for interest.

Probably wiser to take an expert with you. I'm not going to do a Mrs Doyle from Father Ted & say "Aw go on, you'll have some. Go on go on go on go on go on go on go on ..."!

[OllieC]

Doesn't look as yellow as any Chicken of the woods I've ever seen. Are you sure you're not thinking of Hen of the Woods, Big Gee? AFAIK that causes more gastric upset than CotW, which should be fine if cooked thoroughly, I thought.

[Big Gee]

Doesn't look as yellow as any Chicken of the woods I've ever seen. Are you sure you're not thinking of Hen of the Woods, Big Gee? AFAIK that causes more gastric upset than CotW, which should be fine if cooked thoroughly, I thought.

You've got me thinking now - because another name for it is Sulphur Shelf, as it has a sulpher 'yellow' colour. Mind you it's always a bit dodgy judging from a photo as colours can vary so much through a camera lens. Here's another photo of Ch.o.t.W.



and here's one of Hen of the Woods:



I don't consider myself a fungi expert so I'll bow to others with a better knowledge on the subject! It's always more accurate to identify these things when you see them 'in the flesh' as it were! Especially if there are similarities in species/ names.

[OllieC]

I'm no expert either - I like to look things up but generally stick to chanterelle and blewitts for eating, both impossible (with a tiny amount of effort) to get wrong and both delicious as I'm sure you know.

Was out foraging today actually, not very successfully though. Found a small handful of chanterelle (which now appear to be almost over) plus a few small cep type things I need to look up.

[Big Gee]

I'm no expert either - I like to look things up but generally stick to chanterelle and blewitts for eating, both impossible (with a tiny amount of effort) to get wrong and both delicious as I'm sure you know.

Was out foraging today actually, not very successfully though. Found a small handful of chanterelle (which now appear to be almost over) plus a few small cep type things I need to look up.

SNAP! Sounds like we're in the same boat. Funny how deadly poisonous risks make us lesser experts when it comes to the fungi crunch!!

What I've noticed this year is that the fungus season has come early and they're getting rarer much earlier than usual. Probably something to do with that long cold spring we had. I've noticed that the veg on the lottie have tended to have a shorter season as well. Things seem to have 'gone over' a lot quicker.

[Obelixx]

There is an enormous fat puffball developing in the cow pasture next to my garden.   It's at least 12 years since we saw any and then there were lots of them, some in our garden too.   We feasted on them fried in thick slices in butter and garlic.  Yum.   However we'll leave this lonely one to spread spores and hope for more next year, or maybe another few years at this rate.

Here in Belgium we can take woodland and field fungi to the pharmacy for correct identification but I prefer to stick with the obvious ones like chanterelles, ceps and morilles.

[OllieC]

I tried a giant puffball once Obbelix & it was like slugs. I think I must have cooked it wrong because several others have raved about them. I just fried it in butter for a few minutes, what did you do?

Big Gee - I agree, the season is definitely shorter than normal, but we started with the ch's in July which was a month early. Last year was exceptionally good up here, I do wonder if a big flush one year makes them more timid the next, or if it just seems that way.

[Big Gee]

I tried a giant puffball once Obbelix & it was like slugs. I think I must have cooked it wrong because several others have raved about them. I just fried it in butter for a few minutes, what did you do?

Big Gee - I agree, the season is definitely shorter than normal, but we started with the ch's in July which was a month early. Last year was exceptionally good up here, I do wonder if a big flush one year makes them more timid the next, or if it just seems that way.

I find puff-balls can vary a lot (depends on when they're picked I think). It probably wasn'y your cooking!

I think the weather is the biggest factor when it comes to fungi crops. The best season I can ever remember was 1976 & people still refer to that year as the best ever summer we had in living memory. Unlike this year the weather was good in spring in that year as well.

[PAULW]

Looks more like Honey Fungus, I think HFW ate some on one of his programs but that one looks a bit old and leathery

[Robert_Brenchley]

Honey Fungus is a yellow-brown mushrooomy thing, not a bracket. I neve had any luck cooking puffballs either.

[PAULW]

http://www.picsearch.com/Honey-Fungus-pictures.html look here

[ACE]

I would not rely on that picsearch site for identification. It looks like whoever posted the pictures got to name them and the search has picked up a lot of misinformed people. T'internet  does this a lot.

If you want to identify edible fungi get a good book and take it on a proper organised fungi walk run by real experts. Not some Charley from a local nature club.

[Big Gee]

I would not rely on that picsearch site for identification. It looks like whoever posted the pictures got to name them and the search has picked up a lot of misinformed people. T'internet  does this a lot.

If you want to identify edible fungi get a good book and take it on a proper organised fungi walk run by real experts. Not some Charley from a local nature club.

Good advice! Unless I had a reasonable idea of what something should look like I would DEFINATELY not rely on pics uploaded to the internet by a person or persona unknown - who knows what the source is - they may even be on the magic variety when they have the urge to be an expert!!!

The Collins Fungi Guide I have found to be very good. Check it out:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0007242905/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used 

[OllieC]

Yep, agree, good advice from Mr ACE.

I like the River Cottage guide - he's not everyone's cup of tea (eh, ACE?!) but the guide isn't actually written by him, and I think you're unlikely to poison yourself if you use it. For identification of many more fungi the old faithful Roger Phillips (who also has an online guide http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/ that I haven't used but is probably better than picsearch) is my favourite.

[BarriedaleNick]

We just found a huge chicken of the woods here in at work - we have a lot of trees!  Got it officially looked at by our resident expert so we all took some home and cooked them up.

Should have taken more care in cooking it as I think I overdid them a bit but amazing texture and flavour..
Here it is cooking in some home made garlic and tomato sauce

[Big Gee]

WOW! That looks just like chicken curry!