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2018 shrooms

Jamie

Senior Member
5,690
177
Ohio
struck gold yesterday while I was cutting firewood at Ground Zero. I left home without my phone yesterday, but I did go back today to bring home the last of the wood I cut and to cut some more Chicken-of-the-Woods, took a pic. ate some sautéed in butter last night along with some fresh Chanterelles. tonight I'm gonna substitute these for the shrimp in "spicy drunken shrimp" recipe. these are very delicious, meaty, and love to be cooked. gonna try grilling some and blackening some here in the next few days. widely considered a medicinal mushroom for its anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial properties as well as being rich in anti-oxidants.

this is a 30+" diameter dead for years red oak. now it's my "mushroom tree".
this is a parasitic fungus that will kill live trees. for all I know it killed this tree. it is also saprotrophic, feeding/growing on already dead trees. I've never seen this mushroom on a live tree, though. this is not the same thing as Hen-of-the-Woods, either.

mushroom tree.jpg
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
struck gold yesterday while I was cutting firewood at Ground Zero. I left home without my phone yesterday, but I did go back today to bring home the last of the wood I cut and to cut some more Chicken-of-the-Woods, took a pic. ate some sautéed in butter last night along with some fresh Chanterelles. tonight I'm gonna substitute these for the shrimp in "spicy drunken shrimp" recipe. these are very delicious, meaty, and love to be cooked. gonna try grilling some and blackening some here in the next few days. widely considered a medicinal mushroom for its anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial properties as well as being rich in anti-oxidants.

this is a 30+" diameter dead for years red oak. now it's my "mushroom tree".
this is a parasitic fungus that will kill live trees. for all I know it killed this tree. it is also saprotrophic, feeding/growing on already dead trees. I've never seen this mushroom on a live tree, though. this is not the same thing as Hen-of-the-Woods, either.

View attachment 62980
Very nice find man! Hell of a haul.
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,690
177
Ohio
tell you what, fellas. this is as wonderful a mushroom as I've had. I love my Chant's and everybody loves Morels, but these are superb. unlike anything I've eaten. meaty and firm, but tender, the flesh of this shroom is like that of cooked white meat chicken, hence the name. does not really taste like chicken, although a popular way to prepare it is to bread and pan fry it like you would chicken. I tried it like that and it was good, but sautéed in butter with some garlic and white wine is better, imo. lots of possibilities cooking with this type of fungus.
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,690
177
Ohio
there isn't much info on cooking and preserving chicken o da woods. flying by the seat of my pants here, and results were, shall I say, better than expected. Chicken of the woods alfredo. grilled the shrooms hot and fast after brushing liberally with evoo and sprinkling with a healthy dose of my home made Emeril's Essence, sliced up and added to a nice alfredo sauce with capers, chives, shallots and lemon zest. home run. correction. fuck it, at the risk of sounding like I'm blowing my own horn, I'm calling this a Grand Slam.

grilled shrooms
IMG_1684.JPG


pretty special for a Monday night, but I'm worth it. I mean, my Nancy is worth it. ;)
IMG_1685 (2).JPG
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,690
177
Ohio
I think it might be too wet for even the damn mushrooms now. da fuck? we must have gotten 3-4" of rain last evening and overnight last night. couldn't work, so I went after some Chanterelles. been out for them twice and have not seen any in my honey holes. I did find gobs of them today in one spot, but they were only an inch or so tall. too small to mess with. seem to be slow coming on this year. needs to stay warm and dry out some, I think. I did bumble onto these, though.

IMG_2207.jpg

prime young chicken of the woods. fork in pic for scale. I be sautéing some of these tonight for dinner.
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,690
177
Ohio
I saw some of those today, but I don't know what they are. never picked any. do not know if they are edible or not.
 

Chass

Active Member
2,172
52
The Hills
Looks like a young type of coral. Quite a few types, at least one type is a diuretic so too much and you will be adding to our shitty moments thread. Interested to see what they look like in a few days, guessing the tips won't be as rounded and can identify easier.
 
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Jamie

Senior Member
5,690
177
Ohio
struck gold yesterday while I was cutting firewood at Ground Zero. I left home without my phone yesterday, but I did go back today to bring home the last of the wood I cut and to cut some more Chicken-of-the-Woods, took a pic. ate some sautéed in butter last night along with some fresh Chanterelles. tonight I'm gonna substitute these for the shrimp in "spicy drunken shrimp" recipe. these are very delicious, meaty, and love to be cooked. gonna try grilling some and blackening some here in the next few days. widely considered a medicinal mushroom for its anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial properties as well as being rich in anti-oxidants.

this is a 30+" diameter dead for years red oak. now it's my "mushroom tree".
this is a parasitic fungus that will kill live trees. for all I know it killed this tree. it is also saprotrophic, feeding/growing on already dead trees. I've never seen this mushroom on a live tree, though. this is not the same thing as Hen-of-the-Woods, either.

View attachment 62980

this shaped up to be a less than perfect day of deer hunting. started my day by waking up to a nice pot of hot water. the dumb ass that set up the coffer maker last night forgot to add the coffee after he ground it. I was exhausted when I got up and my bowels were angry this morning for some reason. should have gone back to bed, but I persisted. wind pretty gusty and swirly this morning and every deer I saw knew I was there, somewhere. after the clouds moved east and the sun came out in Licking county, about 8:30, I spotted something curious about 20 yards from my stand. binoculars confirmed a small flush of Chicken of the Woods. cut them and loaded in my daypack.

IMG_2400.jpg


couldn't see the ones on opposite side of log from stand, so there was enough there for a feast for two, and these are very fresh and perfect for cutting. I was quite disappointed when July and August came and went and there was no sign of life on my "mushroom tree". these will grow over and over in the same place, so I was hopeful that I would have another giant flush of Chicken of the Woods again this summer. after finding these fresh ones this morning, I decided I better go have a look at the mushroom tree as it was not far from where I hunted. besides, I needed to check the edges of the gas line for rubs and such. and what to my wandering eyes did appear?

IMG_2401.jpg


as fresh and luscious as they could be. I rest tonight, go and cut all of these I can carry tomorrow after another morning hunt (in a better spot :D, hopefully).
 
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Bowkills

Well-Known Member
2,577
85
Nw oh
this shaped up to be a less than perfect day of deer hunting. started my day by waking up to a nice pot of hot water. the dumb ass that set up the coffer maker last night forgot to add the coffee after he ground it. I was exhausted when I got up and my bowels were angry this morning for some reason. should have gone back to bed, but I persisted. wind pretty gusty and swirly this morning and every deer I saw knew I was there, somewhere. after the clouds moved east and the sun came out in Licking county, about 8:30, I spotted something curious about 20 yards from my stand. binoculars confirmed a small flush of Chicken of the Woods. cut them and loaded in my daypack.

View attachment 87591

couldn't see the ones on opposite side of log from stand, so there was enough there for a feast for two, and these are very fresh and perfect for cutting. I was quite disappointed when July and August came and went and there was no sign of life on my "mushroom tree". these will grow over and over in the same place, so I was hopeful that I would have another giant flush of Chicken of the Woods again this summer. after finding these fresh ones this morning, I decided I better go have a look at the mushroom tree as it was not far from where I hunted. besides, I needed to check the edges of the gas line for rubs and such. and what to my wandering eyes did appear?

View attachment 87594

as fresh and luscious as they could be. I rest tonight, go and cut all of these I can carry tomorrow after another morning hunt (in a better spot :D, hopefully).
Holy shit!