It's ALIVE!

Several weeks back I won a case of 8 MyCO2 oyster mushroom kits (go check them out they're pretty awesome and the contest is totally legit). After I let the mycelium grow for a few weeks I cut the first kit open to start the fruiting process. As soon as I saw the tiny pins I set up a timelapse and ran it for 76.5 hours, (exposed every 30 minutes). It was amazing to see the growth in just 30 minute intervals. I am concerned that I may have set the little guys back by leaving the light on those 3 days for photography purposes. That one cap sure is happy, but we'll see if the others catch up now that they'll be on a normal light cycle.

I'm super excited about growing mushrooms. These are pre-prepared kits but in the near future I plan on starting my own small farm that including mushrooms (and chickens and bees and goats and...).


...I'll probably have to start another blog.

The other white meat

Just a follow up on my last post about the Chicken of the Woods.

Tuesday

I went back to check on the baby chicken I found last Tuesday. It's now Friday and boy has he grown, check him out! And I totally nailed the baby ID, it is definitely Laetiporus cincinnatus or the "Pale Chicken of the Woods". 

 

Friday

I could have left him to grow a bit more but it's not supposed to rain much this next week and it's probably already soaked up the one day of rain we had this week. So, plucked him and we had BLACTs (bacon, lettuce, avocado, COW, and tomato) sandwiches for dinner. I found more chicken in the woods today than ever before. My basket was overflowing and I ended up freezing a gallon size ziplock bag even after dinner.


I found this next big guy just a couple trees over from the one above. 

I did find a small specimen of Laetiporous sulphureus and my daughter and I did a taste test between them. She actually preferred the Pale Chicken (cincinnatus). I'm very lucky to have children with adventurous palates. I'd say that sulphureus tastes most like a fried piece of real poultry while cincinnatus tastes very similar with but more mushroomy flavor. The cincinnatus was also softer while the sulphureus was more chewy (not at all tough though).

To illustrate the difference I took pictures of the undersides of both my finds today. Sulphureus has the bright sulfur-yellow pore surface while cincinnatus is bright white.

Laetiporous sulphureus

Laetiporus cincinnatus

Honey Honey

On my hike today there were several little clusters of golden/tan, gilled, and stalked mushrooms around the base of several trees. I initially thought they were Honey Mushrooms but having never encountered them I pulled out my trusty guidebook and found that I wasn't too far off. They were Ringless Honey Mushroom (Armillaria tabescens). I bagged two whole large clumps, leaving at least three smaller clumps to grow. I keyed out the characteristics from a couple other sources before I was confident in my ID. Now that I've tasted them, I'll be going back for the rest. The true Honey Mushroom, Armillaria mellea, is reported to be a "choice" edible while this one is only listed as "good". Ringless Honeys apparently grow just before the real Honeys start popping up so I guess I'm looking forward to finding those soon.
All the info I've found about these say to cook for at least 15 minutes to avoid gastrointestinal issues. I sauteed them in olive oil and a little garlic for about that long and they were delicious! I'm going on 6 hours since then and I'm feeling fine.

Identifying these can be slightly tricky if you don't know what to look for. They can resemble Jack O Lanterns to the untrained eye but if you've ever seen and ID'd them you'd never mistake these for Jacks, which are bright orange while these are tawny brown. The caps have darker brown scales or hairs more toward the center, the stalks are long, thin, darkening towards the bottom, and attached tightly together at the base. The gills are close and run down the stem slightly (decurrent).

Spore prints

The spore print is creamy white.

RELEASE THE SPORES!

The sun was at the perfect angle at the time to catch these spores taking to the wind. This mature specimen was really pumping out the spores, not sure if messing with it stimulated the spore release but it seemed to increase when I touched it.

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

I have been a bad blogger, life is busy. I've been out shrooming several times but can't seem to find the time to sit here and share with all (three) of you my mushy finds. My last two posts were time consuming and verbose but I'll be doing shorter posts in the hopes that they'll be more frequent.

Today I'd like to tell you about wild chickens that likely lurk in the very woods near you. They're brightly colored and come in several shapes and sizes. They're very easy to sneak up on and all you need is a knife to bag them. They're much easier to prepare than your slimy germy farm raised chicken and they're totally vegan as well. This fungus is super meaty and can be used like any other mushroom but it makes an amazing chicken subsitute, it's not just the name.  I'm talking, of course, about Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) or just "Chicken Mushroom", as some call it.

My first COW 

My second and largest COW

My first Chicken of the Woods find was in early July and was just this one lonely shelf. My hiking friends and I chopped it up and fried it with chanterelles, eggs, bacon, and sausage for breakfast tacos. We brought our camp grill out and ate it in front of many drooling children at our neighborhood pool.


My second COW in late July was this big beauty! Ifound it in the same neck of the woods as the first. As you can see in the second picture, these things stick out like a sore thumb (or a bright neon orange mushroom) in the woods. This is where the general population's mycophobia comes in handy for the savvy mycologist. This one was just a couple steps from a frequently traversed trail, it was even facing the trail. I'm surprised it grew this large without some kid (or adult) smashing it for sport.

This big Chicken called to me from way off

This one provided several meals. We had fried chicken (of the woods) "fingers" and buckwheat pancakes one night for fun. We put it in a breakfast frittata. But my favorite recipe by far has been beer battered boneless buffalo chicken (of the woods) "wings". We've done that one a couple times now, in fact I'm currently digesting a buffalo chicken (of the woods) sandwich.

Today's COW

Chicken of the Woods (COW) grow directly on dead (or dying) wood. Typically found in these vertical shelf-like colonies, but sometimes growing in a large round rosette shape on the ground (on buried wood or roots) or at the base of a tree. These pictured are all Laetiporus sulphureus due to the bright "sulfur-yellow" pore surface. Another variety frequently found is Laetiporus cincinnatus, which has a white pore surface and is generally paler overall, thus garnering the name "Pale Chicken of the Woods"

Baby COW

This fungus I believe to be a young COW, possibly Laetiporus cincinnatus. I'll check on it again after a few days, maybe this weekend.

Old dead COW

This is an old dead COW, such sadness. No one but the bugs enjoyed this big one. Take note of where you find all your chickens growing (dead or alive) and check the same spot next season.