Hello friends!
Just look what I discovered yesterday in the forest! This mushroom(Laetiporus sulphureus) has several names - crab-of-the-woods, sulphur polypore, sulphur shelf, and and of course chicken-of-the-woods. But why?
⚠️Be sure to click on the image to view full screen!
Of course, the mushroom got this name because of its unusual taste. Some argue that a toasted polypore reminds them of chicken meat, other gourmets feel the taste of crab meat.
This mushroom you can find on the trunks of living or dead oaks in the forests of North America and Europe. They also inhabit other, mostly deciduous, trees.Keep in mind that he has twins that will be very similar to him, but they grow on eucalyptus trees or hemlock trees.
For consumption in food should be collected only young mushrooms, which are still soft, and did not acquire an unpleasant odor. Young mushrooms look like buttery dough, having rounded forms. This chicken is still young and very tasty.
Mature fungi take the usual form for a polypore and look like mushrooms in the next photo. This specimen I discovered a day earlier in the same forest. It is better not to eat it.
✔You should also not pick mushrooms that grow on conifers and, especially, on poisonous trees, such as yew.