Tis the season to find two of our favorite wild mushrooms, Hen of the woods (aka Maitake) and Chicken of the woods (aka Sulfur Shelf). I think the two main reasons we love these chicks is that they are both very recognizable and they are both crazy huge, so if you find just one mushroom you're good for the whole season.
The Hen of the woods in the picture to the left are ones we located last week in a local park. The one in the foreground was huge-about 18" wide. The little one in the background (see it??) was only about 8" wide. These mushrooms grow pretty much throughout the US in the fall on either living or dead trees. These mushrooms are expensive if purchased in the store and can grow as large as 30 pounds. The underside of the mushrooms are a creamy white and porous surface. Once you locate a Hen of the woods, try to remember where you found it, as they (like many mushrooms) tend to show up in the exact same spot every year at that time.
When it comes to preparing the mushroom, we just give it a good cleaning, slice it up, and cook it as you would any other mushrooms. For example, Heather sautéed some of the mushroom in butter with onions and tossed it with pasta. The remainder, we sliced to the size we will need for cooking later & placed in freezer bags for future use.
The Chicken of the woods is even more recognizable than the Hen of the woods and nearly as large. This mushroom also tends to be found in the fall but sometimes shows up as early as June. As you can see, on the left, you'd have to be nearly blind to miss this neon orange beauty when wandering through the woods. This one was found in the same area as the Hen. The undersides tend to be butter colored and porous.
This mushroom gets it's name from the texture. Once cooked, it's remarkably similar to chicken, making this perhaps our favorite mushroom. Like the Hen, Heather cleans, slices and sautés the mushroom for use in stir fry, fajitas, etc. Again, any extras can be parboiled and frozen.
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