On Thursday evening, Eileen and I took in a foray at Griffy Woods with a group from the Fungal Flashmob group on FB. Expert mycologist Steve Russel led us over hill and dale to ID a wide range of fall fungi.
We found a large growth of Chicken of the Woods, Polyporus sulphureus, often a parasite of oak trees. We found this one near the beginning of the foray, a few hundred feet from the parking lot. It was growing on the north side and south side of the tree, and a third was fruiting about 20 feet in the air.
This specimen ended up sliced and fried with Panko breading and garlic, a great main course. It was amazingly like chicken in both texture and taste, without the dead animal flavonoids in chicken.
A variation or subspecies of the chicken mushrhoom, Laetiporus cincinnatus was described in 1998 by Tom Volk at Univ. of Wisconsin. It’s main distinguishing feature is a white pore surface underneath, rather than the typical bright yellow of Polyporus sulphureus.