Edible, with conditions
Chicken of the woods
Laetiporus sulphureus, L. cincinnatus
The character that does the work
A bright orange-and-yellow bracket on wood, with pores and no gills, soft enough to dent with a thumbnail.
The specimen sheet, in examination order
01Cap
Overlapping shelves 10 to 40 cm across, sulphur yellow to bright orange, suede-textured, fading to chalky cream with age.
02Underside
Bright sulphur-yellow pores, or white in L. cincinnatus.
03Stem, and the base
None. It grows directly out of wood.
04Flesh, cut
Thick, soft and moist when young; chalky, crumbly and worthless when old.
05Spore print
White to cream
How to take one06Where it grows
On living and dead hardwood, particularly oak. L. cincinnatus grows at the base of the tree.
When to look
Typically May to Nov in the northern hemisphere. Fruiting swings by weeks with rainfall and by a month or more with latitude, so this is when to look rather than when it will be there.
North America and Europe.
What is worth knowing about it
Impossible to confuse with anything harmful, and yet the conditions matter. A meaningful minority of people react badly to it regardless of how it is cooked, particularly specimens from conifers or from eucalyptus. Eat only the soft outer growing edge, cook it thoroughly, and try a small amount the first time.
Confused with
- Nothing dangerous, which is its appeal
In the kitchen
Cook it like chicken and cook it through: it is dense enough that a hot outside can hide a raw middle, and undercooked specimens are the usual cause of upset stomachs. The young edge slices into cutlets and takes a batter well.
The techniques, and why they workThis page tells you what to check. It does not tell you the mushroom in your hand is that species, and it cannot. If you are not certain, do not eat it. If you have already eaten something and feel unwell, contact a poison centre and keep an uncooked specimen.
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