Chicken of the Woods is a favorite mushroom to forage. Its easy to identify and cooks up with a texture surprisingly similar to chicken. That also makes it a favorite of vegetarians. I found this on one of my walks near my home.
You have to keep your eyes open even for a large, bright mushroom like Chicken of the Woods.
Since it was close to the house, I went back and got a knife and bag to harvest it. It was a little past peak but still had nice color and was fleshy and soft.
Here is my harvest.
It totaled 381 g or about 0.85 lbs.
I don't forage mushrooms very often so when I have some I usually prepare them pretty simply to savour the taste of the mushroom. I sauteed these with butter and a small onion from my garden.
I cooked up a couple of eggs from the egg farm down the street.
And ended up with a tasty omelette for breakfast. We stored them in the fridge overnight. I usually put them between layers of papertowels to keep them dry and put them in a container without closing the lid.
I sauteed all of them up and my wife made Chicken Fried Rice for lunch. Actually it was riced cauliflower lol is anything as it appears in this dish?
Since I was on a foraging kick, I found a few thimbleberries to try.
And a few wild raspberries. Just a taste of both but I like to at least try some every season. They both grow in abundance in central Vermont and ripen up after the wild raspberries are gone.
PS I should include a warning about foraging. Both mushrooms and berries can be poisonous so I advise going out with an experienced forager for a few seasons before venturing out on your own.
