Considered a choice edible. As chicken mushrooms age, they get tough—cut off the tender outer edges and leave the rest on the tree. Recipes abound for this and the closely related pale chicken of the woods (L. cincinnatus). They have the texture of chicken, and with a little imagination can taste like chicken. Although both species are safe and delicious mushrooms, some people get a bit of stomach upset or swollen lips after eating them. Try just a small amount the first time.This fungus can be used as a chicken substitute in casseroles, enchiladas, and more. As with all wild mushrooms, be absolutely sure of your identification, cook it well, and only eat a small amount the first time you try it, since some people have bad reactions to otherwise edible mushrooms. (from the Missouri Department of Conservation website)
Missouri has dozens of edible wild mushrooms. Missouri also has dozens of poisonous mushrooms; some with names like Deadly Galerina and Destroying Angel. Thus, I am not too eager to start harvesting mushrooms and cooking them up! I would want to be much more of a mushroom-expert first. I couldn’t identify many of the varieties pictured below.
Checkin’ out your shrooms…my hands are totally HUGE! You are heading into autumn as we head into spring. Time to get Sanctuary out of mothballs and back into action. Might plant out those avocado trees this year and might add another loquat to the mix. Fingers crossed the long fig cuttings that I took (in the wrong season but the lady was moving, “whatchagonnadoeh?!”) strike…fingers crossed indeed. The figs from this tree were splendiferous in a non-fig-happy area. Blackcurrant futures are high on Serendipity Farm (thanks to the same lady moving and her generosity in allowing me to take cuttings) and will be duly planted out everywhere for Earl to “fertilise” on his boundary runs. I wish we could walk Earl off lead but we would never see him again! Love seeing Dexie free it’s a close second :)
Knew you would fancy those mushroom pics! Mmm all sounds gloriously full of garden futures! We have two very small fig trees that never quite took off this year; maybe they will come back strong in spring? Or maybe I will dig them up and they will spend the winter indoors. Only time will tell. Haha Yeah, Dexie’s free all right and good thing because I can’t be bothered with a leash while running/mushroom hunting/snapping pics/etc. haha
:)
I love mushroom photos, although I haven’t taken many lately. “Some people get swollen lips” sounds bad until you realize some people get the same thing from shellfish and other foods. Still, I wouldn’t feel comfortable harvesting wild mushrooms until I had taken a class!
I am always amazed by the variety of mushrooms around here! There are a few varieties I am starting to really recognize; and that chicken of the woods is pretty hard to mistake for something else. But yeah, I am still sticking to the photographs for now!
I’m definitely in the ‘look-but-don’t-touch’ camp when it comes to mushrooms. Not a big fan of the taste nor texture of store-bought either. It was drilled into my head as a kid and I haven’t ever updated the recording. ;-) Your floral bouquet is gorgeous!
Mmmm not me I LOVE mushrooms and eat them often, so I am tempted to try cooking some up; would definitely stick to the really obvious varieties though for a first-time. Thanks about the bouquet!;)
Great pictures!!! It’s mushroom time in GA, too.
Thanks! Happy mushroom hunting;)