World Wild Flora - Laetiporus sulphureus - A sulphur not from hell.

artofwisdom (53)in #nature • 6 years ago (edited)

Quite the opposite - it tastes heavenly! That's what the local home-grown Chiefs are saying - i'm yet to try it.
But let's start from the beginning.

Laetiporus sulphureus is a species of polypores ( bracket fungus ) of Polyporaceae family. As Wiki states ''it was first described as Boletus sulphureus by French mycologist Pierre Bulliard in 1789''. It grows on the trunks of trees, the specimen presented here i've found on an old willow tree near the bank of Vistula River in Poland. Locally it is called '' Zolciak siarkowy '' and is not widely known as a mushroom type to pick. But those who knows it's secret, praise it's culinary values. Due to the yellow color of the cap, it is called a ''sulphur shelf'' and due to it's taste it is commonly called a ''chicken-of-the-woods'' and ''crab-of-the-woods''.

And now it's culinary uses. Edible are only the young specimens, as the fungi hardens into woody-like caps when mature. The most popular recipe i've found on local polish forums, is frying the mushroom with onions and adding a cream at the end of process to make a delicious sauce. I've been late for a harvest of young specimens, as it was few months back i took those pictures, not realizing that it is an edible species. Came back week ago to the same place and i've found the caps wood-hard. Actually i've only found out that it is edible while trying to identify it for the World Wild Flora! - so - thanks :)
Learning is an ongoing process and seemingly - can be fun.
I guess you can check some recipes here:
http://foragerchef.com/chicken-of-the-woods-mushrooms/
and here:
https://www.mushroom-appreciation.com/chicken-of-the-woods.html