[Morel Insanity]

Hoping some of you here are interested in talking about other edible mushrooms! We found 2 lbs of chicken today, our first harvest [as far as we know] from an eastern hemlock. We believe it's Laetiporus huroniensis, and have just done our test taste.

Other mushrooms we like to forage are pheasant-backs, chanterelles, black trumpets, hens, honey mushrooms, hericium species, and chaga. So far, we've stayed away from boletes and some others because we don't have enough knowledge of them to be comfortable trying. We often find coral mushrooms, but can't quite figure them out!

Thought I'd include a couple pics of our dinner prep from the night before last: pheasant-backs, some already cooked in the bowl, plus the remaining cooking in butter in the skillet. Husband added a couple of eggs and some soy chunks reconstituted in broth. He also made a cheese sauce to top it all off, which included carmelized onions, garlic, and fresh rosemary and thyme from our garden. I was too hungry to get a pic of our plates, but it was yummy.

I'd love to hear and see what you all come across, as well as what you do to identify/prepare, etc.

 

[Morel Insanity]

Here's a pic of some of our chicken haul from yesterday, obviously prior to cleaning. Our test serving had a wonderful meaty texture, and tasted a bit lemon-y to me. Looking forward to cooking it up in some barbecue sauce!

 

[geogymn]

Here's a pic of some of our chicken haul from yesterday, obviously prior to cleaning. Our test serving had a wonderful meaty texture, and tasted a bit lemon-y to me. Looking forward to cooking it up in some barbecue sauce!

View attachment 35396

How did he chickens roost? I hope well. Some people have an allergic reaction to Chickens especially coming off Hemlock.

 

[Ryan gebo]

Beautiful chicken on some oak roots
Cincinnatus

 

[Leah Hackett]

I’ve been hunting for chickens but so far only oysters! No complaints, they are still delicious!

 

[greenie80]

Amazing finds everyone! Beautiful mushrooms! We really want to find some chickens and hens and oysters. We never found morels but kept looking and found some Reishi and Corals! Soooo excited! They were delicious. We fried some which were so tasty. I also made Reishi broth and then made beef stew with the broth. Yummmm!

 

[FrothyBoots]

I found 1 edible morel. Two old ones.

Burned myself out looking early in the season again. Got fed up with it. We found some oysters and ate them. Rain would come but never for long enough or I had work

I'm excited to see Ganoderma Tsugae growing, I'll have to take a look for it. What country are you in greenie80?

 

[greenie80]

I found 1 edible morel. Two old ones.

Burned myself out looking early in the season again. Got fed up with it. We found some oysters and ate them. Rain would come but never for long enough or I had work

I'm excited to see Ganoderma Tsugae growing, I'll have to take a look for it. What country are you in greenie80?

Putnam County-found on a down Eastern Hemlock

 

[Ryan gebo]

Young reishi

 

[Morel Insanity]

Really glad to see you guys, and your finds!

How did he chickens roost? I hope well. Some people have an allergic reaction to Chickens especially coming off Hemlock.

Thanks for asking - we're actually finally cooking them up tonight for a full meal. I was worried it would be too late, but they still look beautiful after storing them in the fridge between two moist paper towels with a loose foil covering. It's been a busy family week, with birthday dinners, so this is our first chance to eat them! Fingers crossed, but the initial taste produced no adverse reactions at all. I've read that some people can only find them on hemlock... will definitely let you know how it turns out!

Amazing finds everyone! Beautiful mushrooms! We really want to find some chickens and hens and oysters. We never found morels but kept looking and found some Reishi and Corals! Soooo excited! They were delicious. We fried some which were so tasty. I also made Reishi broth and then made beef stew with the broth. Yummmm!

We found several baby reishis when we got the chickens, but weren't sure what exactly to do with them. They still look happy, so maybe we'll try a broth and fry up a couple. I'm very curious about corals, in terms of edibility - do you consider them all safe in NY and/or do you have any tips for determining which are safe to eat? We find a lot in the fall, kind of yellower/golder than the ones you've shown in your pics. I've seen conflicting info about them, so am quite interested in what anyone here thinks.

Be safe, everyone, and happy hunting!!

 

[greenie80]

Really glad to see you guys, and your finds!



Thanks for asking - we're actually finally cooking them up tonight for a full meal. I was worried it would be too late, but they still look beautiful after storing them in the fridge between two moist paper towels with a loose foil covering. It's been a busy family week, with birthday dinners, so this is our first chance to eat them! Fingers crossed, but the initial taste produced no adverse reactions at all. I've read that some people can only find them on hemlock... will definitely let you know how it turns out!



We found several baby reishis when we got the chickens, but weren't sure what exactly to do with them. They still look happy, so maybe we'll try a broth and fry up a couple. I'm very curious about corals, in terms of edibility - do you consider them all safe in NY and/or do you have any tips for determining which are safe to eat? We find a lot in the fall, kind of yellower/golder than the ones you've shown in your pics. I've seen conflicting info about them, so am quite interested in what anyone here thinks.

Be safe, everyone, and happy hunting!!

According to our Mushrooms of the Northeast guide there are some edible but also some non-edible varieties of Corals. We’ve seen the younger ones look more pale and then yellowish tan as they get older. But we thought they were delicious, dipped in egg wash then seasoned flour, then fried in butter.

 

[Morel Insanity]

Update - we are alive after consuming much cotw from eastern hemlock! My wonderful personal chef husband cooked them all up for about 1/2 hour, then added BBQ sauce for another 10 mins in the pan. [I know, I'm no photographer!]

First night, we put it on hot dog rolls, then on ramen with veggies for the second night because we're super fancy like that. I've also been picking at it from our container in the fridge, including making 2 cold sandwiches with a few lettuce varieties we grew from seed. Thinking we may finish the rest off tonight by adding a peanut butter sauce and putting it over spiral pasta. Like a sorta spicy BBQ peanut sauce thing? Surprised it's fed us as much as it has!

@greenie80 Sounds very yummy, and I really appreciate your response! I'll definitely be looking more closely at corals this year, to try determining which are safe. For some reason, they've been confounding me as far as IDs go. I feel like we got honey mushrooms down quite well last year, so it will be good to have a new variety to tackle. Of course, we always do extra verification before eating anything we're not 100 percent certain of, just in case!

 

[geogymn]

Update - we are alive after consuming much cotw from eastern hemlock! My wonderful personal chef husband cooked them all up for about 1/2 hour, then added BBQ sauce for another 10 mins in the pan. [I know, I'm no photographer!]

View attachment 35480


First night, we put it on hot dog rolls, then on ramen with veggies for the second night because we're super fancy like that. I've also been picking at it from our container in the fridge, including making 2 cold sandwiches with a few lettuce varieties we grew from seed. Thinking we may finish the rest off tonight by adding a peanut butter sauce and putting it over spiral pasta. Like a sorta spicy BBQ peanut sauce thing? Surprised it's fed us as much as it has!

@greenie80 Sounds very yummy, and I really appreciate your response! I'll definitely be looking more closely at corals this year, to try determining which are safe. For some reason, they've been confounding me as far as IDs go. I feel like we got honey mushrooms down quite well last year, so it will be good to have a new variety to tackle. Of course, we always do extra verification before eating anything we're not 100 percent certain of, just in case!

Sounds great! Thanks for the report.

 

[Ryan gebo]

I’m really not a mushroom hunter for money but does anyone buy reishi? Or Chaga? I dont find truckloads but I will find more than my family will need...

 

[Ryan gebo]

 

[Swampy16]

I read not to eat any chicken from evergreens. I found a beauty in a park a few weeks back with my city wife and she was very hesitant. So we started reading right there on the iPhone and I read that and went back to the tree and it was a white pine so I tossed it.

 

[Ryan gebo]

I read not to eat any chicken from evergreens. I found a beauty in a park a few weeks back with my city wife and she was very hesitant. So we started reading right there on the iPhone and I read that and went back to the tree and it was a white pine so I tossed it.

I’m sure it was an auto correct issue or something, but see if your country wife would try it!

 

[Swampy16]

Auto correct?

 

[Morel Insanity]

Well, I was going to post some honey and hen pics from last year, but my hard drive died. On a new computer now, so will have to build my image collection again. If only I'd backed up my drive as everyone around me [including myself] told me to!

@Ryan gebo That's a beautiful chaga! Wish I could help as far as ideas for offloading some, as well as reishis, but I just don't know. I think my husband dries our chagas for use throughout the year, but we didn't even manage to consume all of our last reishi haul.

@Swampy16 I had gathered a few sources for you in regards to the Laetiporus huroniensis we collected from hemlock, but in the computer change, I've lost my bookmarks. Obviously, never try something you're uncomfortable with, but it seems the percentage of allergies hovers around 10% of people who eat cotw. Many people eat them with no problems, and it's always recommended to try a small well-cooked sample so you can test for numbness of the lips or mouth, or any gastric distress. We actually tend to do that no matter what positively ID'd mushroom we collect, and then give ourselves 2 days before we have a meal from them. Better safe than sorry!

 

[geogymn]

COTW used to be my favorite edible mushroom til either I acquired an allergic reaction to it or I harvested some from a Hemlock. Before learning of the Hemlock specification I gave them another try with nasty results. That was several years ago. Til today I am not sure my reaction to consumption of COTW was due to Hemlock or allergy. Am too afraid to get back on that horse.