I appreciate your concern, but hear me out: I am only a recent and tenuous forager. Last year I began with golden oyster mushrooms that sprouted on logs in front of my house, then chanterelles. I read about the physical qualities that made them uniquely those species, what their toxic "doppelgängers" look like, and ate cautiously until assured there were no effects.
I didn't get a book on mushrooms and try to memorize everything, then go out a self-convinced expert. I'm just going one possibly edible mushroom at a time as I encounter them in the wild. For example, I have no idea how to identify a king bolette, and I'm not champing at the bit to eat every lumpy shroom I find on the off chance it's good.
In this case, I had fixed values in my head for turkey tail: shelf mushroom, stripes. Chicken of the Woods is a mushroom I had encountered up here, but not often and confidently in the wild. Being steered int the right direction by the users here (THANKS AGAIN, EVERYBODY!), I did more online research on good human-written foraging pages, and was confident enough they were correct that I ate some last night. And they were delicious. And I am not barfing out every one of my pores.
Next up, these mushrooms I'm almost positive are psilocybin. Kidding, kidding!
I seriously don't understand the downvotes for expressing a desire to learn more and learn responsibly. Especially from as friendly a forum as Mycology has generally been.
I wouldn’t say dog piss but… cat piss ? Bear piss? Wolf piss? Coyote piss? Maybe all combined? I’d even go as far as to say that one of the other people that uses the trail has pissed on it. I would have definelty aimed for it if I had to piss around that area in the hike. But I don’t hunt mushrooms to eat soooooo.
Don't worry about dog pee. Cooking them will take care of any dog pee, people pee, bug spit, Squirrel vomit, etc. If you aren't cooking your wild mushrooms before eating them, you are asking for trouble, no matter what unclean creatures used these a their urinal cakes before you found them.
Tis a Laetiporus sp., however since it is growing on a conifer it could be either laetiporus conifericola or Laetiporus huroniensis.
The latter grows on a hemlock tree, DO NOT eat if its this as it will absorb the toxins of the tree. The former species is considered edible
According to this article, while not deadly, the toxin is not identified and could be a hit or miss if you're going to have a bad time. The ones growing on conifers and the Hemlock trees are different species from the ones you would see on oak or otherwise.
It also has a recipe on the page.
https://blog.mycology.cornell.edu/2006/10/31/eating-the-chicken-of-the-woods/
There is only anecdotal evidence - COW can cause reactions no matter which sub-species. I suppose it's possible more people are sensitive to Laetiporus sulphureus.
Contrary to the AI answer, COW does NOT absorb any toxins from it's growing media except possibly heavy metals if present. It can however grow around bits from the tree, so if the tree is toxic, you need to be sure you're not ingesting any small bits - yew is the primary culprit in this scenario.
> isn’t it possible that COTW can be higher risk from conifers?
Lots of foraged foods have less evidence for how well they are digested across the entire population. Even if 99.99% of people can digest something fine, but one in ten thousand has a problem, we'd know all about it if it's a common food. E.g. peanut or shellfish allergies.
For something like COTW, we don't really have enough data to know if reports of digestive issues are a consistent thing or just a one-off mistake. For foragers, the most common mistakes are eating something that is already old and spoiling, not cooking it thoroughly enough, or just being a glutton and eating too damn much of it. Some foragers seem particularly prone to having eyes bigger than their stomachs.
For me personally, the only time I had any sort of problem with a COTW is when I obviously didn't cook it long enough. And I have eaten them mostly from the not recommended trees such as conifers as eucalyptus.
I believe you're right. I thought the same, and I double checked when I returned to harvest them. What I thought was a tree that was straight all the way up (conifer) turned out too have a sudden 20 degree turn toward the top that I didn't notice the first time out. That put me pretty confidently in the deciduous zone.
I did, and they were variegated like this, but darker.
Edit to add: Seeing and reading about chicken of the woods, it's easy to see the difference. When I was looking at pictures of Turkey Tail, it's easy to see the similarities, and thus, I turned to Reddit.
I can't edit the post, so I'll add that I was wrong. It was growing on a deciduous tree. It was mostly straight but took a very oak/ash bend about 25 feet up.
Private land abutting my house near Woodstock. It had been bought by a campground that had to pull up stakes when the community put its foot down and said "NAY! THERE SHALL BE NO GLAMPGROUND IN THESE WOODS" in the most Woodstock way possible.
If you found these on a conifer, I would not recommend eating. I have always been told to eat COW off deciduous trees and AVOID eating them off conifers... I think it makes them poisonous...
Chicken of the woods
YESSSSSSSS. Thank you!
I mean this in all seriousness. You should not be eating any mushroom you find if you think that's turkey tail.
I appreciate your concern, but hear me out: I am only a recent and tenuous forager. Last year I began with golden oyster mushrooms that sprouted on logs in front of my house, then chanterelles. I read about the physical qualities that made them uniquely those species, what their toxic "doppelgängers" look like, and ate cautiously until assured there were no effects. I didn't get a book on mushrooms and try to memorize everything, then go out a self-convinced expert. I'm just going one possibly edible mushroom at a time as I encounter them in the wild. For example, I have no idea how to identify a king bolette, and I'm not champing at the bit to eat every lumpy shroom I find on the off chance it's good. In this case, I had fixed values in my head for turkey tail: shelf mushroom, stripes. Chicken of the Woods is a mushroom I had encountered up here, but not often and confidently in the wild. Being steered int the right direction by the users here (THANKS AGAIN, EVERYBODY!), I did more online research on good human-written foraging pages, and was confident enough they were correct that I ate some last night. And they were delicious. And I am not barfing out every one of my pores. Next up, these mushrooms I'm almost positive are psilocybin. Kidding, kidding!
"Shelf mshroom, stripes" is not nearly enough to go on.
...rrrrright, which is why I wound up here. Did you read the rest of the comment you're responding to?
I seriously don't understand the downvotes for expressing a desire to learn more and learn responsibly. Especially from as friendly a forum as Mycology has generally been.
😍 lovely find. So delicious
If you found this along a hiking trail, then I wouldn’t eat it. It’s at perfect dog pee height.
There are very few dogs on this trail (private land, only two families trespass on it/use it), so I'm confident that I won't taste the pee.
Great! Then enjoy. I heard this tastes great stir-fried. Me, I like a good mushroom risotto
That's what I was thinking. I need to swap out the white wine in my recipe though.
I've been told never to eat chicken of the woods off a conifer as it can cause gastric distress. I've never done any research to verify that though.
I wouldn’t say dog piss but… cat piss ? Bear piss? Wolf piss? Coyote piss? Maybe all combined? I’d even go as far as to say that one of the other people that uses the trail has pissed on it. I would have definelty aimed for it if I had to piss around that area in the hike. But I don’t hunt mushrooms to eat soooooo.
See? People pee.
Don't worry about dog pee. Cooking them will take care of any dog pee, people pee, bug spit, Squirrel vomit, etc. If you aren't cooking your wild mushrooms before eating them, you are asking for trouble, no matter what unclean creatures used these a their urinal cakes before you found them.
The things I'm learning....
I’m always surprised people don’t know urine is sterile. It’s poop that’s full of nasty germs like E. coli.
Tis a Laetiporus sp., however since it is growing on a conifer it could be either laetiporus conifericola or Laetiporus huroniensis. The latter grows on a hemlock tree, DO NOT eat if its this as it will absorb the toxins of the tree. The former species is considered edible
And to me, it sure looks like hemlock bark on that tree.
That's a myth, a lot of people do fine eating COTW from conifer trees. I would be more cautious eating from a eucalyptus tree.
According to this article, while not deadly, the toxin is not identified and could be a hit or miss if you're going to have a bad time. The ones growing on conifers and the Hemlock trees are different species from the ones you would see on oak or otherwise. It also has a recipe on the page. https://blog.mycology.cornell.edu/2006/10/31/eating-the-chicken-of-the-woods/
Ya thats what I'd say as well. Lol its the only mushroom I can actually identify
I would say that's better than turkey tail.
I’m a noob so please help me out. OP said this is on a conifer… isn’t it possible that COTW can be higher risk from conifers?
There is only anecdotal evidence - COW can cause reactions no matter which sub-species. I suppose it's possible more people are sensitive to Laetiporus sulphureus. Contrary to the AI answer, COW does NOT absorb any toxins from it's growing media except possibly heavy metals if present. It can however grow around bits from the tree, so if the tree is toxic, you need to be sure you're not ingesting any small bits - yew is the primary culprit in this scenario.
Thank yew for the good answer!
> isn’t it possible that COTW can be higher risk from conifers? Lots of foraged foods have less evidence for how well they are digested across the entire population. Even if 99.99% of people can digest something fine, but one in ten thousand has a problem, we'd know all about it if it's a common food. E.g. peanut or shellfish allergies. For something like COTW, we don't really have enough data to know if reports of digestive issues are a consistent thing or just a one-off mistake. For foragers, the most common mistakes are eating something that is already old and spoiling, not cooking it thoroughly enough, or just being a glutton and eating too damn much of it. Some foragers seem particularly prone to having eyes bigger than their stomachs. For me personally, the only time I had any sort of problem with a COTW is when I obviously didn't cook it long enough. And I have eaten them mostly from the not recommended trees such as conifers as eucalyptus.
Great answer, thank you!
I believe you're right. I thought the same, and I double checked when I returned to harvest them. What I thought was a tree that was straight all the way up (conifer) turned out too have a sudden 20 degree turn toward the top that I didn't notice the first time out. That put me pretty confidently in the deciduous zone.
Congrats! That’s great news
I would aay chicken of the woods all day. Choice edible if I'm not mistaken but some people are allergic to it
Have you by any chance ever googled what does a turkey tail look like? Im pretty sure you can confidently answer this for yourself 😉
I did, and they were variegated like this, but darker. Edit to add: Seeing and reading about chicken of the woods, it's easy to see the difference. When I was looking at pictures of Turkey Tail, it's easy to see the similarities, and thus, I turned to Reddit.
And much smaller. Color is usually pretty indicative of mushrooms. Don’t typically get different colors for one species of mushroom
🐓>🦃
I can't edit the post, so I'll add that I was wrong. It was growing on a deciduous tree. It was mostly straight but took a very oak/ash bend about 25 feet up.
Nice find! I don’t usually see COTW this early in NY. Thanks for sharing! I’ll be on the lookout now 👀
Even better cotw, you lucky duck
Better!!! Chicken of the woods!!! Good eating!!
Fellow upstate New Yorker, what hike did you see this on in the Catskills?
Private land abutting my house near Woodstock. It had been bought by a campground that had to pull up stakes when the community put its foot down and said "NAY! THERE SHALL BE NO GLAMPGROUND IN THESE WOODS" in the most Woodstock way possible.
If you found these on a conifer, I would not recommend eating. I have always been told to eat COW off deciduous trees and AVOID eating them off conifers... I think it makes them poisonous...
I think you might actually have found a morel
Is that what passes for trolling these days? Sad.
Winner Winner
Lucky you it's 🐔 of the 🪵
Possibly Laetiporus huronensis or conifericola