Hen of the woods aka Maitake

[Sharon & Monty]

I've always wanted to hunt/find edible mushrooms.  Never had the time nor anyone to help me to determine accuracy.  Now that I live in the woods and am an empty nester, I also found a long lost friend that is a biologist and a hard core naturalist.  So we got to talking and sharing pictures, I was inspired to go out and look.  OH MY GOSH.  I have found 2 edible mushrooms right outside my door!!  The Hen of the Woods (Maitake) was yesterdays find and I'm besides myself.  This is a very highly sought out mushroom and has many studies and accolades for health benefits!!!  It is very heavy, the picture doesnt show the thick stems it has, and I'm guessing it must weigh at least 6-10 pounds! No kidding.  The other mushroom I found is called Chicken of the Woods and it tastes just like chicken.  The Maitake however is my real excitement.  

I have to say that I have also found some look alikes, that my friend was able to tell me DONT EAT.  So I dont take this stuff lightly and a good find really makes me happy!  

I put the glass of merlot next to the Hen of the Woods to get a good visual of its size.  And, you know what?  I think a glass of merlot will be absolutely a good pair!  LOL

[Nina, Phil, Harlow & Lacey]

Wow, I am sooo jealous!  Enjoy with the wine.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Wow, I am impressed both by the size and beauty of your mushrooms and your bravery in picking and eating them. I am too frightened by tales of mushroom hunting gone bad to ever try this. I have had tons of different varieties of mushrooms growing on my property with all this rain. I really feel I must caution everyone to not do this without an expert! BTW, you can imbed the photos in the discussion by clicking on the second from the left icon.

[Sharon & Monty]

I started by picking some and sending my friend pics.  He suggested I simply take my camera and take pics first, as a couple of pics that I had picked, he sent heated messages, DO NOT EAT!!  I'm not brave, my friend has given me the confidence to keep looking.  Sometimes he has asked to see them before deciding. For many years I've had a huge book with over 300 mushrooms, most of them have a skull and cross bones above the picture, so I was disenfranchised about ever doing this.  However today has filled me with glee. and the best part of the maitake is that is has a habit to come back at the same place year after year, holy cow!  Its in my back yard, who knew?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

OMD, those are amazing!

I have been morel hunting once in my life, and didn't find any, but I hear those are wonderful, too!

[Sharon & Monty]

I found approximately 5 morels once upon a time, thats what prompted me to buy a book.  Morels are one of the easy ones to identify.  That is what my friend has been trying to instill.  He gave me a list of about 8 or so mushrooms that are so true to their identities and can be eaten.  So I was so dumbfounded when I ran across 2 of them in just the past few weeks.  It has been rain, rain and more rain in our area, so I'm guessing its a lucky year.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

There are couple of good guides you can use. They claim to enable amateurs to safely identify edible mushrooms:

http://americanmushrooms.com/ewmona.htm

http://americanmushrooms.com/edibles.htm

 

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Wow, I am jealous too.  We live in the Pacific NW and my daughter picks mushrooms all the time up around the Mt Baker area.  I am such a big chicken - cannot bring myself to eat them! 

 A friend of my daughter's lost their dog last year when it ingested some bad mushrooms.  They did not realize what had happened soon enough - so very sad.  Now I am paranoid about any mushrooms that pop up in my yard!  I am out there every morning checking to see if there are any.  

 

[F, Calla & Luca]

I put mine in the poop bags too. But I also never feed my dogs any mushrooms when I cook. I don't want them to develop a taste for them.

[Lauria Orr]

Wow, those are impressive!  I have to admit I am very cautious about mushrooms I come across as well. These are especially beautiful, especially the Hen of the woods.

[Donna K & Quincy]

We picked and gave away Chanterelles for a couple of years before we worked up the courage to try them. They don't compare in size to your giant mushrooms but they are delicious. They have a very nutty flavor.

[Sharon & Monty]

Wow!  This is a mushroom I THOUGHT I had found a few days ago.  My good buddy said NOPE!  Dont eat.  My find was jack-o-lantern mushroom.  A sneaky look alike.  :(  

 



[Donna K & Quincy]

We have those Jack O Lantern mushrooms as well and if you see them together they are actually quite different.