Putting Up Chicken (of the Woods)

62 this morning, and only warmed up to 68 all day. Beautiful,  bright, clear fall day.

Ah, glorious fall! Today has been nearly perfect weather; tonight we will have a taste of later fall as the temperature is predicted to be in the mid 40's. A perfect evening for the firepit but it's breezy and still dry even after the shower last night.

The story of the COW (Chicken of the Woods):

My phone rang the other evening, a call from our friend Jeff. "Hey, want some Chicken of the Woods? I just found one who is was squirrel hunting."

Yes indeed I wanted it! Chicken, as most mushroom hunters call it, is one of the most flavorful of wild mushrooms, with a white flesh that pulls apart very like cooked chicken meat. A good-sized mushroom provides a lot of good eating.

Here is what Chicken looks like:

There are a few other mushrooms that look a little like it, and often beginners will think the Jack O'Lantern mushroom is Chicken. While they can look similar, there are marked differences once you know the characteristics of each. I am not expert enough to describe those differences but here is a Jack that our son Derek found today:

So, cooking Chicken: most people simply bread and fry the "shelves" as the layers of lobes are called. I was making rabbit stew so I added some cut up pieces to that, and then canned the rest.

First though, the mushroom needs to be cleaned. Some people soak them in salt water to drive out bugs, but this particular mushroom was fairly clean and I saw no sign of bugs. I cut it apart and washed each shelf individually under running water, cutting out any tough or really dirty parts.

Then I cut each shelf into bite-sized pieces and put them into boiling salted water for 15 minutes.

 I strained off the water and packed the hot mushroom pieces into sterilized jars, filled with boiling water, and put on the caps and rings. Mushrooms must be pressure canned, 40 minutes at 10 pounds pressure for pints and half-pints.

That's all there is to it. I use these canned mushrooms just like any store-bought varieties. I ended up with 7 half pints.

We are learning a lot about mushrooms this year, not a planned thing but something that just kinda happened. I joined a few Facebook groups of mushroom hunters and that has been invaluable. A neighbor and her boyfriend have also been foraging and he is quite knowledgeable.  

So far I feel comfortable identifying 4 kinds of edible mushrooms: morels, Chicken, honeys 

                         Honey mushrooms

and Chanterelles. I hope to continue expanding my knowledge but will be doing it slowly, to be sure that what we gather is safe. I have found this book to be a great resource: 

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