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: 

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Journal, Day 183: Mushroom!

45  this morning, downright chilly! But a sparkling, beautiful day. 

This was a lovely fall day. Crisp and bright, no humidity, heavy morning dew. The kind of day that makes you feel like getting things done.

The things on my to-do list weren't the most fun, however. We spent several hours yesterday at our booths in Ravenswood, and today I had to do catch-up work--laundry, sweeping, mopping, and so on. I listened to the radio as I worked, all the tributes to Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the conflict over her replacement. I can't believe people were wrangling over that before she was even cold. How heartless we've become, when a nation does not even take the time to properly mourn one of its greatest justices before the dogfights begin. I am so sad for our country, and worried over where we are headed. It does not look good to me.

But. There was music, there was bright sunshine, good coffee, and lots to do at least in this small, still-sane corner of America. And there was this giant mushroom we found on the way home yesterday.

This thing was right near the top of our driveway, and I knew it was edible as soon as I saw it because a couple years back we had one similar on another tree. That one was a chanterelle, this one is Chicken of the Woods, but they look very similar. And both are edible. I checked with some knowledgeable friends and with an online mushroom group just to be sure, and then looked for ways to cook it. 

A site called The Chopping Block offered a lot of good information, and a recipe for something called duxelle that used the tougher parts of the mushroom. Then I found information on canning them--I knew it could be done because several friends have done it, but I wanted to be sure to do it right. First step was cleaning the mushroom, washing each piece and patting them dry. Then I chopped it up, separating into three piles: one for eating for dinner, one for canning, and one for the duxelle. This one is the "eat now" pile of the tenderest part, the very outer edges of each piece.

I found canning recipes on two sites--listed below--and both offered about the same recipe, with only a slight variation in the processing time. I opted for the longer time just to be safe. Canning was a simple process: put the cut-up pieces in boiling water for five minutes, pack into sterilized jars and cover with the cooking liquid, add a little salt to each jar, put the lids on and process in a pressure canner for 40 minutes at 10 pounds pressure. I ended up with one pint and 7 half-pints. I will use these just as I would the canned mushrooms from the store.

Before pressure canning:

And after.

The duxelle was a little more complicated. You can find the recipe here. Basically, the pieces are chopped fine in a food processor, then sauteed with garlic and onion until the pan is almost dry. Then white wine, salt and pepper are added and the mixture is cooked for quite a long time, until the mushroom bits are tender, adding water as needed and cooking until all the liquid is cooked out. I added rosemary, thyme and parsley too, and loved the taste of the finished product. This will be used to stuff chicken breasts or pork chops. I put it into plastic bags and froze it for later use.

The finished duxelle:

I decided to use the pieces kept for eating in an alfredo sauce over pasta. I sauteed the mushroom pieces, onion, celery, zucchini and yellow squash, then made the sauce as usual, in the pan with the veggies. It was delicious. Best part is there was plenty, so we'll have leftovers tomorrow.

So pretty. This was at the beginning of the saute:

I am hoping we can get into the woods tomorrow and look for more chicken of the woods. This one provided a LOT of mushroom; it would be great to get another one and add to my stockpile. We usually only hunt for the morel mushrooms in the spring, but now we have another wild food that we will definitely be on the lookout for.

These are the two sites with canning information:

Canning and Cooking IA Style

Health Starts in the Kitchen

There are many other recipes online, for making fried "chicken" fingers, pickled mushrooms, and others. I was happy with my experiments today, and hope to be able to try a few others if we find more wild gold.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.