Kevster
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Chicken of the Woods - colour when cookedHi all
I was hoping that someone could help me with an identification. The following picture is of a fungus I saw last year and I thought was Chicken of the Woods. It has a soft texture and mushroomy smell, cuts very easily at the edges and the flesh tears with the appearance of the soft fibres of chicken breast. It was on an oak . It has come back this year on the same tree. It is current smaller than in the picture with a cleaner yellow/orange colour at the moment. The only thing that concerns me is that when I tried cooking some it turned a brown colour (dry fried as I'm on a diet), whereas the pictures of cooked Chicken of the woods that I see online seem to retain their orange/yellow appearance.
any help greatly appreciated
Kev
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l157/kevster2/25072008013.jpg
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l157/kevster2/25072008014.jpg
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cab
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Is that maybe a giant polypore, Meripilus giganteus?
I've eaten it when young; its okay cooked but when older its horribly fibrous and bitter. Turns the food its cooked in dark brown, even black.
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Kevster
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Ahhh...yes. That looks more like it. Shame.....as there seems to be lots of it growing near us. There is one shown here http://grzyby.nazwa.pl/atlas/v/M/Meripilus/Meripilus+giganteus/02_.jpg.html?g2_navId=xbc2c42e0 and it looks just the same
I'll have to make do with the dozens of giant parasols growing there instead
Thanks
Kev
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Minamoo
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The giant polypore is one of my all time favourite wild mushrooms. I love that super mushroomy taste and it makes such fantastic stroganoff and risotto. I just chopped off the bits that my foraging knife passed through easily and left the rest. What I couldn't finish I dried then ground up to make a mushroom seasoning powder that I then add to other mushroom dishes to get a richer flavour. I would suggest you go for it and see what you think of it.
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bingo
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I eat it when young, it's O.K.
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AnnaD
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I found giant polypore a couple of years ago, but wasn't sure what it was. I had thought it was chicken of the woods, but I realised it wasn't when the colour of the fungi changed once picked. It's good to know that it is in fact edible.
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