Photo: Rror, CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Chicken of the Woods

Laetiporus sulphureus

Also known as Sulphur shelf, Chicken mushroom, Chicken fungus, Crab of the woods

At a glance

Family

Fomitopsidaceae

Type

Wood-decay bracket fungus (polypore)

Parts used

Fruiting body, young and tender outer flesh only

Size

Overlapping shelf-like brackets 5 to 25 cm across, clusters can span nearly a meter

Bloom

Fruits late summer into fall, occasionally a lighter flush in spring

Habitat

Trunks, stumps, and dead limbs of hardwood trees, especially oak, cherry, and chestnut, across temperate forests of North America and Europe

Acquisition

Forage

Traditional remedies in HerbSense

Key benefits

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Hearty wild meat substitute

Long-prized forager's find

Rich savory umami flavor

Traditionally valued nourishing food

Traditional uses

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Chicken of the woods has been prized by foragers across North America and Europe for generations, its bright orange and yellow shelves seeming to appear almost overnight on old oak trunks after a good rain. Its tender, lemon-scented flesh was traditionally sliced, sautéed, or breaded and cooked much like poultry, which is exactly how it earned its common name. In some rural traditions it was gathered as a hearty, meat-like food during lean seasons or fasting days, valued above all for its remarkable texture and flavor rather than as a medicine. It remains one of the most recognizable and welcomed sights on a autumn woodland walk.

How to grow & use it

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The full apothecary for Chicken of the Woods

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✦ Growing guide
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Pairs well with

✦Thyme
✦Sage
✦Garlic

Substitutes

✦Oyster mushroom
✦Hen of the woods (Maitake)

Choose it when

“For the forager who wants a taste of the forest that eats like Sunday dinner.”

Did you know?

Its species name sulphureus refers to the sulfur-yellow underside of the fresh brackets, and in parts of the American South it earned the nickname 'chicken mushroom' because home cooks reached for it as a meat substitute on meatless Fridays.

Safety

Correct identification is essential before eating this wild mushroom, and it should always be cooked thoroughly, never raw. Specimens growing on eucalyptus, cedar, yew, other conifers, or black locust can cause significant gastrointestinal upset and should be avoided, and combining it with alcohol can worsen reactions in some people.