Rare find: Facebook user discovers tasty 'chicken of the woods' mushroom

Even though we still have to wait for abundant mushroom harvests, the lucky ones stumble upon both smaller and larger bountiful specimens, often by chance. A Facebook user showcased a real gem. This extraordinary specimen, a mushroom but unlike any typical mushroom, is called "chicken of the woods" and has interesting culinary uses.

A certain internet user shared on Facebook a photo of a recent find—it was a large yellow-orange mushroom growing on a tree. The user revealed that they cooked sulfur shelf, and indeed, this mushroom somewhat tastes like chicken.

The sulfur shelf is a mushroom most often found on deciduous trees such as oaks, cherries, chestnuts, and willows. It appears mainly in spring, from May to July, but young fruiting bodies can also be found in autumn. The sulfur shelf is distinguished by its fleshy fruiting bodies, which can reach a size of 4 to 20 inches in diameter.

The sulfur shelf stands out with its intense yellow-orange color and reaches large sizes. It is called the "chicken mushroom" not only because of its color but also because of its taste, which resembles chicken meat after proper preparation. It's essential to remember that raw sulfur shelves are poisonous, and older specimens lose their taste and aromatic qualities even after thermal processing.

Only young fruiting bodies of the sulfur shelf should be collected. Older ones are hard and hence considered inedible. So how can you tell if a sulfur shelf is suitable for picking and eating? Just touch the underside of the cap—if it's soft, you can pick it; a hard one means it's better to leave it in the forest. It's also important to remember not to collect sulfur shelf from yew trees, as there is a risk of toxic substances transferring from the plant to the mushroom.

Before preparing anything from sulfur shelf, it should be parboiled for about 10-20 minutes. During cooking, it may emit an unpleasant sulfur smell, which, however, disappears with further processing. This mushroom is excellent as a base for tarts, pates, meatballs, or tripe, but it is most often breaded and fried like cutlets. It also tastes very good braised in butter with onions.

The Facebook post author prepared cutlets from sulfur shelf, and commenters suggested other ideas for dishes with this mushroom. As we can read:

"Marinated ones are also great, something unique in taste. I recommend them with spirits and sausages."

"I eat them every year; you can also marinate them. I recommend in traditional breading for schnitzel. Spectacular."

"I've been making them for many, many years. Delicious. I make meatballs from them. The whole family loves them."

"Delicious, I love it—called the chicken breast for the poor. Better than the original."

"I've eaten it. I even tricked someone into thinking they were eating nuggets."