“Have you been checking on the chicken lately?” asked my wife, Elaine. “Isn’t it about ready to come back?”
No, we don’t have a wayward hen that periodically returns for visits. But we do have a chicken of the woods mushroom that reappears every six weeks or so on an ash stump, or on one of the long-dead tree’s roots, from late May through early November. The stump is just 15 yards from our front door, so we don’t have to go far to gather what we (and many other foragers) consider the best-tasting wild mushroom.
Widely found across North America, Laetiporus sulphureus is saprobic, meaning it grows on dead or dying wood, especially hardwoods, such as white and red oaks. This fungus is as beautiful as it is flavorful, boasting dazzling yellow and orange colors on a fan-shaped body that can be a foot wide. The mushroom’s wavy margins add to its fetching appearance, as do the yellowish-white flesh and yellow pores.
Another plus is that sometimes when you find one chicken of the woods growing on a tree, more may be lurking on the tree’s backside. The most chickens we’ve
