Chicken of the Woods

Chicken of the woods, photo by Larry Reis

What’s that gentle clucking emanating from the dead trees on the forest floor? It’s chicken of the woods!

Just kidding. Chicken of the woods isn’t a clucking, feathered, barnyard member. It’s an edible fungus. Would you like to guess what it tastes like?

Appropriately named, many people say chicken of the woods tastes like chicken. Or maybe it isn’t appropriately named because other people claim it tastes like lobster. Either way, chicken of the woods is useful substitute in vegetarian or vegan dishes because everyone does agree it has a meaty texture, though you don’t need to be vegetarian to give chicken of the woods a try.

Speaking of, there’s good news! Chicken of the woods can be found in Iowa. And the time for chicken of the woods is upon us. According to Iowa State University’s Extension and Outreach, chicken of the woods is most abundant in Iowa from July to September. But foragers can find this mushroom as early as June.

If you choose to go foraging for chicken of the woods, its distinctive colors are going to be a helpful tool for identifying the fungus. The fruiting body, which is both the edible cap of the mushroom and also the part that releases spores, has a flat, bright orange top. Its edges are vibrant yellow and ruffled.

Wooded areas are your best bet for finding chicken of the woods. (Really, everything you need to know about this fungus is in its name). Be aware there are a few lookalikes; you should always be confident in your foraging skills before you eat something you found outside. Location and life-stage of the fungus can both impact edibility and misidentifying a species could lead to disaster. If you’re new to foraging, it’s a good idea to find an experienced buddy.

One thing your experienced buddy might tell you is that chicken of the woods favors oak trees. That might help your foraging, but it might not be good news for the oaks. Like most mushrooms, chicken of the woods is a saprophyte — an organism that lives on dead or dying organic matter.

In other words, if you find chicken of the woods on a tree, that tree is probably on its way out. And if you find chicken of the woods on a tree, the chicken of the woods is also probably on its way out. Out of the woods. With you. And into your favorite sautéing pan. Thus, the circle of life.

Chicken of the woods is also a polypore or shelf fungus. The name polypore comes from the structures on the underside of chicken of the woods and other shelf fungi. Their undersides are covered in tiny pores that release spores so the mushroom can spread and grow on other trees.

The other name for polypore like chicken of the woods, shelf or bracket fungi, comes from their shape. Shelf fungi tend to grow from trees in semi-circular, shelf-like shapes, perfect for your favorite knick-knack.

In its youngest stages, however, chicken of the woods hasn’t developed its shelf shape yet. Instead, young chicken of the woods seems to bubble out of decaying trees in yellow or light orange nodules, like that time your dad sprayed way too much insulation foam in the crack in the garage wall. It also isn’t the best for foraging at that point.

As chicken of the woods grows, it fans out into shelf-shapes that grow densely clustered together. Remember their ruffled edges? And their bright orange color? Now imagine a tree wearing a bright orange tulle tutu. That’s about what those clusters look like fully grown.

As we move into July, keep your eyes peeled. There won’t be any clucking to give it away, but you just might see this bright orange fruiting body peeking out between Iowa’s trees.