About five years ago I
was walking along the cottage
road when I spotted this fantastic fungus!
Needless to
say, I stopped short to check it out! I knew
from my
research that I was looking at a real,
honest-to-goodness
Chicken of the Woods mushroom.
It was a WOW sight! The Chicken
wrapped around an
old, decaying (probably) Hemlock tree. It
must have
measured at least two feet as it embraced the
tree.
It was bright orange with light yellow
edging. Needless
to say, it was beautiful to behold and piqued
my
interest to such as degree that I determined
to visit it
each day just to gaze at this awesome
'shroom.' On my
subsequent visits, I was amazed to discover
that the
Chicken had doubled in size
overnight not once but at
least three times! As much as the Chicken was
beautiful in appearance and perhaps tempting
to eat,
I was not a taker. A few years prior, a
friend brought us
a large Chicken of the Woods that he had
harvested
locally, suggesting that we try it. I passed,
but my
sister Lily went for it. Even though it is
said that the
Chicken of the Woods 'tastes just like
chicken,' Lily
was not impressed. We gave up eating chicken
many
years ago, so no such appeal could convince
our
tastebuds that this Chicken was worth eating.
End of story.
When I first began forest foraging,
one of my goals
was to find Chaga since it is a
prized polyspore
that possesses the most powerful antioxidant on
earth,
Superoxide Dismutase or SOD for
short. Because of
its many health benefits, Chaga is classified as
a
medicinal mushroom.
Much to my delight I found a
good-sized Chaga
growing on our property. Each year I watched over
it as
it grew in size. One of my first 'to-do's' when I
opened
the cottage for the season was to check on my
Chaga.
Sadly, one year it was gone. Someone had stolen
it.
I was not happy.
Not to worry, though, because neighbor Dan came
to the rescue
by harvesting a large Chaga for me from one of
his trees.
The Chaga weighed in at seven
pounds, making it a real prize!
Chaga is the only wild mushroom that I eat. I
brew it
and use it as a base for smoothies and soups.
Allowing for the size of this Chaga,
I will have enough to last for many years!
Read my article about Chaga here
Back/Forest Foraging/LIVING Letter #97
