How to Clean Chicken of the Woods

[@goodmusic3679]

Love the flurry of recent videos just in time for spring foraging season

[@foragerchef4141]

Thx. I’m frantically trying to edit the backlog before the snow melts here😅.

[@Witnessdomaining]

After picking mushrooms for 4 seasons I found my first COW yesterday!

[@chompchompfoods]

This is my new favorite channel

[@foragerchef4141]

Thank you. Lots of work goes into it.

[@themikejulian]

I would love to see a Hen cleaning video if possible. In Michigan I always find them just full of dirt and grass and would love to figure out how best to process them from the field. Thank you as always!

[@foragerchef4141]

Yep It’s on my list. I have older videos but they’re low quality. It’ll be done this fall.

[@Livinglifeoffgrid]

Thank you for sharing your tips. This will be our first time eating this. A friend shared with us. I was at a loss on how to prepare them. Excited to give it a try and freeze some as well.

[@Bossmansmama]

Much respect for your informative videos chef! I just found a beautiful slew of chickens on my willow tree!! I’m going to take your advice and sauté in butter and then freeze.

[@MossyForestFungi-ll2oq]

Would love to find these here in Finland! Thanks for the cool video :)

[@SamusMaximusSMXD]

I see this all the time in my area

[@dannydanielsnyc]

Just seeing that mushroom gave me LIFE . I subscribed baby!!!

[@foragerchef4141]

It’s been a banner year for them

[@RLP90Gdpy-qv8jt]

My favourite mushroom

[@lindafry8015]

A local chef just knocked on my door & asked if he could forage my COTW. He makes mac & cheese with it. I didn't know I had it! Yes, I gave it to him for free. Hope he does well with it.

[@jivepepper]

I found about 9 to 10 lb a day on One tree. I gave about 4.5 lb to a local chef. Since I've never prepare these before I'm trying to figure it. The tree was still standing and alive it just had a core that was starting rot.

[@foragerchef4141]

Yes the mushrooms eat the heart of the tree.

[@swackhammer2139]

Do you rinse them? I found some and they're covered in debris. But the texture feels like rinsing them might not be the right move

[@foragerchef4141]

You can absolutely rinse them.

[@skiptoacceptancemdarlin]

what about the bugs? my last one had all sorts of beetles and insect eggs and larvae in it. and it was VERY fresh. (i noticed a big bug crawling through the whole duration of one of your shots. you didn't mention it. do you just eat them?)

[@kreevisful]

Good protein source

[@jimphubar]

You're definitely way more experienced than I am with this. I would be very interested what you think of my rules. 1. Never pick more than two thirds of a specimen and the smaller the it is the smaller proportion is allowed, if one third isn't enough for one meal then leave it. 2. I always snap rather than cut with a knife, both with harvesting and prepping. It weeps less and preserves the very appealing fibrous texture. 3. If it is at all on the 'over mature' side of ripe, feels woody, leave it to spore and return next year. 4. Share. Apologies if you've covered this already. Jay. Subbed.

[@foragerchef4141]

If that’s what works for you, do it. Imo there’s no point in leaving parasitic mushrooms on the tree or only taking a small piece, they will be buggy in a couple days or woody. Snapping mushrooms off is more aggressive than cutting them, mushrooms are delicate and you’ll bruise and crush them, and just breaking them off isn’t possible sometimes-cutting with a knife is the cleanest, and least destructive way to harvest. Hope that’s what you were looking for. 🙂

[@jimphubar]

@@foragerchef4141 Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks Chief.

[@foragerchef4141]

@@jimphubar You bet. Everyone has different ways of doing things. Take what you like from all over and make your own protocol, which you’ve done. 🤙🏻

[@steveflynn8997]

Does the best one ever feel a little mushy? I cleaned my first one tonight, and the round mushy parts I threw away, but maybe I shouldn't have? They felt mushy compared to the rest.

[@clairdecat7630]

I found a young frond like you got last year today, but they were concerned with bugs when I collected them, how do you clean the mushroom free of bug & bug droppings?

[@foragerchef4141]

You cut away the mushroom until you don’t see any bug holes and all you have is clean, perfect mushroom. If you don’t remove the buggy parts they will continue to eat the mushroom in your fridge and grow. They get big. 😅

[@clairdecat7630]

@@foragerchef4141 ohh gotcha okay. Thank you so much!!

[@medogandcatadventure]

Yumm!!! 😋

[@lalgerielibre9519]

❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@peterstedman6140]

The ones I found were absolutely infested with worms :(

[@matthewkuta388]

Not sure why you didn't have patience cleaning the grass, didn't see like much.

[@chelseydingess8244]

U know nothing about this

[@foragerchef4141]

No definitely not. Only been writing about them for over a decade.