chicken of the woods

[thecalbanner]

stomping around the other day i found this bright yellow fungus growing on w yew tree an i write it off as chicken of the woods.
are there any similar species that are dangerous.
i always feel this paranoia with mushrooms.lol

[thecalbanner]

ps, recipes are more than welcome too

[Shewie]

Have you got any pics ?

[robin wood]

Chicken in the woods is pretty unmistakable, I don't know of any other big yellow bracket. Having said that I have never seen it on yew, most common on beech and oak. This photo from the web is apparantly on yew though.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6f/Chickwoods.jpg

[Galemys]

ps, recipes are more than welcome too

I usually come across COTW on willow trees here in Holland and use this fungus as a substitute for chicken in recipes, but I would be very cautious using a specimen growing on a yew tree for food. Yew is a very poisonous tree.

Cheers,

Tom

[listenclear]

Totally agree with Galemys, wouldn't eat anything growing on a yew although it was most likely chicken of the woods.
The river cottage forum may have good recipies etc... just a thought.

[widu13]

Yes yew is very poisonous, but you can eat yew berries. But do NOT chew or bruise the stones eat only the flesh from them.

[Peter_t]

i saw some growing on sweet chestnut the other day.
must go back and hope its still there!:)


pete

[JonathanD]

Can anyone confirm this big lump....

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a77/darkcrown_1969/16Jun201010.jpg

[slowworm]

I've often found CotW growing on Yew around here along with many other trees such as willow, oak, beech, wild cherry and sycamore. The general advice I've seen is to not eat it if it's growing on yew. If you find it growing on other trees it can cause upsets in a few people so if you've not tried it before just try a small piece once you've correctly IDed it.

A few useful pictures I've taken over the years, these ones showing quite young specimens:

http://www.dugo.demon.co.uk/other_pics/CotW08a.jpg

http://www.dugo.demon.co.uk/other_pics/CotW08b.jpg

[jonnie drake]

I have read that it is very safe to take them from oak, not so good from yew though...

[thecalbanner]

really helpful thanks.