Chicken-of-the-Woods Mushroom

Chicken-of-the-Woods Mushrooms are a rubbery, sulfur-yellow fungus which grows in large shelved clusters along the trunks of deciduous trees, favouring oak. They grow quite large, sometimes up to a hundred pounds in a single cluster, and cause rot and brittleness in their host trees, which can lead to death.

Chicken-of-the-Woods are so named because they are popular in cuisine as when cooked they take on a similar taste and texture to chicken. This makes them popular with peasants who cannot afford much meat, and with those under dietary oaths such as Immaculate monks. The mushrooms have also been found to have mild preservative qualities, delaying spoilage of foods in which they form an ingredient.

Sometimes the mushrooms will grow on conifers such as cedar trees, but these do not reach the size of those on deciduous trees, and cause mild swelling of the lips and mouth when eaten.