This past Saturday I went with my mushroom club out to New Jersey to look for mushrooms. I mentioned to the people I rode there with that I have been trying to find a Chicken of the Woods Mushroom (chicken mushroom for short). On the walk we found loads of boletes, which look a lot like how kids draw mushrooms. You might know them as cepes or porcini. Most of the mushrooms in the photo below are boletes.
We were also looking for chanterelles, which are a bright orange color. We found a few, although many were past their prime. We also found some Jack O Lantern mushrooms, which besides being poisonous, also glow in the dark. So when one of my car mates spotted something orange from the trail, we thought it was probably a group of Jack ‘O Lanterns. I was absolutely thrilled to discover chicken mushrooms. These tasty little mushrooms cook up to taste like chicken. What’s really nice about them is that when you find them, you really have a meal on your hands. There are also really no other mushrooms that look like these, so they are a very safe mushroom for beginner hunters like myself.
No way!!!! Jack o Lanterns! That’s so excellent!
Ejnoyed morels for 60 years. Had my first ‘chicken’ experience just this week. I’m hooked!
Can you please share the name of the trail you were on when yo found the jack-o’-lantern mushrooms? I’m trying to organize a night hike to catch them glowing…
Thanks so much,
Bianca
Hi Bianca,
I’m out of town right now, so I can’t put my finger on exactly where the hike was. It was with the NY Mycological Society. You can find the group on facebook. They just went back to the same place a couple of weekends ago. It’s probably listed on the page. If not, email me again in a week and I’ll figure out where the hike was.