Chicken of the woods

[Adi007]

Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus Sulphureus)

Switch the TV on to a wild food program and watch for long enough you will eventually come across mention of the bracket fungus "Chicken of the woods".

http://www.bluewillowpages.com/mushroomexpert/laetiporus_sulphureus.html

It is edible ... but.

Firstly, you should never eat it raw, always cook it.
Secondly, some people are allergic to is as it contains three alkaloids (hordenine, tyramine and N-methyltyramine) that can cause an upset stomach and dizziness in some people who eat it. If you are going to try it for the first time, eat only a small portion of young specimens.

You should find this fungus on both decayed and living trees (oaks are a favorite) from May through to Sept.

Happy and safe foraging!

 

[ditchfield]

Secondly, some people are allergic to is as it contains three alkaloids (hordenine, tyramine and N-methyltyramine) that can cause an upset stomach and dizziness in some people who eat it. If you are going to try it for the first time, eat only a small portion of young specimens.

And doesn't Sargey know it. From what i've heard, he had some nasty experiences :-D.

 

[C_Claycomb]

AHHHH!! That explains much! A friend of ours gave my parents and I some, we didn't rightly know what to do with it at the time and didn't get round to cooking it for a few days. When we finally ate it, we all felt quite queasy. We thought it was because we had left it too long, but since it was in the fridge I don't think that could have been it.

Not something I want to experiment with again anyway.

Thanks for the info!

 

[PC2K]

why is it called the chicken of the woods, i thought that mushrooms containless less calorie than you spend finding them. Here are 2 quote's from combat-online.com :

A really good big mushroom identification book is a great aid to survival preparation. Tear out the pages one by one, crumple them into little balls and practice lighting fires. Lighting fires is a useful skill. Identifying mushrooms isn't.

The risk might be worth it if mushrooms had some nutritional value. They don't. You will expend more energy carrying a pound of mushrooms 100yds than you will get from eating them. Add in the genuine risk of snuffing it, or at least being "hors de combat" for a couple of days, and eating wild mushrooms becomes the survival cook's equivalent of shooting off your toes.

http://www.combat-online.com/cook.htm

 

[Adi007]

You're not wrong ...

A 100g (4oz) portion of mushrooms provide about 13 calories ...

But, they are a treasure trove of vitamins (especially B12), minerals (potassium and phosphorous), protein and fiber.

And they taste good (well, some do!).

 

[boaty]

You're not wrong ...

A 100g (4oz) portion of mushrooms provide about 13 calories ...

But, they are a treasure trove of vitamins (especially B12), minerals (potassium and phosphorous), protein and fiber.

And they taste good (well, some do!).

I can see the advertising now...

Mushrooms, the wonder slimming aid. Eat your way to a thin, happy, healthy life. Boost your earning power, be dynamite in bed. Mushrooms, the food that has everything.

More seriously, for long term health, rather than short term survival, mushrooms are a top addition to your food!

 

[Adi007]

You're not wrong ...

A 100g (4oz) portion of mushrooms provide about 13 calories ...

But, they are a treasure trove of vitamins (especially B12), minerals (potassium and phosphorous), protein and fiber.

And they taste good (well, some do!).

I can see the advertising now...

Mushrooms, the wonder slimming aid. Eat your way to a thin, happy, healthy life. Boost your earning power, be dynamite in bed. Mushrooms, the food that has everything.

More seriously, for long term health, rather than short term survival, mushrooms are a top addition to your food!

:rolmao:
The mushroom society got to you too!

 

[Stuart]

If your in a survival situation and whilst out foraging or looking for other things you come across a fungus you can readily identify as edible then take it and add it to your food

you didn’t waste calories finding it because you were doing other things at the time anyway, and the added taste and texture will boost your moral
and some like giant puff balls (or ones that appear in large crops like oyster mushrooms) can be very filling, again boosting moral

to say that fungus uses more calories to collect than they give is to think of obtaining fungus in the same light as hunting, but fungus does not run away so if you see one and pick it up you expended no calories in doing so

for example if you run around all day trying to catch a rabbit with a spear then you will almost defiantly use more calories catching it than you obtain by eating it (this is why active hunting should be reserved for large animals that will feed you for several days)

But if you lay a trap line it will work catching rabbits for weeks with very little expenditure of energy on your part

with fungus all you have to do is spot them! which uses up very little energy at all if you were collecting water or looking for fire wood at the time

but if you couldn’t identify it then you miss out on an easily obtained snack

Also remember that the only reason the fungus weighs so much in relation to its calorie content is that it is almost entirely water, if you dry them out or collect them dry (as jews ear can often be found) you will find that they now provide more calories then is expended by carrying there weight

a sad but obvious fact is that carring water will always expend far more calories than it provides you (nothing) but it does keep you alive

 

[Klipspringer]

Hi Stuart,

I really don't mean to sound cynical, but if you were in a survival situation would you really fill your stomach with food that has very low calorific value just for moral? Maybe you would burn more calories digesting this food than you would get out of it. Personally, for moral I would light myself a big mamma of a fire!!

Do you think that proteins (catching rabbits etc.) are more important than carbohydrates (plants, roots etc) in a survival situation?

Carbohydrates are an essential fuel for the body, everybody will burn all the carb reserves within 24hrs. When these reserves are gone you will start to feel very tired, have headaches, feel cold and have an extremely
slow thought process and slow physical reactions. the last thing I want in a survival situation!

The word "corohydrate" comes from the fact that glucose is made up of carbon and water. When digesting carbs, water is released into the body.

The simplist carbohydrate is glucose. Glucose, also called "blood sugar" and "dextrose", flows in the bloodstream so the it is available to every cell in the body. your cells absorb glucose and convert it into energy to power most of the machinery in the human cell.

Also the body needs carbohydrates to digest protein.

In a long term situation I may seek protein and fat from wild amimals, but do most game animals contain much fat?

I have a friend who is a game keeper and he says that a layman would stand very little chance of catching rabbits without understanding their enviroment. Even when he puts a line of snares down he very seldom catches anything. He also mentioned that without proper training you risk the change of catching other animals such as badgers and foxes, which in my eyes would be terrible.

your thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Stew]

I really dont mean to sound cynical, but you were in a survival situation would you really fill your stomach with food that has very low calorific value just for moral? Maybe you would burn more calories digesting this food than you would get out of it. Personally, for moral I would light myself a big mamma of a fire!!

You can't put a price on good moral, IMHO. By having flavoursome food, even if there's not many calories, you can transform a bland meal into something great. Can you imagine eating bland, flavourless food every day?

As Stuart said, you don't necessarily have to expend lots of energy in gathering the fungi.

Maybe you would burn more calories digesting this food than you would get out of it.

I doubt it! :-?

Personally, for moral I would light myself a big mamma of a fire!!

Yeah, good to an extent but it's not going to keep you going forever!

 

[bushblade]

Hi Stuart,

I really don't mean to sound cynical, but if you were in a survival situation would you really fill your stomach with food that has very low calorific value just for moral? Maybe you would burn more calories digesting this food than you would get out of it. Personally, for moral I would light myself a big mamma of a fire!!

your thoughts would be appreciated.

After just 24 hrs in such a situation, with no food and little water, would you be saying the same thing?

 

[Stuart]

I really don't mean to sound cynical, but if you were in a survival situation would you really fill your stomach with food that has very low calorific value just for moral?
Maybe you would burn more calories digesting this food than you would get out of it. Personally, for moral I would light myself a big mamma of a fire!!

Yes I would, I would fill my stomach with every food i could find especially if it was tasty and filling and boosts my moral

Lighting a 'big mamma fire' would result in more heat out put than you require and would consume a geat deal of fuel requiring you to make more frequent trips to gather fire wood (hard work) using up more calories

"the ignorant man makes a big fire and sits far away, the wise man makes a small fire and sits close"

Do you think that proteins (catching rabbits etc.) are more important than carbohydrates (plants, roots etc) in a survival situation?

No I dont (I dont see where I implied that i did?) and much of what you say with regards to this is correct

I have a friend who is a game keeper and he says that a layman would stand very little chance of catching rabbits without understanding their enviroment. Even when he puts a line of snares down he very seldom catches anything. He also mentioned that without proper training you risk the change of catching other animals such as badgers and foxes, which in my eyes would be terrible.

the idea behind practising a particular skill is to become more effecient at it than a Layperson, which is why I practice

whilst i agree that snares should be layed with utmost care to avoid catching foxes and badgers, if you were in a survival situation then would you be overly concerened that you caught a fox or badger??

but that aside worth noting that we partake in bushcraft as a hobby and passtime, whilst the knowleadge is useful for survival situations this is not the sole reason why we do it.
much of the time we are purly out to enjoy nature on its own terms which includes eating tasty fungi when we find them

In a survival situation food would be the last thing on my mind after the first three days I would no longer feel hungry (when the effects of keytosis start) and i would suffer no long term ill effects going without food as long as 14 day as my body would use the subcutaneous layers of fat as fuel
during this time many people notice that their senses are hightend

i would be far more concerned with water, shelter, even salt etc

but as i said this is bushcraft I'm doing it for fun not to go hungery

 

[the naughty boy]

calm down chaps ,lol,after all it all boils down to opinion dosent it. i havent the first clue about fungus or mushrooms and i found that post about pulling out the pages and practising lighting fires hilarious.does picking mushrooms turn you into a fun-gi?

what was this thread about again?

i came across this fungus thing on a tree last week .it was a big flat fan type thingy,looked like it had been there for a while as it was as hard as the hobs!too risky in my book.i,ll stick to snotters and chewing my toenails.are there any calories in them?

as for chicken of the woods ...id rather stick to chicken of the kentucky bucket ta.

theres really no need. :roll:

 

[Stuart]

Naughtly boy what you found is most likley a Birch polypore
you cant eat it but it can be used as a strop (its also know as a razor strop fungi)

 

[the naughty boy]

or a frisbee!
cheers i,ll know not to eat that one, no matter how much encouragement i get!
i had a bad experience with mushrooms at school when my m8 gave me a large handfull of mushrooms .turned out to be magic mushrooms which apparently contained something like LSD. we were both last seen skipping and dancing along the annadale embankment past our school by the physics teacher whose class we were supposed to be attending.
ever see doc martins curl up like pixie boots before your very eyes?

needless to say i only did it once and now steer clear of shrooms in the wild...you never know :hurra:

 

[PC2K]

personally i got none training or knowledge about mushrooms, so i'm not eating one i found somewhere, just because i have seen a picture of it somewhere. i can't seam to remeber how things looks like anyways.

 

[Kath]

"the ignorant man makes a big fire and sits far away, the wise man makes a small fire and sits close"

A wise saying! Personally I always find that a small fire is better for moral anyway (especially in a survival situation). Partly because a small fire is more controllable and so I can relax more. But also because big fires consume you in the bright light making the darkness around seem darker and so more alarming, againn less relaxing.

 

[Klipspringer]

In a survival situation food would be the last thing on my mind after the first three days I would no longer feel hungry (when the effects of keytosis start) and i would suffer no ill effects going without food as long as 14 day as my body would use the subcutaneous layers of fat as fuel
during this time many people notice that their senses are hightend

After 14 days without food your body is deficient of vitamins B & C, your blood sugar and fat levels are dangerously low, your nerve and muscle function deteriorates, and your heartbeat becomes erratic. At this stage your increased lack of co-ordination would be a very serious threat to your safety, and will also find it very difficult to drink.

These symptoms could be avoided with some simple carbohydrates.

i would be far more concerned with water, shelter and salt

How will you make your water safe to drink, maybe on my big fire?
How many calories will be burnt making a shelter? probably more than making a fire.

Whats the salt for?? seasoning your bland mushrooms??

 

[Adi007]

After 14 days without food your body is deficient of vitamins B & C, your blood sugar and fat levels are dangerously low, your nerve and muscle function deteriorates, and your heartbeat becomes erratic. At this stage your increased lack of co-ordination would be a very serious threat to your safety, and will also find it very difficult to drink.

There's lots of myths surrounding the human body and how long (or little) it can go without food. There are many examples from many sources of people going for extended periods without food. 7 - 14 days shouldn't have a serious effect on most people. A few days without water on the other hand ...

How will you make your water safe to drink, maybe on my big fire?

Well, on its own a big fire isn't going to help with water purification ...

How many calories will be burnt making a shelter? probably more than making a fire.

Depends on the terrain and the availability of firewood. A shelter could last weeks while a pile of firewood is a limited resource ...

Whats the salt for?? seasoning your bland mushrooms??

Salt is for electrolytic balance. As for the mushrooms, well, they might not be egg and chips but at 13 cals per 100g, if they are easy to find they are easy calories.

 

[Stuart]

After 14 days without food your body is deficient of vitamins B & C, your blood sugar and fat levels are dangerously low, your nerve and muscle function deteriorates, and your heartbeat becomes erratic. At this stage your increased lack of co-ordination would be a very serious threat to your safety, and will also find it very difficult to drink.

yes after 14 days you will have used up most of your bodys reserves of fat and be suffering from vitamin deficances, you will start to suffer serious effects to your health

however when this is looked at in relation to survival times for exposer which can be measured in hours in cold climates, and without water 3-7 days or with out salt which in hot climates can lead to heat stroke and death between 1-3 days
(provided you had enough water to live that long)

compared to these things food is not that important!!!! lack of shelter, water, and salt will kill you if you do not attend to them first

These symptoms could be avoided with some simple carbohydrates.

what makes you think that i disagree with you that carbohyrates are the most important sorts of survival food?? where have i intimated this??

my statment is simply that i would eat any fungi i see that i can identify as edible, not just dismiss it because it does not contain carbohydrates

I also stated that food is very low on a list of priorities and that if you are in a situation where you will have a lack of food you will survive longer by fasting for the first three days and letting your body switch over to starvation mode where it will use food in a more effeicant manner

How will you make your water safe to drink, maybe on my big fire?

I simple stated that there was no need for a huge fire, a small fire will purify water just as well and use less calories to maintain

How many calories will be burnt making a shelter? probably more than making a fire

when did i say i was against fires??? (though i am against huge fires with no more practical value than a small fire)