Sulphur polypore (chicken of the woods)
Laetiporus sulphureus
Tiered brackets from bright yellow to orange, 10 to 50 cm across, on the trunks of hardwoods, oaks above all: young, they recall chicken flesh, in smell as in the mouth. A prized foraging find that we are only beginning to know how to grow.
Partial shade
Role in permaculture
A wound parasite, then a decomposer: its brown rot in the heartwood of hardwoods hollows the tree, which can keep a healthy look before collapsing, but these cavities and this dead wood feed a very specific beetle fauna. In the garden, it turns cut oak sections, buried in the shade, to account; they fruit for several years in a row.
Growing this mushroom
- Method
- Oak sections heated, colonised in a bag, then buried upright in the shade
- Substrate
- Oak cut from healthy trees or branches (neither diseased wood nor wood fallen long ago), in sections of about 20 × 20 to 28 × 28 cm. In the wild it also grows on other hardwoods, but only cultivation on oak has been tried. Slightly parasitic, it does not establish reliably on wood that has not been heated, where other fungi outcompete it: sterilising, steaming or boiling is essential.
- Where to place it
- A shaded corner, under tree cover or at the edge of a forest garden. Grown on cut wood: the 'association' is the oak as support. In the wild, it attacks living trees through their wounds: for an old affected tree that overhangs a path, the RHS advises having its stability assessed by an arborist.
- Period
- Inoculation in any season; fruiting from late spring to autumn in the wild, from summer to early autumn in cultivation.
- Level
- Advanced (rated 'moderate' by Field & Forest Products, 'expert' by North Spore)
Steps
- Cut the oak into sections of at least about one kilo, and place each one in an autoclavable bag closed with a foam plug.
- Heat the wood: sterilise it in a pressure cooker for 2 hours (the most effective), steam it for 3 to 6 hours, or keep it at a gentle boil for 1 hour. Let it cool.
- In a clean place without draughts, pour the spawn (inoculated sawdust) into the bag, spread it over both cut ends of the section, then close the bag again at once.
- Incubate for 2 to 3 months at room temperature (ideally 13 to 21 °C): the mycelium covers the wood with a white coat that turns yellow, then orange.
- Take the section out of the bag and bury it upright in the shade, the top 2.5 to 10 cm above the soil (or lay it half-buried and cover it almost entirely with wood chips). Mark the spot.
- Be patient: the first brackets appear in summer, 1 to 2 years after burial, then every year for several years. Pick them while they are plump: as they dry, they turn woody.
- Laboratory variant (Pleszczyńska et al., 2013): synthetic logs of enriched sawdust, whose fruiting is triggered by a cold shock.
Edible when young, with dense flesh that recalls chicken; it stays tender when cooked with a little broth. Presented here as a food, without health claims.
Precautions
To be eaten young, according to the ANSES list of edible mushrooms (2017): old brackets turn hard. Cook it well (ANSES recommends at least 15 minutes of cooking for any mushroom) and eat it in moderation (150 to 200 g of fresh mushrooms per adult per week, according to the same agency): it does not agree with everyone, and dizziness and stomach upset have been reported in some people (Woodland Trust). As a precaution, do not pick it from a yew, a very poisonous tree (Woodland Trust). When foraging, ANSES flags a risk of confusion with Hapalopilus nidulans, a toxic polypore: its polyporic acid causes digestive troubles, liver damage, dizziness, balance problems, drowsiness, vision problems and purple urine.
Sources: Anses, avis du 4 avril 2017 relatif à un projet d'arrêté sur les variétés comestibles de champignons de culture et sauvages (saisine 2015-SA-0180), annexe 3 · Pleszczyńska M., Wiater A., Siwulski M., Szczodrak J. (2013), « Successful large-scale production of fruiting bodies of Laetiporus sulphureus (Bull.: Fr.) Murrill on an artificial substrate », World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 29(4):753-758, DOI 10.1007/s11274-012-1230-z · Wright R., Woof K., Douglas B., Gaya E. et al. (2022), « The genome sequence of the chicken of the woods fungus, Laetiporus sulphureus (Bull.) Murrill, 1920 », Wellcome Open Research 7:83, DOI 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.17750.1 · Field & Forest Products, « How to Grow Chicken of the Woods on Logs » (fieldforest.net/chicken-of-the-woods-on-logs) · North Spore, « Organic Chicken of the Woods Mushroom Log Kit » (northspore.com) · LPO, fiche espèce « Polypore soufré » (lpo.fr) · RHS, « Heartwood Fungi » (rhs.org.uk/biodiversity/Heartwood-Fungi) · Woodland Trust, « Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) » (woodlandtrust.org.uk)
Good companions
Traditional companion planting (benefit not demonstrated)
Key takeaways
- • Prefers partial shade exposure.
- • Classic companion: Oak.