With age, the caps of this mushroom will fade and turn whitish and become very crumbly. The top of the mushroom is typically smooth and faintly wrinkled, and when fresh, its color is bright orange to yellowish orange (sometimes with a bright yellow margin). Once you develop a search image for this fungus, youвЂ™ll start seeing it everywhere (okay, maybe not on Mount Kilimanjaro, but you get my point).Д¬hicken Of The Woods (also known as the Chicken Mushroom or Sulphur Shelf) grows in clusters on both standing and downed trees, emerging as knob-like growths and soon developing into numerous shelves.Д®ach individual cap can be up to 12вЂќ wide, though oftentimes youвЂ™ll find individual caps that are much larger than this. While LionвЂ™s Mane is one of the easiest mushrooms to identify, its presence is a bit more rare than some of the other choice edibles. Chicken Of The Woods ( Laetiporus sulphureus) It can be found in the summer months through autumn. Look for LionвЂ™s Mane on the wounds of living hardwood trees, such as oaks and maples, as well as on recently felled trees. Additionally, LionвЂ™s Mane has been well researched for its role in improving cognitive health, producing neuro-regenerative effects in numerous studies ( 2, 3, 4). All species of Hericium are considered to be edible.ДЄlso known as the Pom-Pom mushroom, LionвЂ™s Mane is one of the most delectable mushrooms in the fungal kingdom, resembling crab meat in taste and texture. What distinguishes LionвЂ™s Mane from its relatives are its long spines (1-4 cm long) and unbranched fruiting body. Very few mushrooms resemble LionвЂ™s Mane, and the ones that do are taxonomically placed in the same genus ( Hericium). The spore color produced by LionвЂ™s Mane is white. These spines are white when young and yellowish when older. Each spine is soft and typically half-an-inch to 2 inches in length. The fruiting body of LionвЂ™s Mane consists of numerous, icicle-like spines (вЂњteethвЂќ) that point downward and taper to a point. LionвЂ™s Mane is the only Hericium species in eastern North America that is unbranched. The fruiting body of LionвЂ™s Mane consists of an unbranched, cushiony, water-rich mass that is between 3-10вЂќ wide and typically the same size tall. Accordingly, LionвЂ™s Mane is a great mushroom for beginning mushroom hunters. It is one of the most unique-looking mushrooms, with its unbranched body of icicle-like spines and soft white tissue. LionвЂ™s Mane, for one, certainly does not. Not all mushrooms look like the portobellos and the shiitakes found in the grocery store. This list, therefore, is based on my experiences with the organisms in this area. These mushrooms are fairly conspicuous, theyвЂ™re delicious, and they require a hefty stretch of the imagination to misidentify as toxic look-alikes.

In this post, I have put together a list of 5 easy-to-identify edible mushrooms. Well, why donвЂ™t we begin with the most easily identifiable wild edible mushrooms? You know, the ones that when you see them you think, вЂњYep, thatвЂ™s exactly it!вЂќ It can all appear quite daunting at first, especially after realizing youвЂ™re dealing with 5.1 million potential species (okay, this is an exaggeration much of this large number does not pertain to mushrooms in their fruiting body stages, but rather to microscopic fungi, such as yeasts and molds). Many individuals are interested in going one step further by foraging edible mushrooms, yet have no idea where to start. A quick trip to the grocery store confirms this. There is another side to wild mushroom hunting, however. One must absolutely know what he or she has in hand before even thinking about pulling out the butter, salt, and frying pan. ItвЂ™s easy to focus all our attention on the dangers of wild mushroom hunting, and of course the risks are valid concerns. Amatoxin, forever popularized by their hit single, вЂњDestroying AngelвЂќ

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