Chicken of the Woods

My youngest daughter, Dahlia went out to collect money for a school fundraiser and came home with over $40, and a large cache of Laetiporus sp, more fondly know as the chicken of the woods mushroom. I have to admit, I was pretty excited; its been dryer than usual for this time of year, and I guess I'm antsy for mushroom season to fully kick in. 

The Laetiporus Dahlia found was ideal, young and tender; the taste was delectable. The chicken of the woods is a great mushroom for people just getting into fungi; it is rather distinct looking with its bright orange/yellow flesh and presence of pores rather than gills. And even though Dahl doesn't like mushrooms, she loves finding them and helped me prep them for cooking.

 
These mushrooms were prime, so a quick saute in butter was all that was necessary.

I saved 3/4 of them for a creamy potato-laetiporus soup and used the rest in a delectable omelet.

Apparently, the Laetiporus complex has at least 6 recognized North American species. For more information, I recommend Michael Kuo's website: Mushroom Expert.Com. 
Research has also shown that laetiporus extract is effective as an anti-oxidant and strongly inhibits the growth of certain Gram-positive bacteria.  
Chicken of the woods can be found on living and dead woods and fruit mainly during the late summer and early fall. They have a savory earthy flavor with a dense meaty texture.

Elderberry Vodka

Fall is slowly winding its way across the valley, acorns are dropping, and the big leaf maple is starting to glow. Autumn is such a wonderful time of harvest and abundance. Wild and cultivated fruits beckon with a myriad of colors and textures, and mushrooms are about to start popping up all over the Pacific Northwest. 

Elderberries--Sambucus cerulea are one of my favorite wild fruits to harvest in the late summer/early fall. They can sometimes be tricky to access, but the beautiful umbels of blushing blue berries are worth the effort. 

Elder has a long history of edible and medicinal uses (both the flowers and the fruits) and is a common winter herbal used to activate the the immune system (immuno-stimulant) and as an anti-viral agent. 

For some ethnobotanical and ecological information on elderberry, check out Plants for a Future, The Living Wild Project, or the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) plant guide.  

If you are interested in learning more about scientific research into the medicinal properties of elderberry, the links below might be good places to start:

Regulation of Inflammatory Gene Expression in PBMCs by Immunostimulatory Botanicals

Sigma Aldrich Plant Profiler 

Because of the lovely berry taste, even young and picky eaters are apt to enjoy it. I usually make elderberry syrup with some of the berries I collect, and use the rest to make a fruit relish, prepared similarly to cranberry relish. This year I made elderberry infused vodka; it looks, smells, and tastes delightful. 

Elderberry vodka lemonade. Divine!

 

 

Spreading My Feathers

What a sweet week! I sent off the consignment order for the new Dog Bakery and Barktique, a dear customer, Raven, is opening in Lawrence, Kansas. 

I sent out a custom order for two sweet tunic mini dresses to a Furious fan in the UK. I had my first order from Australia! And I made more earrings and joined a new marketplace called Copious to sell my Furious Designs. I posted a couple batwing shirts and a couple pairs of earrings on there, so we'll see how they do. 

My newest earrings are below; they have a bit of a woodland theme: