That's no joke. Lyophyllum decastes is commonly known as the fried chicken mushroom, and the answer is Yes, it does taste a little like fried chicken—at least to me it does, although Wildman Steve Brill begs to differ. It's greasy like fried chicken and a little bit chewy.
The stems are fibrous, so you're better off using just the caps. I floured mine and pan-fried in butter. Pretty simple.Fried chicken mushrooms grow in clumps (sometimes huge clumps of several pounds or more) in disturbed areas. They're common along roadsides, but beware: these same roadsides are often sprayed with herbicides and other nasty chemicals which get biomagnified by the mushroom; make sure you pick these in safe areas.
Where did you get the information that says fungi "biomagnify?" chemicals from the ground.
ReplyDeleteMost sources I have studied say that unless they are physically sprayed, then they are ok.
I agree you should not eat off of a roadside, but your reasoning is off. Mushrooms are being used in bio-remediation but the chemicals do not show up systemically as they do in plants used for the same, such as raspberry and hemp.