Hope for the Lappinch

Seems rather odd to be writing about fungi in the heat of an early summer day – somehow I always associate mushrooms and the like with the cool damp weather of autumn.

Anyway, nature knows best and one of our lovely white poplars has sprouted three magnificent brackets of chicken-of-the-woods – an edible fungus that apparently tastes, you guessed it, rather like chicken.

As an entirely natural, meat-free source of protein rather feel I ought try some for supper – it certainly seems a rather better way to approach a vegetarian diet than some of the ultra processed plant-based meats being pushed upon us by global corporates…

Coated in bread crumbs and fried in garlic butter appears to be recommended, not least as most things tend to taste pretty good in my experience after that treatment…shall report back later.

However good a plant-based meal may prove to be, the sudden appearance of this particular fungi probably does not spell good news for our much loved poplar – almost invariably being associated with a diseased and dying tree.

Still, the tree in question seems to be in rude health at the moment and, if its eventual demise puts some food on the table along the way, at least some good will come of it!