Foraging for Maitake (Hen of the Woods) in Autumn

🍂 Fall Foraging in Connecticut: The Marvelous Maitake (Hen of the Woods)

It’s fall in Connecticut—and that means it's prime mushroom foraging season! So many incredible varieties fruit in the fall, and even though it’s been a dry summer, the rain we've had has been enough to bring out a multitude of mushrooms from the forest floor.

Some of my favorite fall edibles include:

• Honey mushrooms

• Shrimp of the woods

• Chicken of the woods

• Oyster mushrooms

• Puffballs

But my favorite edible and medicinal mushroom to forage this time of year is Maitake, also known as Hen of the Woods or as the Japanese call it, the Dancing Mushroom! They say it gets that name because people would dance with joy when they found one—and I can absolutely relate. I’ve definitely done a little happy dance myself after finding a beautiful hen!

🧐 How to Identify Maitake (Grifola Fronds) 

Maitake is not only delicious and medicinal—it’s also really cool-looking and can get huge, offering a big harvest from a single find. Here’s what to look for:

• Overlapping lobed caps, like a fluffed-up hen’s tail

• Colors vary from gray, brown, tan to cream or white

• White or cream underside with visible pores (not gills)

• Usually blends in with the tree bark or forest floor, so keep your eyes peeled

They always grow at the base of hardwood trees, especially oak, but I’ve also found them near beech and maple. Unlike Chicken of the Woods, which can grow on branches or higher up, Maitake only grows from the ground, near the base of trunks and roots.

🍁 When and Where to Find Them

• Best time to forage: Mid-September through mid-October

• Preferred conditions: Warm days and cool nights (like morels in the spring)

• Look after rain: Especially in oak-dominant forests with dead or dying trees

• Saprophytic (grows on decaying wood), often found under trees affected by invasive pests

Maitake tends to grow in the same spots year after year, so once you find a good location, mark it and return in future seasons!

⚠️ Look-Alikes? Don’t Worry!

There are no real toxic look-alikes for Maitake. A couple mushrooms that resemble it include:

• Black-Staining Polypore – edible, but fruits in summer, not fall

• Umbrella Polypore – also edible, with slightly different features

So if it’s fall and it looks like a Hen of the Woods, it probably is!

🐛 Foraging Tips & Harvesting Advice

Maitake can take a few days to a week to fully mature. The trick is to harvest them young, before bugs and slugs move in (they love Maitake!). Dirt can also splash up during rain and get lodged in the mushroom, making cleaning tough.

My foraging tips:

• If rain is coming, harvest early while they’re clean and tender

• Cut at the base, leaving the mycelium intact for sustainability

• Take only the big ones if there are lots—let the small ones grow

• Use a mushroom brush to clean; avoid water unless necessary (they soak it up!)

🧂 Cooking & Preserving Maitake

Maitake has a rich, versatile flavor that works in tons of recipes:

🍜 Stir-fry
🍕 Pizza
🌮 Tacos
🍝 Pasta
🥣 Soup
...and so much more!

To preserve them:

• Dehydrate and store in glass jars

• Freeze after cooking

• Pickle and can for long shelf life

• Older and Tougher pieces? Make jerky or use for stock

🌿 Medicinal Benefits of Maitake

Beyond the kitchen, Maitake is a powerful medicinal mushroom. Wild-harvested varieties are often more potent than store-bought cultivated ones.

Medicinal qualities include:

• ✅ Immune system support

• ✅ Anti-cancer properties – especially studied for gynecological cancers

• ✅ Helps regulate blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure

• ✅ Anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory

• ✅ May support weight loss and fat metabolism

• ✅ High in antioxidants, B vitamins, and vitamin D

I always save the whiter, tougher parts I can’t cook to make teas and tinctures and extract their full medicinal benefits.

Maitake is truly one of nature’s gifts—delicious, nutritious, and medicinal. Foraging for them each fall is one of my favorite traditions, and I love how they bring together the connection to the forest, and nourishment for the body.

So get out there, check those oak trees after the next rain, and maybe you’ll find your own dancing mushroom moment this season

We will be searching for these and other wild mushrooms of fall in my upcoming forage walk at Shadle farm on 10/12. Sign up below through Eventbrite for this special collaboration at SHADLE FARM in DURHAM, CT

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wild-mushroom-forage-walk-at-shadle-farm-tickets-1647950788169?aff=oddtdtcreator