Turkey tail (Trametes versicolor) are edible polypore mushrooms with medicinal properties commonly found in North American forests.
They can also be found on every continent except Antarctica.
Young turkey tail mushrooms growing on a tree in an unnamed forest in Tioga County, NY. The outer layers of the tree are rotting, making it the perfect food source for the fungi.
Turkey tails are very slow-growing mushrooms that can take 1-2 months to fully fruit, depending on temperature and humidity. They mostly thrive in the fall and winter, but some can grow year-round.
That fuzzy white patch is called mycelium (pl. mycelia), which slowly digests the rotting wood on which it grows. When it’s ready to reproduce, the mycelium develops into a fan-shaped mushroom.
GROWTH:
Mycelium: Turkey tail mushrooms start as a whitish network of cells that live in rotting logs. Spores: The mycelium produces spores that are released to begin new mycelia elsewhere. Fan shape: The mushrooms develop in distinctive fan shapes with colorful bands.
Notice how the immature turkey tail mushrooms are rather hairy-looking and not fully fanned out.
HARVESTING:
Harvest the mushrooms after they have reached the full fan shape, and before the white outer growing edge recedes.
Before plucking them, tap the top first to release the spores contained in the pores on the underside of the mushrooms. This will help to produce more.
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