I find and eat a lot of hawk’s wings mushrooms (Sarcodon imbricatus) in the Colorado high country, and they have already started flushing this year. I’ve eaten them marinated and grilled, dried and reconstituted and sauteed with sauerkraut like my Polish grandmother used to do with her dried mushroom assortments, and best yet in my dad’s creamy mushroom soup, with beef broth and hawks wings combining to create a rich, deep flavor.
Many people, however, experience hawk’s wings to be bitter and inedible. It seems likely, however, that not all hawk’s wings are created equal.
For one, you have to take a look at what trees they are fruiting under. Are they fruiting under lodgepole pines? Do they have a green stain at the base of the stalk? In that case, you might not be looking at Sarcodon imbricatus at all, but rather a related species.
Vera Stucky Evenson, author of Mushrooms of Colorado and the Southern Rocky Mountains (1997), told me last year that you have to be very careful to read the description and make sure you have the right species within the genus, and to steer clear of bitter Sarcodons. In her book she writes that members of the related Sarcodon scabrosus group (described by David Arora in Mushrooms Demystified, 1986, to be “unequivocally and indisputably inedible due to the awful taste”)—have “chestnut brown, less scaly caps; distinctive olive-black to dark bluish green coloration in the stalk bases; and a bitter taste.”
Evenson also notes that even if you successfully identify Sarcodon imbricatus, it “makes some people slightly ill,” so “only mild, young fruiting bodies should be eaten.”
I’ve never had the stomach upset, and I eat the mature mushrooms, but I was scared at first. I have only gathered them under spruce where S. imbricatus is supposed to grow, and never have the mushrooms I’ve eaten had a green stain at the base. There is definitely some confusion about this mushroom, and additional research that need to be undertaken to figure out what is going on with the Sarcodons stateside, never mind the ones in Europe.
I wrote a fun story, “Take Me Down to Sarcodon City,” including the above discussion and plenty of dumb jokes, in the August 2013 Wild Edible Notebook. Here is a free PDF download of the Sarcodon imbricatus story in its entirety.
If you like that, there are a few entire issues of the Wild Edible Notebook available for free download to email list subscribers; just scroll to the very bottom of this site and enter your name and email address to join the list and access the downloads. Then if you still like it after that, consider signing up for the monthly publication for just $2/issue! The first $2 allows you to access the latest issue plus 5 previous editions, then it’s $2/month for new ones after that. Hope you like it!
CAUTION: I have not given you enough information here to confirm an identification and eat a wild mushroom. Please consult multiple sources and/or expert opinion before eating a wild mushroom. There are steps to adhere to for your own safety, even after the positive ID, including cooking first, tasting in small quantities, and reserving a specimen to show the toxicologist in case of an adverse reaction. This is my disclaimer. Please be smart and safe. You are responsible for your actions. Thanks so much. -WFG
I picked some hawks wings today. They were young and delicious. I will be looking more often for these. They grow here on dead elm trees. Ifried most of moisture out and put in a patty of real butter and lightly salted. They have a wonderful fragrance and taste similar to a morel. Thank you for your site. Loved the info. Have you ever had cat tail asparagus. Good raw or cooked.
Larry are you sure what you picked are hawks wings (Sarcodon imbricatus)? To my knowledge these grow on soil not wood. There is a very similar-looking edible mushroom that grows on wood known commonly as dryad’s saddle. Perhaps that is what you ate?
Cattail asparagus? Do you mean the immature flower heads? If so, I love those.
Sincerely,
Erica
how do you put them in cream of mushroom soup? Sauté first?
Kolczak Dachówkowaty, i like this mushroom… But even the mature and big ones are edible…. You must cook them seperate from other mushrooms and put them for 24h in the cooler. Next day they arent bitter anymore. It worked every time. Oh and i often dry them, i put them on pizza, meat and other stuff. I not pulverice them.
Oh by the way in germany are just 2 or sorts of them. They are very dark and have big pricks
Oh, thank you for that information about cooking and then cooling 24 hours. I will try that.
Yeah we saute them first. Here is my dad’s recipe: https://wildfoodgirl.com/2014/dads-creamy-wild-mushroom-soup/
Oh great! Thank you, I will try that preparation.
Yes, so sorry for the delay, sauté first. I use my dad’s recipe: https://wildfoodgirl.com/2014/dads-creamy-wild-mushroom-soup