Pheasantback or Dryad's Saddle Mushrooms: Making Stock

Many edible wild mushrooms have an ideal edible stage, but most people don’ recognize that non-ideal edible stages can be ideal for making stocks. Stocks are foundational to so many recipes, and having a nutritious mushroom broth on hand made with a combination of wild edible and medicinal mushrooms is easy, delicious and profoundly healthy.

These pheasanbacks (cerioporus squamosus) were harvested in a more mature stage. These are delicious mushrooms to eat when they are quite young and tender. The more mature fruiting bodies can be cut into chunks, shredded further in a blender with water, and cooked with garlic, celery, onions, carrots, and herbs to create delightful broths. At SHO, we also use soy sauce or liquid aminos in the broth to add depth, and sometimes we use smoked salt. Pheasantbacks are excellent adapted to the style of chicken stock. We used fresh lovage from our garden for this batch!