Field dress your Hen!

[foragist]

OK, I have read several blogs on cleaning Hen of the woods mushrooms, but am not satisfied with any of them. For one thing, they rarely mention any cleaning at the site of the harvest. I am learning by experience that doing a good job of "field dressing" your Hens is worth the time & effort.
First, after your happy dance, clear away all the top debris you can. Pull out all the sticks, leaves, pine needles, etc. that you can. Then, with both hands, carefully lift and twist the whole mushroom up from the ground. There is always a bunch of dirt, and more debris underneath. If possible, hold it upright with one hand while picking away debris with the other. Then carefully stand the mushroom on it's side(on your bag on the ground), and use a sharp knife to scrape and/or slice the dirt away from the stem area. I cut off the bottom and sides of the dirty stem, but try to save most of it. Work around the bottom area; scraping, slicing, and picking as needed. Be very careful that the dirt does not fall into the mushroom. Then clean off your hands, lift up your prize, and tip upside down and carefully tap out some loose dirt & debris. Then bag it & move on to the next one. I often have more than one piled up in my bag, and do not want cross-contam. Handle carefully! you don't want broken shrooms either. Carefull prepping like this will save a lot of time & pains cleaning at home, and grit in the frying pan. More on cleaning later...

[foragist]

Cleaning Hen of the woods: Do not soak in water, or rinse with water unless you gotta. Some dryish ones in good condition can be rinsed quick. They spring back to life nicely. On the other hand, dryish ones are perfect for dehydrating if you clean them without using water.
Pick out & brush off/shake out any loose debris; then place yur hen on a clean table upside down. I like to think of the thick stem as a different type of meat, so I use a paring knife to cut the branches off the stem first, then pull it out and trim off the dirty surfaces, pick out any black specks & debris. Keep a damp cloth handy to wipe your hands & knife clean often. Cut/slice your clean stem into finger food nugget pieces. Batter fry or sautee these, or package quickly before they discolor too much. Vacuum seal & freezing works good.
Next, I take a workable portion at a time, and break apart the branchlets; scraping & picking with my small paring knife. I put the clean pieces in a large bowl, and grab another workable size chunk. I use a stiff basting brush for loose debris sometimes, but when the mushroom is properly prepared, it's pretty clean to start out with, and doesn't need much brushing.
Brushing and rinsing can just work the dirt deeper into the pores, so I avoid that. Most of the cleaning is done with just a small knife. A damp cloth can be helpful in wiping the pieces too, but be careful not to just spread the dirt that way.
Any discolored or mushy areas should be cut out & discarded.
I have a bucket or wastebasket handy for the dirt, debris, and scrap pieces. I wipe my workspace clean between workable chunks. Clean, clean, clean!! I rarely get any grit in my Maitake recipes now.
Bigger or older specimens have beetles, slugs, spiders, centipedes, ants, etc. hiding inside. I even heard of a snake inside one!
I split these into half or quarters, and shake/tap the looseys out before bringing inside.
Practice makes perfect. A few good seasons can have you processing these gourmet mushrooms like a pro.
When cleaning Hen of the woods, we always cook & enjoy some, freeze some, and dehydrate some. Any further cleaning/preparing tips are welcome.