Mushroom hunting is a source of true, unadulterated joy for my forest school students. They memorize mushroom names with the same fervent effort that other kids their age devote to the characters of Frozen II or Paw Patrol, and the complicated titles roll off their tongues with surprising clarity: turkey tail, chicken of the woods, polypore, destroying angel. We bring a set of small, foldable field guides to our twice-weekly classes in the woods, and our copy of Mushrooms of the Midwest is the undeniable favorite. Its soft corners and frayed edges, like those of a cherished but absolutely ragged baby blanket, reveal just how deeply loved—and fought over—it is.

I’m not sure what exactly it is about fungus that so enchants my students. Perhaps it’s the fact that the mushrooms we find are right-sized for their four-year-old selves—not too big, like the trees that tower over them, or too small, like the insects under their feet. Or maybe it’s the mystical quality that mushrooms have: gone for months, then, poof, back again. Whatever it is, it fosters a deep and abiding love. They even delight in finding jelly leaf fungus, a mushroom that looks like a bunch of soggy raisins glued to a stick.

While walking the trails recently, we discovered a prime chicken of the woods mushroom sprouting from a downed tree, fluorescent orange and yellow, a day-glo spot in the otherwise green-and-brown forest. We gently pried it off the log and broke into it, revealing the muscular striation within. With its bright colors, distinctive look, and genuinely chicken-like flavor, chicken of the woods is a perfect mushroom for amateur foragers. In the upper Midwest, you’ll find it on downed or dying beech and oak trees starting in August and going all the way into October.

Inspired by the mushroom’s meaty characteristics and my students’ appreciation for all things fungus, I went home that night and made simple fried chicken of the woods tenders. The union of kids’ menu flavor with foraged mushroom was delicious in its own right but also deeply nostalgic. This is grown-up comfort food at its finest.