I’ll always remember the first time a cauliflower mushroom showed up in the kitchen, when I opened up a shipping container from my friend George Weppler (a former purveyor to Alice Waters at Chez Panisse) filled with a giant, beige, asymetrical noodle ball. I had never seem a mushroom like it. I don’t think I saw another one for two years after that.
It’s still a rare thing for me to see a cauliflower mushroom, but over the years they’ve become more common as the list of edibles harvested commerically has grown, something I think is really great. They’re ultra-rare for me personally because problem they aren’t supposed to grow in the Midwest where I live, so I always order them, and have never picked them in the Midwest myself. I know a lot of people that hunt mushrooms in Minnesota though, and one of my more experienced friends says they do grow with pine in the north, but that they’re rare. Personally I’ve never seen a hint of them growing in the Midwest, but here and there, very occasionally, you might see someone post a picture of them. Thankfully, instead of having to rely on luck, if I find a reason to use 10 lbs or so I can order them wholesale during the season if I’m lucky (typically they’re available in the fall, around September and October).
Cooking
Either way, cauliflower mushrooms are delicious, and kind of act like giant mushroomy noodles in a pan. Like hen of the woods, their ovoid blob shape makes for a great bug hotel, so I generally make sure to pick them into individual floret clusters and clean before cooking, but if I get a large one, I might get a little more creative and cook them whole. If you’re new to cauliflower mushrooms, I’d start by sweating some in a little butter with a pinch of salt and eating just like that. If you have a bunch, try out the cauliflower gratin pictured at the bottom of this post.
Preserving
To freeze, blanch your cauliflower mushrooms in salted, boiling water for 5 minutes, then cool and freeze, preferably with some of the water you blanched them in to avoid them being exposed to air. Vacuum sealed if you can. They can also be dried, and are sold commonly in Asian markets like that, but I haven’t tried them. Or try them pickled or made into conserve.
Further Reading
Cauliflower Mushrooms: Mushroom Expert.com
Thank you for sharing the recipe! I’m in central Pennsylvania, and am blessed with the fact that these grow like wildfire on our property. I never have a problem filling multiple laundry baskets full.
I recently discovered your blog and I’m loving it! You’re inspiring me to buy and use all those exotic mushrooms I see at the farmer’s market…
found one west of the Twin cities growing next to a hen. It wasn’t a hen tho, wanted to pick it a couple days later when I realized what it was, but too old. recipe looks great.
Sparassis. Queen of the forest. A one-mushroom party. Big, easy to identify, delicious. What s not to love?
I’ve made this dish twice now with some cauliflowers I found while hiking- it’s so delicious! Thank you for the hard work you do.
I did want to let you know that you left the stock out of the recipe steps, I figured it went in with the cabbage, and that worked great.
Hey Megan, thanks for pointing that out. I’m just one human, and here and there I overlook the occasional thing. My line cooks point out stuff all the time in the house recipe book, I’m constantly re-writing recipes, adjusting things, etc.
My husband and I found two of these amazing mushrooms while hunting here in WA state a couple nights ago. Just assembled the ingredients to make your recipe to go along with a smoked venison roast. I added some chanterelle’s to it! I snuck a taste before baking mmm, mmm good! I can’t wait to eat it. Thank you for sharing your recipe! This will be our first experience with the cauliflower mushroom.
They’re a wonderful mushroom, enjoy.
One of th guys at our Arcata, CA farmers market was selling them this weekend…yum.
I happened to have all the ingredients needed for this dish and made it as written. I’ve cooked cauliflower mushro(om before and did not like the texture. Your recipe is genius because the texture of the cabbage and mushroom (and the flavor) blended well.
Not the prettiest dish ever but we really enjoyed. Thanks for posting!
Thanks so much, you’re lucky to have cauliflower mushrooms in your area, I’d gladly trade some species to be able to pick them near me instead of getting them once in a while from Oregon.
I found one of these in my yard near Mt Hood Oregon. It was bigger than my head and very delicious. It’s been several years and I keep checking that same spot in hope for another.
We havefound only one here in the mountains of Arizona. Delicious! So i bought a bag of dehydrated Sprassis from Amazon. They are VERY clean and I’m hoping no chemicals were used in the process. How would you suggest using them? They tend to get floppy when soaked, unlike morels. Thank you for any advice.
Thank you for your recipe, it gave me confidence to cook sporassis which I found in Hudson valley.
I was interested to make it a vegan recipe. The first time I sauteed it by itself, and felt that it could use more flavor. So, I added sliced garlic, black pepper, thyme and a tiny dribble of soy sauce, which enhanced the flavor.
Where can I find the cauliflower gratin recipe, please?
https://foragerchef.com/cauliflower-mushroom-cabbage-gratin/ Or enter the words “cauliflower mushroom gratin” into the search bar of this website.
Thank you for the recipe!
Good recipe, i am in the luck of having good spot in the forest and have right now 2 buckets of cleaned cauliflower ,,,, some to cook some to preserve ( I am picking mushrooms as this is what we do in my family)
Found a 10 pounder yesterday near the base of an enormous Doug Fir stump in the N oregon Cascades. God Bless Oregon! My new spot is very remote. I’ll be returning next year for another. BTW Huge fir stumps burnt from a forest fire quite some years bck. Fully mature forest now with insanely healthy Chanterelles
oh yeah…..I’m going to attempt to slice it like bread,deep fry them and make sandwiches. Hope it works, I’ve got a lot of eating to do!
I’ve made tempura, cutting into bite-sized pieces first. The curly shape of the mushroom holds the batter well and they fry nicely. I also like the pun of crispy crispa (although I live in the PNW so I’m probably cooking radicata lol)
PS goes great with a garlic aioli
They’re a great mushroom.
I found 2 f these on my land in s/w mich.this year…very interesting mushroom…I consider myself very lucky having them.in my woods
You are lucky indeed.
How would you store this mushroom overnight? Like all others? (Paper bag in the fridge)
Overnight, for one night, a paper bag is fine. Home refrigerators regulate humidity though, so if it will be in the fridge for more than 24 hours, you will want to put it in a large zip-loc or similar bag with a moist paper towel. Typically, to save space, I clean most mushrooms immediately and then store them in big 1 or 2 gallon zip locs, with the seal slightly open to allow them to respire. Think of the plastic like it’s a terrarium, it will hold in moisture and prevent the mushrooms from drying out in the fridge. Commercial fridges are different in that they’re much larger. They will still dry things out, but typically it’s at a much slower pace.
My husband found a large one on some property we just purchased in the midlands of South Carolina. After researching exactly what it was, we picked it tonight on our trip out there, and brought it home and cleaned it. We are planning to try it out tomorrow!
Enjoy