Sarassis crispa (Cauliflower Mushroom)

Last weekend I found two nice specimens of Sparassis crispa, or Cauliflower Mushroom. The first one was emerging from under some woody debri near a decaying stump:

The second was in a fairly public spot and I didn't take a photo of it. I cut 1/2 of each specimen to take home and left the rest to grow larger.

Today I found the first site undisturbed and the remaining fruiting body had grown, emerging out from it's hiding place.

The second more public site did not contain anything. The 1/2 mushroom I had left was gone but the harvester had used a knife to cleaning remove it. So it should come back next year.

Trudell and Ammirati say that Sarassis crispa looks more like egg noodles than cauliflower, and I would agree. They also say that it would be hard to confuse this mushroom with any other and although I had identified it solely from books, I ate some last week and more today. Last week when very fresh I just fried some in butter with my breakfast and it was good. Today I par-boiled and fried it along with some chanterelles. The texture is definitely chewy but the flavour is very nice.