Hi everybody! Here's the second in this early season ID guide for South Australian edible mushrooms. This one is about that easy to find, easy to identify Saffron milk Cap.
I'll be breaking up the series of posts about Agaricus mushrooms with other, very different mushrooms otherwise all of the descriptions will blur into each other. last weeks was the most important of the Agaricus to learn to ID, as it is the only local toxic one and has a couple of very distinctive features. Here's a link to that post to refresh your memory - Yellow Stainer
This week's mushroom is much more pleasant!
Saffron Milk Caps, Pine Mushrooms (Lactarius deliciosus)
Phylum: Basidiomycota. Class: Agaricomycetes. Order: Russulales. Family: Russulaceae
Saffron Milk Caps (Lactarius deliciosus), otherwise known as ‘Pine Mushrooms’ are a very common and fortunately, very distinctive, edible mushroom in the Pine forests not far from here.
Saffron Milk Caps are one of the seemingly few things in nature which clearly show where their name comes from. ‘Saffron’ because of their colour, ‘milk’ because of the orange juice or milk that they bleed when cut. Their taxonomic name too is a dead give away anything that has ‘lact’ in it relates to milk, ‘deliciosus’ because, well…they’re delicious!
Identifying Saffron Milk Caps – a summary:
If you’re under Pine trees and find something that you think could be a Saffron Milk Cap, look for these details –
- Orange colour
- Orange blotches on the stem (stippling)
- Undivided gills that are easily damaged
- Hollow stem up to about 5 cm long and 1 to 3 cm wide
- Orange milk where cut, especially the stem
- Rings on the cap – they may not be distinct circular lines but you can see them
- Convex cap when young going to concave when mature
- Cap up to 15 cm diameter (though you wouldn’t pick it that big).
- They start to turn a blue/green as they get damaged age, especially the gills. They look scruffy and seem to be falling apart but are still quite edible.
If you find a mushroom under Pine trees that fits all of the above requirements, you’ve got yourself a Saffron Milk Cap! They’re easy to find and you’ll usually find Slippery Jacks, Laccaria, Weeping Boletes and False Truffles near with them
Caution: Raw Saffron Milk Caps can have mild toxicity. Always cook them before eating as the cooking process destroys the toxin.
I'm soooo sick of them. @minismallholding after rain Friday there was a shit ton in pines near us...
So there wasn't mush-room left in the forest?
Sorry...it's late and I'm feeling silly...😂
Aha an oldie but a goodie,! Never say sorry for silly!
How long do you think these will be around for harvest? Also, are there any good spots you can tip us off with?
Shaun brought some of these along with slippery jacks last year, but I wasn't keen on the jacks. They probably went miles away for them as well, knowing his friend.
I don't worry about harvesting the Slipperies. By the time you strip off the skin and remove the sporangia, there's not a lot left and you have sticky yucky fingers to boot. The taste isn't that great either but they're one to keep in mind should food supplies fall short.
Any of the local pine forests have them. of course, one has one's favourite spots. This year, slippery jacks never went away. they kept popping up throughout the Summer and Saffrons started early too. Normally, we've got a good 3 months for where the yields make it worth going. This year, though...
!ctp
me too! jacks are SO slippery, that its hard to clean them off all the dirt and skin, I know some folks thjat are fans of this mushroom for its taste (especially in pickled edition), but I dont like to forage them...
and saffrons.... never met them. I always encounter only woolly milkcaps insted - which is not the same!
a !PIZZA for you.
Yeh, I'm not a fan of slimy stuff. Slugs creep me out.
I think the saffrons were brought over by the western Europeans. I've been told they love to forage for them, as they are a popular food there.
Realmente sé muy poco sobre hongos, por eso resulta muy instructivo tu post. Gracias por compartir.
!1UP
¡No hay problemas! ¡Hay mucha más información por venir!
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