Powdery Brittlegill / Summer / Autumn / Edible

The powdery brittlegill is a medium-sized mushroom with a grey to blue cap covered in a powdery coating. white to cream Brittle gills and a white stipe that snaps easily.

Scientific Name

Russula Parazurea

Family

Russulaceae

Habitat

Mixed Woodland but mainly broad leaved, especially oak or beech but occasionally with pine.

Description

A medium-sized mushroom with a grey to blue cap covered in a powdery coating. white to cream Brittle gills and a white stipe that snaps easily.

Identifying Features:

Cap:

Matte grey, blue sometimes with a hint of green around the edge of the cap. Can feel a bit greasy when wet. The powdery bloom can wash off of the cap in heavy rain

Stem:

White and snaps like chalk

Gills:

Adnexed, crowded white/cream gills attached to the stem. Brittle when touched.

Smell:

Mushroomy smell. This mushroom can give a peppery taste but shouldn’t be hot like chilli.

Spores:

White to cream

Known hazards

Other Russulas. see the four step test to check for safe Russulas.

Potential lookalikes

Other blue/grey Russulas like the Charcoal Burner, but these are edible if tested with the four step test.

-Snap – Does the stem snap like a piece of chalk?
-Flick – Do the gills break when you flick them gently?
-Peel – Does the skin on the cap peel away?
-Taste–  this should only be done when you have gone through the other steps and are confident that you have a Russula. If a tiny amount placed on the tongue a chilli like burn or tingle means the mushroom is poisonous but a pleasant mushroomy taste means it is edible.

Find our Russula Guide here

Uses

As a delicious additive to food check out some of our mushroom recipes to see what you could use this for!

In food

Good and fleshy could be used as a feature in a big meal or too add flavour to a soup or stew.