Saffron Milkcap/Summer/Autumn/ Edible

The Saffron Milkcap mushroom is one of the most exciting wild mushrooms to forage, when damaged it produces a vibrant orange latex-like liquid and is a great edible.

Common Names

Saffron milk cap, delicious milk cap, red pine mushroom

Scientific Name

Lactarius deliciosus

Family

Russulaceae

Habitat

Grows underneath pine trees, although generally uncommon in the south they become more prevalent in the north. Available from August to November

Description

This is a choice edible mushroom, medium to large, orange and funnel-shaped, with brown concentric circles on the top if the cap with occasional green spotting. The stem is orange with darker orange spots or pitting. this mushroom-like the other milkcaps exudes a milky latex when cut or damaged. The milk of the Saffron Milkcap starts carrot orange and then turns swampy green.

Cap:

Convex cap with a depression in the centre. Orange with darker concentric rings. Green areas especially on ageing or bruising.

Stem:

Light orange with darker spots or shallow depressions . Sometimes there are green markings on there too.

Gills:

Gills carrot coloured and eventually bruising green. Gills running slightly down the stem (Subdeccurent) and crowded.

Smell:

Slight Mushroomy smell

Spores:

Pale yellow to orange

Known hazards

none known

Potential lookalikes

Can be confused with the False Saffron Milkcap, The Woolly Milkcap is another that you could confuse this with but this has ‘woolly’ edges to the cap that extend in towards the stem and has off white milk, not Carrot coloured.