This is what we hope to find during mushroom picking trips to pine forests between early March and mid-May: Saffron Milk Caps and various Suillus fungi like Slippery Jacks.

When picking mushrooms cut the stem just above the ground, don’t pull mushrooms out with the soil to reduce the cleaning time.

Saffron Milk Cap (Red pine mushroom) Lactarius deliciosus

· How it looks like:

It is the easiest edible mushroom to recognise due to its shape, colouring and the sap colour.

The cap is 4-15 cm in diameter, convex, with the edge rolled under when young, orangey-pink in colour with concentric circles on the cap. The underside of the cap is gills-shaped and brighter orange. The stem is hollow. When broken or bruised, any part releases a red-orange “milk” which turns green when exposed to air.

· Culinary use:

Best to be eaten fresh or marinated. In Spain and France lightly washed, whole caps are fried in olive oil with a small amount of garlic and served drenched in raw olive oil and parsley. The same recipe advised that butter should never be used when cooking this mushroom, however in Poland they are traditionally served fried in butter with onions. Preserving: whole young mushrooms can be marinated or fermented.

· Trivia:

Your urine may turn orange or red after you ate them; don’t be alarmed, it is perfectly normal!

Slippery Jack (Suillus luteus)

· How it looks like:

With slimy mucus covering the brown cup, it truly is slippery (but in prolonged dry weather just shiny).

The cap is 5-14 cm in diameter, brown, convex when young, flattening as it ages, the colour also fades from dark brown to yellow brown. The underside is spongy and yellow; white partial veil tissue is often found hanging from the margin of the cap. When cut, the flesh is white/cream and doesn’t discolour.

· Other related edible species:

Slippery Jill (Suillus granulatus), Cowslip (S, bovinus) and Quiet Jack (S. quiescens)

· Culinary use:

As for all edible mushrooms from the Boletus family it is one of choice mushrooms. Its aroma intensifies when dried. Peel the slimy “skin” before further preparations.

It is great cooked, used in soups and sauces, dried and pickled.

· Trivia:

Meat for vegetarians: high in the essential fatty acid linoleic acid

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