Saffron milk cap Lactarius deliciosus

Right now

When to look

From September to November. Favourable temperatures: 8 to 16 °C. It usually fruits 5 to 12 days after at least 12 mm of rain.

Where to look

Habitat

Pines and conifers

Soil

Neutral to chalky soils (pines) (pH 5.5 to 7.5)

How to recognise it

Decisive criterion, to be checked on the spot: when the gills are cut, it oozes a carrot-orange milk, and this milk tastes mild — neither acrid nor peppery on the tip of the tongue. Cap 5 to 15 cm, salmon orange marked with darker concentric zones, depressed then funnel-shaped, slightly sticky in damp weather. Gills crowded, often forked, distinctly orange. Stem short, soon hollow, orange, marked with brighter oval spots (scrobicules). The flesh and damaged parts of the cap may become stained verdigris green over time, but slowly and inconsistently: it is a secondary sign, not a test. Sources contradict each other on how fast this greening happens and on whether or not the gills turn green — conclude nothing from a gathering that does not turn green, and do not wait an hour or two to ‘confirm’ the species. Fruits under pines.

Dangerous look-alikes

• Woolly milk cap

  Lactarius torminosus
  poisonous

  Cap pale salmon pink with a distinctly woolly, hairy margin, and above all white, unchanging milk, very acrid to the taste. Strictly under birch. Causes severe gastroenteritis (‘torminosus’: causing colic).

• Yellowdrop milk cap

  Lactarius chrysorrheus
  poisonous

  Milk that comes out white then turns bright yellow within a few seconds on the cut gill, and acrid taste; cap pinkish buff, faintly zoned, under oak and not under pine.

Foraging tips

Always do the milk test on a cut gill: the milk must be carrot orange from the moment of cutting and mild to the taste. Any milk cap with white milk, even if it later changes colour, and any acrid or peppery milk are to be discarded. Greening, for its part, decides nothing: its absence does not disqualify a gathering, nor does its presence validate it. Clean without water and cook for a long time; leave specimens that are too old and washed out.

Model reliability

Reliability for this species: moderate.

Also in season

• Chanterelle
• Cep (penny bun)
• Parasol mushroom
• Field mushroom
• Horn of plenty
• Winter chanterelle

Where mushrooms are fruiting this week · All species