The story of the lobster mushroom is an interesting one. If you noticed they don't look like typical stem-cap-gill mushrooms, you'd be right. Well, about half right. Lobsters are actually a mushroom that get parasitized by another fungus, called Hypomyces.
The Hypomyces fungus seems to infect areas where Russula and Lactarius mushrooms grow, causing them to change shape and contort themselves. The funny part is that the transformation makes the mushrooms taste better than they would before. They only have a slight flavor and aroma of shellfish/crustaceans fresh, but this intensifies when they're dried.
Habitat
Not only are these great mushrooms to eat, they're one of the easiest to hunt. You can casually look for these in the woods like you would chanterelles, walking down a path until you see one. It's bright red and easy to spot, not brown like a hen of the woods or a black like a trumpet. They do like to hide under the leaves though.
Where I live in Minnesota, these will grow in the summer after Chanterelles in hardwood forests, usually starting around July-August. Look for places where milk cap mushrooms grow, or where you see them nearby-they could be a clue lobsters will be about.
You will find them scattered about, if you find one, look around closely, as there will be more nearby. Sometimes I find them growing in the same places as Chanterelles, in oak forests in southern MN. In northern Minnesota, I find Lobster Mushrooms scattered about in areas with Birch and other mixed woods.
Season
In the Midwest, lobster season will start around mid summer (late July) and can go through September, depending. In the Pacific Northwest, the season will go longer into the fall.
Harvesting
You want dense, heavy mushrooms
A proper lobster mushroom should be heavy, like a paperweight. If the mushroom feels light like styrofoam, has a strong fishy odor, or a pronounced purple color, they're too old, leave them be or cover them with leaves in a futile effort to keep your spot secret.
You wouldn't eat a moldy piece of meat, so don't eat an old, crumbly lobster. See my shelf life warning below too in the cooking portion.
Avoid dark purple, light weight, or stinky (fishy) smelling lobsters
Some people will tell you they're ok, but these characteristics mean a lobster mushroom is old, and past prime, and unlike something like a chanterelle, lobster mushrooms have a reputation for making people sick when they're old. You wouldn't eat a moldy potato, so don't eat an old lobster mushroom.
Harvest Clean
Lobster mushrooms can often be vase shaped, serving as homes for small creatures, rain water reservoirs, and all around stuff you don't need to eat.
When picking, trim the dirty ends from the lobsters, brush them as clean as possible, and shake out detritus from the inside, then carve out the middle and any soft tissue using your knife—if it has a vase shape, this will make for much less time when it comes to cleaning them at home.
Save ugly or slightly older mushrooms to dry
Older mushrooms that might be a bit long for the pan are a good candidate for dehydrating, and, as lobsters dry well, and are one of the best mushrooms to make into powder, I usually save a few extra for drying each year.
Cleaning Demo
White Lobster Mushrooms
Yes, you can eat them, and they're good. Sometimes you might run into lobster mushrooms that seem like they haven't fully undergone the transformation to hypomyces lactiflourum from their natural state.
Don't worry though, after a number of years, heated discussions with foragers, chefs, and mycologists, and cooking and serving hundreds upon hundreds of pounds of these, I can tell you that if it's looks like a lobster, even half way, and seems to be parasitized by the Hypomyces, its edible, and good.
White lobster mushrooms have a slightly different, almost more tender texture, think of them as a hard-to-find delicacy. I also wrote another post on white lobster mushrooms if you want to take a look.
Cooking
When you combine the wide distribution with the quantity that can be harvested, these are a great mushroom, but the drawback is that they lack in flavor compared to something like a chanterelle. To get the most out of your lobsters, proper caramelization is key.
They deteriorate quickly, but make wonderful pickles. If you get a hold of some fresh ones, cut them into large chunks and saute them in some butter with salt first, then eat them all by themselves just to taste their flavor, it's mild, but like I mentioned, concentrates when dried.
Here are some basic things I've learned from years of cooking with these:
- Like plenty of mushrooms, dried lobsters can become bitter when used in excess
- Hands down the best thing to know is that lobster mushrooms love contact with heat and fat. Exposing them to heat and fat, fresh or dried, by a technique like the tried and true fresh mushroom duxelles, or a dried mushrooms duxelles can help curb any bitterness and deepen their flavor.
- When exposed to fat and heat, lobster mushrooms and others like sulphur shelf have a saffron/tumeric effect-they turn things yellow. This is really useful for making a beautiful risotto, or a compound butter.
- Since lobster mushrooms are mild tasting, try mixing them with other mushrooms when cooking for a little variety.
- Simple preparations for these are best, like most mushrooms. Combining them with too many things can mean their flavor gets lost. Most of the time I just fry them up, toss them with some herbs and a little finely chopped garlic and put them on top of things.
Safety / Shelf Life
After cooking, any leftover dish you've made with lobster mushrooms needs to be eaten within a day or two, so label and date food you put in the fridge. Eating old lobster mushroom dishes has led to a number of cases of "mushroom poisoning", and it's a horrible ordeal.
Don't be tempted to eat a past prime mushroom just because it's in your fridge and you forgot to get to it. I don't have any scientific studies to site, but I can tell you a few horror stories I've seen and heard about.
A Lobster Mushroom Allergy?
I'm not a mycologist, or a doctor, but the lobster mushroom "allergy" rumor circulating appears to be due to the fact that lobster mushrooms contain a quantity of iodine, which could account for some of the slight fishy aroma.
Some people with sensitivities to iodine, shellfish and or fish allergies, seem to have trouble eating lobster mushrooms, and experience mild allergic symptoms.
I haven't personally witnessed this though, so you're on your own with it-sample small amounts if you have a shellfish allergy. Also, if it happens that anyone knows of studies or instances of this allergy, let me know so I can update this post.
Recipes
Here's some of my favorites or places lobsters could be substituted.
- Lobster Mushroom Terrine
- Swordfish With Lobster Mushroom Stuffing
- Wild Mushroom Conserve
- Pickled Lobster Mushrooms
- Whole Roasted Lobster Mushrooms
- Lobster Mushroom Butter
- Lobster Mushroom Hollandaise
- Lobster Mushroom Cakes
- Wild Mushrooms With Persillade
- Lobster Mushroom Crusted Walleye
- Stuffed Giant Lobster Mushrooms
- Lobster-Aborted Entoloma Chowder
- Lobster Mushroom Bisque
Mariann
I hadn't heard the allergy rumors, but I know that I've eaten them twice and got violently ill (vomiting all night) both times. No one else got sick. For what it's worth...
Alan Bergo
That's great info, thanks for sharing.
mitchell pico
My lips tingle annoyingly if I eat more than 1 serving or 2.
Alan Bergo
Some people are known to have a similar allergy to chicken of the woods.
Karla Cody
Came looking for info on drying lobster mushrooms. Thanks!
My husband has been out several times hunting deer and elk. No luck there, darn! Lol.
But not terribly disappointed because each time he brings home pounds of lobsters and chanterelles.
We have dried excess chanterelles for years. Love them. But this year he's bringing home upwards of ten pounds of lobsters each time. This will be the first time drying them.
FYI, we're in Washington state, near Mt. Rainer. He hunts in the upper foothills, near the base of the mountain.
marty west
how did the drying turn out?
Allison
Thanks for these recipes, Alan. I recently foraged 10+ pounds of lobsters and need all the ideas I can get!
Alan Bergo
You’re welcome! My advice: make the cakes first, they’re hands-down the audience favorite.
Hot Fungi 207
“Remember mushrooms are biologically closer to meat than mushrooms.”
Can you explain what this means...?
Alan Bergo
It is exactly how it sounds. From an eating standpoint, it is worse to eat spoiled meat than mushrooms.
Brett Burdo
From what I’ve read, the underlying russula is what causes a lobster mushroom to be poisonous. If the russula the hypomyce parasitic fungi attacks was poisonous, the resulting lobster mushroom will be as well.
Alan Bergo
Nope. In all my years of cooking them from various host species to the general public, I would've seen large amounts of poisonings if that was the case. For all intents and purposes, it's either a lobster, or it isn't. What gets tricky is that you can find (rarely) some mushrooms that are half parisitized, which I wouldn't eat. I suspect some people are just picking past prime mushrooms, (easy to do for newcomers with these) and then cooking them and getting sick.
Tracey
For what it's worth, chaga mushroom has possibly cancelled the effects of other mushrooms (it grows on living trees). The theory is that chaga is the dominant fungus, and overrides it. Please don't risk your life on this information, it is just a possibility, to try in a pinch. Not to diagnose or cure any disease, for information purposes only.... And Don't try if you are allergic to chaga!
Alan Bergo
That's exactly why I don't permit any medicinal information on this site.
Steven holt
I have a neighbor who vomits for days after eating lobster mushrooms that everyone else enjoyed.
Alan Bergo
Allergies like that are rare, but common enough to be a thing.
Tracey
I have a question, am I able to fully cook the lobster mushrooms in garlic and oil, then quickly freeze them for winter? I've seen this done with other mushrooms, and I wondered if it's recommended here?
Alan Bergo
That's fine.
Cyndy
When you are done cooking them make sure to wait for them to cool down before freezing
Goju
Thanks for sharing this knowledge!
Given their firm texture, would you recommend cooking in water first to soften and then sautéing? Or just to sauté until they surrender?
What would be the best way to freeze lobster mushrooms? Would you recommend sautéing first then freezing? Cooking?
Thanks!!
Alan Bergo
Saute, they have a light enough flavor as it is, so boiling them will leech out even more, which I wouldn't want. Sweat them in plenty of fat, and vacuum seal is my first choice.
Jenny Koczur
I know this is an old post, but I have some info to add— lobster mushrooms make a fantastic natural dye! If they’re past their prime, all the better. The old nasty smelly ones make the strongest dyebaths. You basically simmer them, strain out the mushroom, and add yarn. You can get pink with an alkaline bath all the way through coral to yellow with a neutral or acidic bath. There are lots of other places to sort out the nuances of natural dyeing, so I won’t elaborate here. When I find one that’s good for eating, I sometimes peel it & use the flesh for eating & the “peels” for dyeing.
Alan Bergo
Great info, thanks.
Tatyana Beer
Oh no. I just processed a couple of pounds of lobsters using your confit recipe… except once I’d chunked them up and added the salt and herbs we had a few very hot days so I didn’t want to have the oven on to roast them… I left them in the fridge, marinating, for about three days before cooking, bagging and freezing. Now I’ve stumbled upon this post warning about eating old lobsters… am I going to have to toss this batch, or do you think the salt will have kept them food safe during that refrigerator time?
MaryW
Hiya - just found this older post and used it to make decisions about whether the lobster mushrooms I got in my CSA box were too old to eat, how to prep them, and how to cook. The butter sautéed slices with thyme and salt were amazing, Thank you for sharing what you know 💕
Alan Bergo
Thanks Mary. Unfortunately, worrying about your lobster mushrooms age in a CSA box is a real thing, and old lobster mushrooms will definitely make some people sick. If they're covered with white spores, feel very light or hollow (they should be heavy like a paperweight) they should be discarded. Glad you had fun with them.
Jean
Hi, I have a shellfish allergy and am a little afraid to eat lobster mushrooms.
No biggie- I can eat others. However, I recently got a bottle of wild mushroom starters 002 by the acid league and lobster mushrooms are listed as one of the ingredients, what do you think? As always, thank you, Jean
Alan Bergo
I'm unfamiliar with that product. Can you clarify a little here? I think it'd be fine to sample a small amount.