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Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Forager’s Guide to Saffron Milk Cap Mushrooms

 

saffron milk caps, lactarius deliciosus

Saffron Milkcaps

 

Saffron milk caps, (formerly known as Lactarius deliciosus) are a crunchy, edible mushroom that have been enjoyed for millennia. Milk caps were one of the first mushrooms to be used in cooking. They were featured in a fresco from the Roman ruins of Herculaneum.

The saffron milk cap is essentially the national mushroom of Spain and the Iberian peninsula. There it’s known as the rovellon, or niscalo. Doing an internet search for rovellones will turn up lot of fun information and saffron milk cap recipes.

Fresco From Herculaneaum

Fresco From Herculaneaum

I searched every year and could only come up with one or two, here and there. Finally in the fall of 2013 I hit a great spot in a white pine forest at just the right time. They are great mushrooms, and have a nice crunchy texture, if you can get to them before the bugs!

Habitat

I find them fruiting under Eastern White Pine in Minnesota around August through October. The key to finding them is waiting for the rain during their season.

hunting saffron milkcaps in minnesota

Undersides of the mushrooms, and their beautiful orange hue.

To me it seems like Saffron milk caps need lots of rain to come out in force.

These often grow buried deep under pine needles, just remember where you see one, more are close by.

Identification

  • Bright orange color that stains bright orange when cut
  • When bruised, the color fades to green. 
  • Are found growing with coniferous trees only. 
  • When cut, the mushrooms will drip an orange latex, or juice.
Orange gills of a saffron milk cap mushroom
Note the orange gills.
cut cap of a saffron milk cap
When cut, they’ll stain orange to red.
Saffron milk cap mushrooms cut showing orange staining
Note the bright orange staining on the cut stems.

Species

Originally, saffron milk caps were labeled as L. deliciosus. Recent studies confirmed that North American mushrooms are distinct from European ones.

Saffron milk cap mushrooms or niscalos on a rock

Note the green staining from handling on these L. salmoneus. 

Basically, this means that there’s a group of mushrooms (called the deliciosi, or deliciousus group) that will all cook relatively similar. I’ve eaten 2 or 3 different types, my favorite being Lactarius thyinos, a smaller variety that loves to grow with Norway spruce in Northern Minnesota in autumn. All true saffron milk caps are good to eat. 

Lactarius thyinos, an edible member of the saffrom milkcap mushroo family

Lactarius thyinos.

There’s other species too, including bleeding milkcaps (Lactarius sanguifluus-Europe only). Lactarius salmoneus (North America) and probably others. 

Bleeding Milkcaps Lactarius sanguifluus

Bleeding Milkcaps at the market in Aix-en-Provence. 

Look a Likes

Lactarius deterrimus are the most well known imposter. They will grow in the same areas and have a more grey colored cap and gills that are less bright orange.

They finished with a slightly bitter note when I ate them. They’re still in the deliciosus group, and perfectly fine to eat-they’re just not as good.

saffron milkcaps and look a likes

Left to right: Lactarius deterrimus, the false saffron milk cap (left) and real saffron milkcaps (right).

 

Cooking

Like the name implies, they’re delicious. You can treat saffron milk caps like any other mushroom, but they do have a texture that’s been called “granular”.

Personally, I think the texture is fine, especially if they’re cooked golden brown. 

One of the best traditional ways to enjoy these is niscalos a la plancha: griddled, sprinkled with garlic, parsley and olive oil, similar to French wild mushrooms with garlic and parsley. These make good mushroom pickles and retain a bit of their crunch. They can also be stewed and frozen, but pickling is my favorite method of preservation.

dried lactarius for powder and broth (1)

Dried saffron milk caps make great broth.

You can dry these too to make stock or broth, it will taste a bit like chicken stock.

stinging nettle tortelli in lactarius broth

Usually I brush the leaves and needles from these and saute. If they’re dirty I will wash each one quickly by swishing in water, then draining on paper towels until needed.

Lactifluus volemus recipe

Milk cap mushrooms are delicious with seafood.

Mucilage

Saffron milk caps cook up similarly to most mushrooms, with a few exceptions.

Some species of Lactarius create mucilage when pickled or stewed, which can work as a natural thickener in sauces and gravies.

Rovellones or saffron milk cap mushrooms cooked with sausage on toast

Catalan-style Niscalos with sausage is one of my favorite recipes.

If the mushrooms are pickled, they can be a bit slimy when removed-just rinse them off before eating. You can also preserve them in brine, which is traditional in Europe. 

Salted wild saffron milk cap mushrooms in brine

Salted milky caps in brine.

Recipes

Recipes I’ve created specifically for Saffron Milkcaps, or where they can easily be substituted

  • Catalan Saffron Milkcaps
  • Wild Mushroom Conserve
  • Wild Mushroom Duxelles
  • Pickled Milkcaps
  • Milkcaps Preserved In “Holy Oil”
  • Turkish Saffron Milkcaps With Cumin Yoghurt
  • Fricando Of Veal With Saffron Milk Caps
  • Wild Mushrooms With Garlic And Parsley
  • Stinging Nettle Tortelli In Lactarius Broth

References 

  • 100 Edible Wild Mushrooms
  • Mushrooms Demystified 
  • Lactarius “deliciousus” Group: mushroomexpert.com 

Related

Previous Post: « Lobster Mushroom Bisque
Next Post: The Velvet-foot Mushroom / Enokitake »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. andrasz

    November 20, 2020 at 11:19 am

    On the comparison photo those of the right look suspiciously Lactarius semisanguifluus rather than L. deliciosus. The two are very much alike, but the sap of the former turns wine-red after a few minutes. The sap of L. deliciosus also darkens, but not so fast, and not to such a ruby red. Also the caps of the former have a greenish hue, sometimes distinctly green, even on young ones, whereas L. deliciosus is more orangey-brownish. The gills of both turn green on damage, but those of the former much more intensely. For culinary purposes L. semisanguifluus is equivalent to L. sanguifluus, practically on par with L. deliciosus, so my comment is purely academic 🙂

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      November 20, 2020 at 12:10 pm

      Hey thanks so much for pointing that out. I wasn’t aware of those. That’s entirely possible, I’ll look through my archive images and see if I can’t update that.

      Reply
  2. marc

    July 29, 2015 at 3:44 pm

    THE FALSE ONES MAY BE BITTER, BUT NOT “POISONOUS”, AS IN RAT-POISON, DEAD. BUT DO THROW OUT THE FALSE ONES.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Forager|Chef – The Goldstalk Bolete: Boletus Ornatipes says:
    August 14, 2013 at 11:46 am

    […] but I don’t really find any worth eating besides lobster mushrooms, lactarius indigo, and lactarius deliciosus, and they are rather rare; with the exception of lobsters. Boletes though? Oh the possibilities! […]

    Reply
  2. Forager|Chef – Fricando Of Veal, With Saffron Milk Caps says:
    October 16, 2013 at 12:13 pm

    […] ok, the specimens I had were not the greatest though, and now that I am aware of the look alike (L. Deterrimus) most likely the lack of flavor was due to them being false saffron milk caps. It wasn’t until […]

    Reply
  3. lactarius salmoneus says:
    March 9, 2014 at 9:21 am

    […] the saffron milkcap which I had found one or two of before. (See an informational post on them here) I was overjoyed, lactarius are one of  the first mushrooms depicted in European art, in an […]

    Reply
  4. stinging nettle tortelli with lactarius mushroom broth recipe says:
    March 10, 2014 at 8:28 am

    […] with lactarius species unless you catch them really young. See some pictures of perfect ones here. Worry not though, milkcaps have a hollow stem, and dry very easily after a little time in the […]

    Reply
  5. Hunting Saffron Milkcaps in Minnesota says:
    April 17, 2014 at 11:02 am

    […] orange. Curious. Most likely I know this to be the saffron milk cap imposter, Lacatarius deterrimus (See a pic here). If the imposters are fruiting, then I knew the real thing might be lurking nearby, since they […]

    Reply
  6. Collecting Mushroom for Anthotypes - Part I - Gavin Lyons Photography says:
    August 19, 2019 at 4:02 am

    […] https://foragerchef.com/painted-on-the-stones-saffron-milk-caps/ […]

    Reply
  7. The Health Benefits of Mushrooms - Body By Bernard says:
    May 22, 2020 at 10:45 am

    […] Great for: yogurts, broths, veal oils, and prepared pickled style […]

    Reply
  8. Season of Mushrooms in Belarus - Thephotostory.info - Hunt For the Best! says:
    September 4, 2020 at 7:24 am

    […] Learn more information and recipes for the Saffron Milk Cap mushroom […]

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Alan Bergo
Morels: the only wild mushroom I count by the each Morels: the only wild mushroom I count by the each instead of the pound. 

Good day today, although my Twin Cities spots seem a full two weeks behind from the late spring. 2 hours south they were almost all mature. 

76 for me and 152 for the group. Check your spots, and good luck! 

#morels #murkels #mollymoochers #drylandfish #spongemushroom #theprecious
The first time I’ve seen fungal guttation-a natu The first time I’ve seen fungal guttation-a natural secretion of water I typically see with plants. 

I understand it as an indicator that the mushrooms are growing rapidly, and a byproduct of their metabolism speeding up. If you have some clarifications, chime in. 

Most people know it from Hydnellum 
peckii-another polypore. I’ve never seen it on pheasant backs before.

Morels are coming soon too. Mine were 1 inch tall yesterday in the Twin Cities. 

#guttation #mushroomhunting #cerioporussquamosus #pheasantback #naturesbeauty
Rain and heat turned the flood plain forest into a Rain and heat turned the flood plain forest into a grocery store. 

#groceryshopping #sochan #rudbeckialaciniata #foraging
Italian wild food traditions are some of my favori Italian wild food traditions are some of my favorite. 

Case in point: preboggion, a mixture of wild plants, that, depending on the reference, should be made with 5-23 individual plants. 

Here’s a few mixtures I’ve made this spring, along with a reference from the Oxford companion to Italian food. 

The mixture should include some bitter greens (typically assorted asters) but the most important plant is probably borage. 

Making your own version is a good excercise. Here they’re wilted with garlic and oil, but there’s a bunch of traditional recipes the mixture is used in. 

Can you believe this got cut from my book?!

#preboggion #preboggiun #foraging #traditionalfoods
Oh the things I get in the mail. This is my kind Oh the things I get in the mail. 

This is my kind of tip though: a handmade buckskin bag with a note and a handful of bleached snapping turtle claws. 😁😂 

Sent in by Leslie, a reader. 

Smells like woodsmoke and the cat quickly claimed it as her new bed. 

#buckskin #mailsurprise #turtleclaws #thisimylife #cathouse
Bluebell season. Destined for a Ligurian ravioli Bluebell season. 

Destined for a Ligurian ravioli as a replacement for the traditional borage greens. 

#mertensiavirginica #virginiabluebells #spring #foraging
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