After the morels have come and gone in Minnesota, there’s a bit of a variety season and the fawn is one of the first you might see. It’s a graceful looking mushroom with a delicate structure. Their stem grows out from dead wood, (or buried stumps) hovering over logs in the woods kind of like little flying saucers. I don’t usually see these in huge fruitings, more or less there will be one or two here, then a couple there. They’re relatively easy to identify with a basic knowledge of mushroom I.D. techniques, and are worth collecting once in a while if there is nothing else.
Cooking
Pluteus are fun, albeit a bit brittle to work with. They have an interesting, radish flavor that makes for interesting uses with fresh vegetables and fish. If you smell the gills close up, you will notice a definite aroma of radishes. If you caramelize and brown them in a pan, this flavor leaves and they take on a taste that is more mushroomy and earthy. If you stew them, without caramelizing though, the radish flavor will remain.
Identification
- The fawn mushroom has a tell tale “nipple” on its cap, called being umbonate
- Very young mushrooms may have a totally brown cap
- These are decent sized mushrooms, I usually pick ones that have caps at least 4 inches in diameter.
- As the mushroom grows older, it’s cap might flip up like an umbrella as it shoots its spores and matures.
- The cap may develop little cuts or slices in it as it grows, almost looking like someone sliced it with a knife, or cut small chunks from it.
- The gills of the mushroom have a sort of pinkish red tint to them.
- Notice in the picture below that the gills also do not touch the stem.
- These always grow directly from wood, but remember to check the ground for signs of former trees, since mushrooms can grow from buried wood too.
- There will never be a “sac” or anything at the base of its stem resembling an egg, also the stem is totally bare and clean, with no evidence of any kind of ring or other decorations.
- The cap is composed mostly of gills that are packed tightly together, it’s thick, bushy, and brittle.
- It has a brownish-pink spore print
If you want to preserve some of these for later use, there are plenty of options. They can be sliced and dried easily, or even left whole. They have a mild flavor after re-hydrating that’s a decent addition to a stock or soup. Pickling them is always a fine option too, refer to my basic recipe for mushroom conserve.
Note the thick, pinkish gills
Thanks for teaching me about these, Alan. I have since found several more. However, I do find that they are just about impossible to get home in less than 100 pieces; delicate little suckers that they are.
The caps are very delicate, when stewed fresh they have a pleasant taste with a hint of spicy radish. I have a stump in the backyard these grow off of, like a natural garden. There are at least two different species I have seen in minnesota from this family (pluteus) and I have eaten and enjoyed both of them. I separate the caps from the stems when cooking.
I love these mushrooms and go foraging prepared with my flat basket and sometimes if caught without it I simply field dress (gently press the center cap with fingers spread under it to dislodge the stem) and stack them if you are so fortunate as to find enough for a meal. I call these my bacon mushrooms and fry them CRISP in butter and season the gill side with poultry seasoning. use them where bacon is served, also as the shrimp component in green papaya salad, also chipped into rice stir fries. Mmmm… I have only tasted the radish flavor when raw and only for verifying mushroom type. I have never stewed these lovelies as I covet them for savory use and cannot get enough of them. This is a mushroom that may grow on you… always verify them (the lead in picture is a bit misleading) they do NOT grow from earth or grass UNLESS there is a root or log under it! Always see the wood substrate and then confirm the pinkish spores in the gill area.
We have been getting the pestasatis variety here courtesy of the power company.I have not tried this one and we will see how it cooks.
Sorry to butt in here, but for the sake of avoiding (potentially dangerous!) confusion, the “free” gill type is NOT called adnate. Adnate means attached at the stipe. I doubt your readers will read this far into the comments section so perhaps you could edit that? Thank you for the information on edibility and cooking!
Hey Kevin, yeah I don’t know how that mistake has survived in here, thanks for catching it.