This summer(specifically mid June through August), we have been fortunate to be in the woods during a few milky cap flushes and racked up. Milky caps are the common name for the genera Lactarius. Not all lactarius are edible and this is not an identification guide, but mushroomexpert.com is and if you are getting into identifying mushrooms, I recommend getting a few good guide books. David Aurora’s Mushrooms Demystified is the bible, Mushroom of the Southeast, Mushrooms of the Southeastern US, & Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America: A Field-To-Kitchen Guide are great for more regionally specific information. Identifying mushrooms can be a sticky subject and Lactarius is a sticky mushroom.
Lactarius Corrugis, Lactarius Volemus, Lactarius Hygrophoroides, & Lactarius Indigo are the ones we find in our area. Of these, Corrugis, Hygrophoroides and Volemus seem to fruit around the same conditions and all have similar identifying characteristics. They ooze a milky latex when their gills are cut, they have a seafood-esque smell, and their caps range in a beautiful red-orange spectrum, from a rusty reddish brown to orange sherbert, and in size from about the size of a quarter to a saucer. Indigo is a beautiful indigo color. They all pop up through the duff of the forest floor, mostly under oaks.
When found in such quantity, I like to make a milky cap compound butter. It freezes well and is extremely flexible for using down the road. It is an easy and welcome addition to pasta sauce, étouffée, savory pie, ravioli, or crêpe filling, a topping for pan-seared trout or shrimp… really cook anything in it or just spread it on some good bread. I will follow with more recipes on how I use the butter in later posts, but for now I’ll stick to the butter.
Milky Cap Compound Butter
- 2lbs lactarius- diced
- 2 shallot- diced
- 2 garlic- diced
- 3 tbsps pecan oil
- sea salt
- a few sprigs fresh oregano- de-stemmed & chopped
- dry vermouth
- 2lbs unsalted butter- room temp
- 1 bunch fresh parsley- de-stemmed & chopped
- 1 bunch fresh basil – de-stemmed & chopped
- heat pecan oil on medium, add 1st 3 ingredients with a healthy pinch of salt and cover to sweat
- when juices release, add chopped oregano and leave cover off
- when things get dry, add a few splashes of vermouth to deglaze
- when liquid has evaporated, take off heat and cool a bit
- mix with room temp butter and fresh herbs
- pour into ramekins(or whatever butter moulds you want to use) and chill overnight in fridge
- to get the butter out of the ramekins(prettily); put them in a pot, add water to half way up the ramekins, heat on low until the butter starts to melt around the rim and slides out of the ramekin easily
- wrap ’em up in wax paper or plastic wrap, label, & freeze
As with all of my recipes, I encourage you to be creative and flexible. I used these ingredients because its what I had. Use whatever fresh herbs you can get your hands on. Oregano, basil, and parsley are what I had in my herb garden at the time, but leeks, chives, and thyme would all be welcome additions and/or substitutions. Leftover wine can be used in lieu of vermouth if you have some lying around. Pecan oil is gorgeous and produced locally, so I like it, but olive oil works just as well. Most importantly… Enjoy!
This website is not intended to be used for mushroom identification. You should be certain on all identification points when consuming any wild edible. For a list of recommended books and websites for mushroom foraging, click here. I disclaim any liability whatsoever with respect to any damages that result from the use of the information contained in this website.
One response to “Lactarius(Milky Cap) Mushrooms”
Amazingly beautiful, well written blog. I love the spirit of it…..use what you have. So proud of you. Bunny