A waterfall of Hedgehogs and Rubber Brush risotto
Hedgehog fungi are one of the easiest to identify. If it has a central stem, a pale off-white cap and the underneath is covered in bristly teeth, then you may have found a Hedgehog Fungus, Hydnum repandum. In France it has the charming name Pied de Mouton, Sheep’s Foot.
There’s a waterfall of them along this woodland bank.
They must be part of a faerie ring.
I first read about them in Jane Grigson’s The Mushroom Feast which I bought as a child. I spent many long hot baths on a Sunday night fantasising about French provincial food. As you do. Or maybe it was just me?
![Jane Grigson's Mushroom Feast - The Hall of Einar](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Jane-Grigsons-Mushroom-Feast-The-Hall-of-Einar-4937-725x408.jpg)
It was there I read their other names and the best way of cooking them:
![Jane Grigson's Mushroom Feast - The Hall of Einar](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Jane-Grigsons-Mushroom-Feast-The-Hall-of-Einar-4938-725x408.jpg)
They are delicious, and, as the ever-reliable Jane Grigson said, good for a fricassee.
![Hedgehog Fungus - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Bovey-Heath-The-Hall-of-Einar-4643-725x544.jpg)
Here are the ‘teeth’ on the underside.
![Hedgehog Fungus - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Bovey-Heath-The-Hall-of-Einar--725x408.jpg)
I can see why they would be called Rubber Brush fungus.
![Hedgehog Fungus - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Bovey-Heath-The-Hall-of-Einar-3-725x483.jpg)
There are also Terracotta Hedgehogs, Hydnum rufescens, here.
![Hydnum rufescens - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Bovey-Heath-The-Hall-of-Einar-4650-725x544.jpg)
They are thinner-fleshed and smaller.
![Hydnum rufescens - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Bovey-Heath-The-Hall-of-Einar-4648-580x725.jpg)
They have the same ‘teeth’ underneath.
![Hydnum rufescens - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Bovey-Heath-The-Hall-of-Einar-4649-725x544.jpg)
I harvest a few Hedgehogs with some Ceps and Chanterelles and take them home. Tonight it’s Rubber Brush risotto.
![](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Risotto-The-Hall-of-Einar-4600-725x544.jpg)
It tastes far, far better than it sounds.
Never rely on the Internet for information on the edibility of fungi – not even this blog. You may be in a different country, have different species and have partial information.
Join a group, meet with experts, get a decent guide book.
Even saying try a small amount first is a dangerous thing to do – a single cubic centimetre of a poisonous fungus could be enough to give you multiple organ failure.
Here’s my review of the Collins Complete Guide to British Mushrooms & Toadstools, an excellent, small, reasonably comprehensive photographic guide:
And if you’re really, really interested in the thousands of species, here’s Fungi of Temperate Europe – Volumes 1 & 2. It’s an era-defining classic:
Buon appetito.
It’s time for a hot bath and a Jane Grigson food fantasy.