Woolly Milkcaps with fantastically fuzzy edges
There’s a beautiful pinkish-white mushroom on the floor in this Birch woodland. It’s got a marvellous fuzzy-jumper top.
Gorgeous, isn’t it?
It’s the Woolly Milkcap, Lactarius torminosus. The margin of the cap is inrolled, with a big dip in the middle and fantastically fuzzy edges.
![Wooly Milk Cap - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Woolly-Milkcap-Lactarius-torminosus-The-Hall-of-Einar-1355-725x725.jpg)
The white gills are crowded together and when they are broken they exude a white ‘milk’. I’m told that a distinctive feature is the taste of the milk is very hot, so I put a tiny amount on the tip of my tongue. I wish I hadn’t. The taste stays with me for an hour.
![Wooly Milk Cap - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Woolly-Milkcap-Lactarius-torminosus-The-Hall-of-Einar--725x484.jpg)
The Woolly Milkcap is marked poisonous in one book I have, but is marked poisonous when raw and edible when properly cooked in another. I think I’ll give it a miss this time.
Have you eaten it?