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Bushcraft Foraging: Saffron Milk Cap

Description

I stumble across a sought after edible mushroom lactarius deliciosus. We compare it from a field ID perspective to the more common yet still edible lactarius deterrimus.

Both taste very good personally and have a strong flavor.

Disclaimer - This video should not be used as a field guide for edible mushrooms. Published sources must be used when identifying mushrooms.

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Video Transcription

either guys it's Mike from MC Hugh bushcraft here and welcome to another video I've been out looking for funghi today and there's a lot of funghi around at the moment it's a fantastic time of year if you want to go it with field guides and start studying and collecting specimens and trying to figure out what they are and I'm in a woodland here this is a secondary woodland is what I would call it because all these trees are still growing they're very young and then the mature woodland is really all over there and we've got a lot of larch which is what this is here European larch western red cedar we have quite a lot of spruces here the type of fungi that often grows in this area where I'm where I'm kind of arraigned now is is the false saffron milk cap which is like tereus determinists it's very very common but there's another one which is very uncommon which I think I've stumbled upon here and I noticed them all around me is always walking around and I thought that it's the false saffron milk cap but on closer inspection it's actually the saffron milk cap which is lactarius delicious and you can probably tell by the name it's a pretty good one to eat I've cut one open here and really if it was the false saffron milk cap the color of the the ink should really change and go very wine ish radish color in about 30 minutes and it should be much greener when it's this mature it won't have these salmon blotches all over it in the Stipe which is the stem of the fungi you shouldn't have these blotches on either and there's some really lovely button ones around here and there's one just down there this is a lovely little button one quite young and when you're foraging to eat mushrooms then this is really what you're looking for not the sort of mature ones but the ones that are still quite young because the flesh will will be much nicer to eat but when your idea mushrooms you really want to take the whole mushroom out including the base of the Stipe which is the the mushroom the reason being is there are families out there that have identifying features that lay under the ground like bulbs like the vulva of the Amanita family which is where the death cap is from but because I'm fairly familiar with this one I'm actually going to cut it and not disturb the actual funghi which is the mycelium below and I'll just take that there the trees that are around me or around this fungi play a huge role in the identification of the actual fungus itself and you may be wondering why when if you're new to fungi and you're getting out there at this time of year trying to ID them you really want to be looking at the trees and sometimes even the plants that are around the fungus and that's because a lot of the fungus that's out there almost the larger percentage of it all is what they call mycorrhizal fungi and what that means is actually forms a relationship and works with a tree or plant and that's simply because funghi generally can't photosynthesize produce its own sugar and Sonne energy so what it does is the tree gives it sugar and the fungi or the mycelium under the ground which is actually the funny this is just the fruit like an apple off of a tree but the fungi under the ground expands a huge network of mycelium which is the actual fungus and that effectively increases the nutrition absorption capacity of the tree so it's kind of like boosting the trees root structure it's like giving it a bigger fuel tank for example so it can expand more moisture and it makes the soil better for the tree and it just makes everything much better for the tree and healthier so the to work together we do have other kinds of funky like poop tape or a spatula nisonger is and actually has a job in breaking them down but a lot of the fungi out there will be mycorrhizal fungi which will have a relationship with the tree but I've got myself quite a lot of them here and see that we've got some lovely specimens because I know the fall saffron milk cat grows in this woodland here and it's actually with the more mature tree standing the coniferous woodlands over there

you're gonna can't go and find that and I'm going to compare the two just to confirm some ID and slice them in half and have a look at them see the discoloration in the SAP as it reacts with the oxygen and you can see the difference between the two so let's go see if we can find it here we are I think we're in luck and this looks like a good one as well that's how good look at these very happy to find one of these I was very worried that they'd all be too far gone and a lot of them I was finding the other day in this area of the woodland here where I'm were so rotten they were very greenish and that was interesting because you know they reach that maturity and they'd really discolored where there is the saffron milk caps that further up even the most mature ones has still retained their color and haven't deteriorated to like an inky green but we'll take this one here and we'll just have a close look but we found a lot of mushrooms today lots on the way here but um this is the one I was after so if we take that one there we can see a distinct difference in them almost immediately even in when the gills slightly different gills they're where they connect to the actual Stipe and you can see there it's quite different blotching on the stem just a completely pale orange white pale butter bright orange stem there and yeah quite different really even the edge is slightly rolled weather is that slightly more flatter quite brittle Russell family so there are all brittle in most respects and the top is very different as well

but I think what we should do is cut this one open have a look inside you can see quite a difference there actually put that on there and we should get some discoloration and though we have to wait so I've been waiting for about 30 minutes for some discoloration in the actual milk and you can see that the false saffron milk cap has turned sort of like a red whiny color whether as the saffron milk cap has stayed an orange color this the actual milk of the fungus so it's a very good identifying feature and whilst I was actually waiting around I did a bit of a circle of this area here and find some false saffron milk caps and these ones you can see a very old and this is generally what I expect them to look like when they're too far gone they start to go a greeny color and they really deteriorate and look very very different to the saffron milk cap which when old actually still retains quite a lot of its color and doesn't sort of go a really off green like the falsi from milk cap but I hope you've enjoyed this video this is just something that I like to do at this time of year and I thought I'd share it with you come out and identify funghi and I may go out and do a few more videos on it but thanks for watching and I'll see you very soon in another video take care guys and I'll see you soon you

About the Author

MCQBushcraft

MCQBushcraft

I'm a UK based outdoorsman who started hunting and fishing with my friends when I was young.

Educating yourself about your surroundings and having the core skills to sustain yourself using your environment is a lost curriculum in the United Kingdom. We are well provided for, so well that "why do anything if somebody else will do it for you". This lifestyle has drastically disconnected people from having the knowledge and skills required to spend even one night in the woods and not get hungry.

I love being outdoors and have never lost the desire to learn and practice skills that I get a sense of natural connection from. Hunting hangs controversy in the minds of many, but in my eyes there is nothing more natural if you choose to eat meat. I appreciate that not everybody hunts in moderation though.

Thanks for reading
Michael McQuilton

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