So I found this mushroom in the forest:
and I also discovered, that there are 3 different types of mushrooms that are edible, and they all look like what I found.
These are respectively: Peppery Milkcap (Lactarius piperatus), Russula virescens, and Greasy green brittlegill (Russula heterophylla).
Now, all of these are edible, but I wanna know what mushroom I have! The first mushroom in particular is supposed to have a 'peppery taste' and I got so curious about it, like if my mushroom tastes like pepper then it's 100% that one.
So, I was staring at pictures and trying to figure out which one is it, and I eliminated the second one, just because the gills on my mushrooms are very fine, and the mushroom on the pictures had wide and big ones.
So it was between the first and the third, and at this point I also knew that the Milkcap would bleed milk if cut it, and the last mushroom was supposed to be dry inside. So, I cut my mushroom, and - it was immediately milky! Thrilled, I went on to see how edible it is and how should I prepare it.
The articles were not encouraging. Apparently some people said it was poisonous, but just because it 'tasted so bad'. The reviews said the mushroom is not a very quality one, and that some people had their mouth irritated very badly for an hour, from tasting it. It should be safe when cooked though. So, I did what was logical, I took the little piece I cut off, put it on a fry-pan, and made sure it was well done, before putting it in my mouth.
Immediately, I'm disappointed. It does not have a peppery taste. It didn't taste much like anything really. It had a bad acidic aftertaste, which I did not enjoy. So now I'm bummed! No way to pinpoint which one my mushroom really is, if it's not peppery!
Unless.. the cooking process eliminated the peppery taste, and it's only peppery when raw. This thought haunted me. Maybe the only way I'll be able to tell for sure is to lick the actual raw mushroom... but it doesn't say anywhere that it's edible raw, in fact, it says people got their mouths irritated very badly for a full hour from the peppery taste.
But like, they didn't die, and it was just an hour.
So I licked it. And it was peppery! Super peppery! I had my mouth full of pepper taste just from one tiniest lick, and now I'm sure of my mushroom id!!! And I didn't get irritated, my mouth was fine after 30 seconds. Win for living from the forest!
Apparently you're supposed to cook this mushroom several times and then pickle it in order for it to taste okay and not acidic. But, you can also dry it, and then use it as a spice replacement, and it has a lot of Vitamin C retained that way. I am going to try to cook it first, and then put it on a pizza, and then we'll see. So pleased to finally be able to forage these white mushrooms because I find several of these every single time I go to the forest!!!
