Lactifluus piperatus
Peppery Milkcap
Status:
Uncommon.
Meaning to produce milk.
Cap:
6-15cm
Stem:
4-9cm
Meaning peppery
Description
This attractive looking mushroom is a typical milk cap and that will be the first thing to look for when identifying it, gently damage the gills or break a bit of the edge of the cap and it should ooze a little milk, obviously, and that should tell you that you have a milkcap. The next thing is the all white colour with slightly cream gills, especially in younger specimens, becoming whiter as it matures, the gills are very crowded, to the point where it looks like they are so crammed together that it almost appears smooth on the underside. There are other large white milk caps but none have their gills as crowded together as the peppery milkcap. In many parts of Eastern Europe they stick to drying and using it very sparingly as a spice. It grows with a variety if deciduous trees throughout Europe - all the sites I have encountered this species have both oak and beech in close proximity.
Smell
Not distinctive.
Season
Late Summer to Autumn.
Habitat & Distribution
Usually with Beech (Fagus) and occasionally under other decidious trees. Occasional over much of the UK.
Edibility
Whilst it is not recommended to eat as a mushroom (if that makes sense), instead you would be advised to dry the peppery milk cap and then grind it in to powder or flakes and use sparingly like you would chilli flakes. People who have eaten this mushroom whole generally parboil it and even then many report it being not very tasty (but hot) and suffering some digestive discomfort.
Confusion Species
Spores
7-10.5 x 5-7.5µm, with warts and ridges.
Spore Print Colour
White.
Of the other larger white milkcaps then the two that would lead to possible confusion are the Blushing Milkcap (Lactarius controversus) and the Fleecy Milkcap (Lactarius vellereus).
The Fleecy Milkcap is generally a much larger mushroom with a 'fleecy' feel to the cap, especially towards the margin, the stem is 'shorter' in proportion to the rest of the mushroom. The gills of the Peppery Milkcap are much more crowded than than both of the possible look-a-likes.
The Blushing Milkcap often appears like it has been 'bruised' with pink/purple colour on the cap and stem, the stem is shorter and the gills are not as closely packed, it is also mainly found with Poplar, Aspen and Willow.