Lovely find @Nik! I especially like the beautiful shade on the stipe and the distinct/ive pruinosity of the cap! A few things that can be useful to check for this group: Does the white "milk" stay white, or does it turn yellow or purple? If it stays white does it stain the gills any particular colour in age? Is it peppery or mild? Cap texture smooth, finely pebbly, goopy? And when you have located possible species, check for region it is known to occur in, to see if it is likely to be found in the Northeast of NA. In my region, PNW, we have at least 18 orangey Lactarius: I don't know how many you have in yours.
Hi @Frog , the cap is very ‘velvety’, the milk stays white, it does not stain the gills, and the gills do not change color when bruised. Currently it is the most abundant species of fungi in our yard. Very close to an old birch tree. Could it be L. camphoratus?
Another possibility is Lactarius volemus. I collected some today and my husband, who is a ‘supertaster’ and hands down a great cook, mentioned the fishy smell of the freshly collected mushrooms. I can agree with him, after an hour or so after harvesting, the fishy smell was pronounced.
This by no means implies that we will ever use them. Just making sure that is clear. One has to be really be sure they can reliably identify the species they consume, otherwise it is not advisable.
Super tasters are super handy for mushrooming :-) There are a number of points of view as well as cultural perspectives on mushroom edibility. I too lean towards ID’ing to species first :-) ... and often I avoid the topic of edibility entirely - outside of smaller group conversations - in order to avoid potential conflict with the folks who eschew ID.
@Frog , completely agree with you. The final verdict for the ID on this one: Lactifluus hygrophoroides. (The fishy smell was not present originally, as far as I can tell, and everything else matches)
