Wild Mushroom Foraging Autumn 2011

The Slimy Spike

14/09/2011

Earlier this September I led the first mushroom foraging course for a new floristry school in Sussex (The Sussex Flower School.)  This organisation is based in the heart of a wooded area around the village of Laughton.  Before heading off into the woods, we decided to check around the back, and was delighted to find two of the classic edible species without having left the garden.  It's not bad having Penny Buns and False Saffron Milkcaps growing in your own garden, and it made sure I had something in the bank before we'd really started.  I also came across a species I'd not seen before.  The caps are slimy, and at first sight I thought they were a member of the Suillus group of boletes, which have slimy caps and grow with conifers (as these were.)

When I turned on over I realised they weren't Suillus, because they have gills. If you look in the picture of the underside, you should also see the remnants of a veil.  
 

A veil like this (or "Cortina") is a good indication that you have a Cortinarius (or "webcap") but this turned out to be something else altogether.  The fact that the veil was white rather than brown/red was a clue that I missed.  Only when I cut it open did I realise that this wasn't a Cortinarius at all, and so I sought assistance from the Association of British Fungus Groups to get an ID

The yellow discolouration at the bottom of the stem looks unlike anything you'd find in a Cortinarius, and the white flesh is also unlike that group.  The mushroom turned out to be Gomphidius glutinosus, which goes by the rather cringeworthy, recently-made-up common name of "Slimy Spike."  It is a less common relative of G. rosea ("Rosy Spike"), a species which is always found growing with the very abundant Jersey Cow Bolete (Suillus bovinus).

Both of these Gomphidius species are listed as edible.  I'd rate G. rosea (picture at top) as average - OK to eat but nothing distinctive to right home about.  Wikipedia describes G. glutinosus as "mild tasting."   I decided to fry the one I'd brought home, and I don't agree.  This fungus has a strong, distinctive flavour which reminded me of Beefsteak fungus (Fistulina hepatica) or maybe even of lemons. 

I suspect that this is a fungus that not many people have eaten.  It's not listed as rare, although it is not particularly common either.  If the ones I found were anything to go by then it is locally common - lots of them are likely to turn up where they do appear. 

Could it be confused with anything poisonous?  Maybe, but not with anything really nasty, and not very easily.  The slimy cap and yellow discolouration of the stem make it a reasonably safe mushroom for foragers to identify.  Then they just have to find the right dish for a mushroom that tastes of lemons….

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