Choice
Hedgehog mushroom
Hydnum repandum, H. umbilicatum
The character that does the work
Teeth instead of gills, on a mushroom growing from soil. Nothing dangerous shares this.
The specimen sheet, in examination order
01Cap
3 to 12 cm, cream to pale apricot, dry, slightly velvety, irregular and often lobed.
02Underside
SPINES. Soft downward-pointing teeth, cream, that rub off easily with a thumb.
03Stem, and the base
Off-centre as often as not, white, solid, bruising yellowish.
04Flesh, cut
White, thick, brittle, sometimes staining orange-buff.
05Spore print
White to cream
How to take one06Where it grows
From soil in mixed woodland, often in troops and arcs, mycorrhizal.
When to look
Typically Aug to Dec in the northern hemisphere. Fruiting swings by weeks with rainfall and by a month or more with latitude, so this is when to look rather than when it will be there.
Europe and North America.
What is worth knowing about it
The mushroom to recommend to a nervous beginner. The tooth group is small, contains no deadly species, and the spines make it unmistakable from below. It keeps well and stays firm in cooking where a chanterelle would collapse.
Confused with
- Chanterelle, which it often grows beside
In the kitchen
Older specimens turn bitter, and the bitterness lives in the spines. Scrape them off with a knife on anything past its best. Otherwise treat like a chanterelle: dry pan first, then butter.
The techniques, and why they workThis page tells you what to check. It does not tell you the mushroom in your hand is that species, and it cannot. If you are not certain, do not eat it. If you have already eaten something and feel unwell, contact a poison centre and keep an uncooked specimen.
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