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Lactarius indigo


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I went back to the spot where I took the last group of photos from the Florida Mushrooms thread and happened upon these mushrooms that are on my must find bucket list of mushrooms of all time! I am so excited that I finally found these. I wish they were a little more blue but I'm extremely happy to have found them at all!

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Every time I plan to head south I think about finding these for my first time. And inevitably, whenever I get the chance to travel south, it seems there's a drought when I get there. I've never found these!!

Nice job Mary! The closeup photo of the cut cap is my favorite. Beautiful specimens. Now you can have organic Green Eggs and Ham.

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Every time I plan to head south I think about finding these for my first time. And inevitably, whenever I get the chance to travel south, it seems there's a drought when I get there. I've never found these!!

Nice job Mary! The closeup photo of the cut cap is my favorite. Beautiful specimens. Now you can have organic Green Eggs and Ham.

Thanks Dave! I was pretty excited since I was not expecting to find them!

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Mary, the color in the first photo is quite typical for indigos and I rarely find them much more intensely colored. Sometimes if the fruiting is kickstarted by a couple of days of really heavy rain followed by nice dry weather when they actually emerge I will see them a wee bit more intensely colored but it isnt a common thing where I live. In a normal year I find hundreds of indigos (this year they were a bust) and I find them tasty. Where I live you have to watch for larva infestations which can get pretty severe. The larva seem to enter the mushroom via the stipe either right at ground level or just below ground level and they work their way upwards through the stipe into the cap. The quick way to tell if your specimen is clean is to slice through the stem about a half inch or so up from the ground and examine the cut surface. If you see many tiny holes (like the cut ends of many tiny tunnels) going up into the stem you can be certain that the cap will be infested. If you get into a decent patch of indigos you can cut a few caps of specimens that show tunneling to satisfy yourself they are infested and then just start tossing the ones that show tunnels. Some years the indigos are remarkably bug free and other years it can be difficult to find enough clean ones for supper.

Dave you dont have to go south for indigos, you can come north! I dont find them in many of the forests where I hunt but the ones that have them seem to be pretty reliable. There isnt any reason that I can think of why they wouldnt fruit happily in PA.

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I found quite a few of them this year in the pine or mixed forests with pine. It is just such a beautiful thing! I share your excitement, ladyflyfsh!. Eating quality is a OK, I would say at par with other lactarius and russulas. Here is a few pics from my fall collection

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We just had a full day of a slow soaking rain, so I'm hopeful I can go back to my spot and find more. I didn't eat the ones I found before but if I find some really fresh ones I might give them a try. Lactarius of any sort is not may favorite.

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We just had a full day of a slow soaking rain, so I'm hopeful I can go back to my spot and find more. I didn't eat the ones I found before but if I find some really fresh ones I might give them a try. Lactarius of any sort is not may favorite.

lactarius thyinos is far superior in flavor and texture to l. Indigo. try them if you get a chance. I was lucky enough to find a couple dozen thyinos while king hunting in spruce/balsam this summer
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