White

White delicacies

M.Ya. Zerova gives classic examples of edible mushrooms with a white cap:

1. Agaricus (Agaricus): The horse mushroom (Agaricus arvensis) and the field mushroom have a perfectly white, sometimes slightly scaly cap. Their key feature — pink or chocolate-brown gills under the cap (never white!).

2. Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus): Some summer oyster species (for example, the pale oyster) have a pale, almost white cap. They grow on wood.

3. Peppery milk cap (Lactarius piperatus): A large white milk cap that releases acrid white milk. It is used for salting.

Deadly white lookalikes

In "Mushrooms Demystified", David Arora sets out a golden rule for beginners: "Never pick a white gilled mushroom growing on the ground in the woods unless you are an expert."

The reason for this rule is the destroying angel (Amanita virosa) and the white form of the death cap (Amanita phalloides var. alba). These mushrooms contain deadly amatoxins and look like perfect, smooth, beautiful white-capped field mushrooms. But there is a fatal difference:

- In the poisonous white amanitas, the gills under the cap always stay white (in Agaricus they darken).

- Amanitas have a sac at the base of the stem (volva), which Agaricus mushrooms lack.

In addition, the yellow stainer (Agaricus xanthodermus), a poisonous lookalike of the true field mushroom, often has a white cap (it turns sharply yellow when cut and smells of carbolic).