The millerClitopilus prunulus

Yes, provided you've ruled out the lookalike — the livid pinkgill (Entoloma sinuatum). On its own it's tasty and safe. Young mushrooms are best. We recommend that beginners don't pick it because the lookalike is so close. Experienced foragers — always make a spore print and check the smell.

Three critical features, taken together. (1) Smell: the miller — fresh and mealy, pleasant, like raw dough. The pinkgill — mealy, but with a rancid or sour note, unpleasant. (2) Size: the miller is small (3-10 cm caps) and soft. The pinkgill is much larger (8-20 cm), fleshier, with distinctly white flesh. (3) Spore print: in the miller — pure pink, salmon-pink. In the pinkgill — pink with a distinct dirty, cream or yellowish tint. Always make a spore print: cover the cap with paper for 6-12 hours.

The livid pinkgill causes severe gastroenteritis 30 min - 2 h after eating: repeated vomiting, severe abdominal pain, watery or bloody diarrhea, dehydration. It lasts 12-48 hours and requires hospitalization. Not fatal, but among the "milder" poisonings it's one of the most severe. In severe cases, dehydration with complications is possible. Calling an ambulance is a must.

Spore print — a paper trace of the spores falling from a mature mushroom; it lets you pin down the spore color precisely (a critical diagnostic feature). How to do it: cut off the stem and place the cap gills down on a clean sheet of paper (half white, half black — so both dark and light prints show up). Cover with a glass to keep it moist. Leave for 6-12 hours. After that, lift the cap — the paper will show a pink, white or brown spore print. It's a basic diagnostic tool in mycology, worth learning.

In deciduous and mixed forests — mostly with oak, beech, hornbeam and birch. It likes damp forest edges, shady slopes and forest clearings. The name "pidvyshen" comes from the folk tradition of gathering it under wild cherries and plums, but that's a coincidence — it isn't tied to fruit trees.

Throughout the forest and forest-steppe zones: the Carpathians, Prykarpattia, Polissia, the forest-steppe. In the steppe — in floodplain oak woods and parks.

June — October, peaking in August–September. It likes warm, humid weather after summer rains.

Most importantly — with the livid pinkgill (Entoloma sinuatum), which causes serious poisoning (see above). Also — with Clitocybe candicans — also white, but without the mealy smell, and not edible. With young white Hypholoma — also not of interest. Our rule: if you have any doubt about a white gilled mushroom with a pink or cream tint to its gills — skip it.

From its habit of appearing around St. John's Day (Kupala) — late June to early July, the first flush of fruiting in a wet summer. In different regions of Ukraine it is also called "mukoplyz" ("mealy and slimy"), "plodova slyvonosachka" ("the one under the plums") and "pecherytsia boroshnysta" ("mealy champignon"). The modern literary standard is "pidvyshen".