The best place to mushroom hunt around Sydney are any of the State Forest pine plantations which provide an ideal environment for exotic wood mushrooms.

• Between late February and early May, Saffron Milk Cap (Lactarius deliciosus) and Slippery Jack (Boletus portentosus) emerge to be picked.

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Quick Notes...

Saffron Milk Cap: Lactarius Deliciousus

• Cap: reddish-orange with darker concentric zones, finally staining green in the center, 4-10cm in diameter. Convex, soon becoming centrally depressed. Margin smooth, at first incurved. Cuticle slightly sticky or dry. Flesh soft, pale in the centre, stained reddish by milk around the edge, milk rapidly turns carrot colored when exposed to the air. Spores: cream in mass, broadly ellipsoid, decoration variable warted or netted, and average size 8.5 x 6.5 microns.
• Habitat and Distribution
• Grows gregariously, sometimes in clusters, always under conifers, in woods and on heaths, on moist, but well drained, soils. Frequent in Hampton State Forest, Jenolan State Forest and the Vulcan State Forest within the Oberon Council Shire.

Slippery Jack: Suillus Luteus

• This edible species grows in conifer woods. 
• It has a very sticky cap which is always covered in debris and, as it is also eaten by larvae, careful cleaning is necessary before cooking.
• Not rated as one of the best Boleti, but is tasty.

Join our Australian Mushroom Course to find out the best locations for mushroom hunting in Sydney.