Shaggy ink cap
Coprinus comatus
mushroom
⚠️ Toxic look-alike
Never eat this mushroom unless you are certain it is not its toxic look-alike.
Its neighbor, the common ink cap, makes alcohol toxic: hot flushes, palpitations and feeling unwell if you drink within three days of the meal. The shaggy ink cap is white, tall and narrow, covered in upturned scales like a wig; the common ink cap is grey, smooth, bell-shaped, in clumps at the base of stumps. Young, a shaggy ink cap can also recall a young amanita: check that it has no volva at the base.
If in the slightest doubt, leave it. If you feel unwell after eating it, even several hours later, call Poison Control (1-800-222-1222) or 911.
A white mushroom shaped like a closed umbrella, with delicate flesh.
- Origin
- Meadows and roadsides of Europe
- Season (United States)
- August to November · grows in your region
- Preparation
- It is cut in half and pan-fried for a few minutes; it is eaten cooked. Young and white, cooked the same day. If you pick it yourself, have the mushroom checked by a pharmacist or a mycological society before eating it.
- Molecules
- Mushroom beta-glucansIn small amounts, not counted Ergothioneine
- Did you know?
- Within a few hours, it melts into black ink: people once wrote with it.