All-purpose wheat flour
A refined common-wheat flour blended for a broad range of baking; its protein and behavior vary with wheat, milling and market.
Mushrooms
Lobster mushroom
The lobster mushroom, Hypomyces lactifluorum, is a parasitic fungus that turns a white milk-cap or brittlegill orange-red and is gathered as a wild food in North America. Its host species must be identified too.
A fungus that grows over another mushroom
The lobster mushroom is not a mushroom in its own right. It is a parasitic fungus, Hypomyces lactifluorum, that grows over a host mushroom until it covers the whole fruiting body. The host is usually a white species, most often a Russula or a Lactarius, and the parasite changes its colour, shape and flavour.
The surface of the result is a finely bumpy, vivid orange to orange-red crust that often hides the gills. When cut, the flesh is pure white, which reflects the host. The field guide for Missouri describes spores that are spindle-shaped and strongly warted, with a clear spore print. Its size depends on the host.
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Habitat, season and hosts
In Missouri it grows statewide in mixed woods, singly or in groups of many, from July through October. Before it fully emerges it can appear as humps on the forest floor.
The guide names Russula brevipes and Lactifluus piperatus among possible hosts and says the host is usually a nonedible white species. Because the host determines much of the result, the same orange crust can sit on very different mushrooms.
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Food use and flavour
The Missouri guide calls the lobster mushroom a choice edible and describes its flavour as meaty and good. The parasite alters the host's flavour, so the result is not the same as the host.
The guide gives no preparation advice, so this page records none. It gives no quantities, times or temperatures.
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Identification and host toxicity
The Missouri guide says there are no lookalikes for this fungus in the state, and still advises being absolutely sure of the identification before eating any wild mushroom. It advises eating only a small amount the first time, to watch for a reaction.
The guide does not address the toxicity of the host directly. It says the host is nonedible, and the page advises against assuming that the result is safe on the strength of that page alone. Anyone gathering the lobster mushroom needs to be sure of the host as well as of the parasite.
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Places
Missouri
Documented use · Region evidenceStatewide in mixed woods, as the Missouri Department of Conservation field guide describes it.
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Sources
Missouri Department of ConservationIdentification · Method · Safety · Distribution
Lobster MushroomParasitic fungus over a white Lactarius or Russula; orange-red crust; white flesh; spores
Statewide in mixed woods, July to October; hosts Russula brevipes or Lactifluus piperatus
Choice edible, meaty flavour; no preparation advice
No Missouri lookalikes; be absolutely sure of the ID; small first portion; host not addressed for toxicity
Cited in: A fungus that grows over another mushroom; Habitat, season and hosts; Food use and flavour; Identification and host toxicity