White hedgehog mushroom

What it is

Hydnum albidum is a hydnoid fungus, meaning that its fertile surface is a layer of soft spines on the underside of the cap instead of gills. It belongs to the family Hydnaceae, the same family as the common edible hedgehog mushroom, Hydnum repandum. The fruiting body is white to pale grey and usually smaller than H. repandum, and it bruises yellow to orange when handled.

The name is not settled. A 2016 study notes that reports attributed to H. albidum from temperate and Mediterranean Europe have almost always been made under the name Hydnum reginae, so a European record under the name H. albidum may refer to a different species. The catalogue retains the name as supplied and does not reconcile it with a current accepted name.

Food status in the sources

The catalogue records the species as a firm tooth fungus used cooked in Southern Europe, supplied as wild material. Wikipedia describes Hydnum albidum as an edible species.

Not every source agrees. The Fungi Kingdom page for the species says that this Hydnum has a bitter taste and is not usually collected for eating, yet the same page also calls it a choice edible. That contradiction is recorded here rather than resolved. The sources read do not describe a specific preparation used for this species in Southern Europe.

Relation to the common hedgehog

Hydnum repandum, the wood hedgehog, is the common edible hedgehog mushroom and the name that Linnaeus published in 1753, which remains the accepted name. Its spines are cream to pale peach, densely set and running down the stem, and mature specimens can taste bitter, a bitterness that cooking reduces. Several hedgehog species are often confused in the field, so the wider genus is a useful reference point for anyone reading about H. albidum.

Because the species boundaries in Hydnum have changed, a regional record should be read with its place and its identification method. A cooking record for one name does not establish how a different species under a similar name behaves.

Identification and safety

A wild hedgehog fungus should be identified from the whole specimen against a regional taxonomic key or by a mycologist before anyone eats it. This page does not establish that Hydnum albidum is safe to eat, and it gives no preparation that makes an unidentified mushroom safe. Look-alike spine fungi and changes in the genus are the main reasons for caution, as the sources themselves note.

Open questions

The accepted identity of the name in Europe, the regions where it is eaten and the method of cooking are not settled by the sources read. A taxonomic revision and a regional ethnomycology survey that names the species directly would resolve most of the uncertainty on this page.