Russulaceae: The Russula Family

The russulas are typically smooth-capped, brittle mushrooms ranging in color from the rosy-pink you see here, to deeper reds, almost purple, and various shades of brown. It is easy to recognize a mushroom as a russula, but extremely challenging to identify it to the species. The mild ones are said to be edible, while the acrid ones are not. Mushroom experts advise chewing up a small piece of the cap and spitting it out. If your specimen of Russula is not acrid, then it is edible. I haven't made it into my comfort zone with Russulas to start experimenting yet.

References:
Arora, David. All That the Rain Promises, and More... Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 1991.
Arora, David. Mushrooms Demystified, Second Edition. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 1986.
Phillips, Roger. Mushrooms of North America. Little, Brown & Co.: Boston. 1991.
Schalkwijk-Barendsen, Helene M.E. Mushrooms of Northwest North America. Lone Pine Publishing: Redmond, WA. 1991.

-Check out my favorite mushroom guides.-

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