Edibility

This is a very popular mushroom with immigrants who have come from Europe who like to dry them, powder them and use them as a mushroom based stock .Young specimens taste quite nice fried however i find as they mature they are more slimy and take a lot more cooking. It is also best to peel the skin off the cap.I do however have to note that this is another one that can cause slight gastric upset to some people.

Habitat

They are in abundance where you find pine mushrooms and are exclusively found in association with pine trees and are often found with Slippery Jacks and Pine mushrooms.

Description

The scientific name for this mushroom is a bit of a quirky one.

Suillus comes from Latin meaning pig/swine. Hence, Suillus means 'of pigs' and it is thought to refer to its greasy cap ( although not as greasy as the slippery jack).

granulatus also from latin meaning granular which refers to the surface of the stem.

This is another good mushroom for beginners as there are not many mushrooms you can confuse it with, especially if you check off all the descriptors below.

Appearance

The cap is 5cm - 10cm in size, initially hemispherical in shape opening up as it matures into a flatter cap. The cap has a glutinous to sticky cap when wet that is light brown to a deep yellow in colour ( see pic above).

This is another mushroom that has pores instead of gills, The pores start out creamy yellow (see pic of pores above) and fluffy looking but as the mushroom ages the pores turn a golden yellow in colour often producing milk like droplets.

The stem is cylindrical in shape, white to yellow in colour and from 4cm to 8cm tall and 1cm to 3cm wide, unlike the slippery jack there is no ring and fairly rough to touch. The base of the stem can be slightly swollen with the stem becoming rough (granulated) the closer to the cap you get to the cap due to the hardening and evaporation of the droplets that also exude from the stem.

Distribution

NSW-VIC-SA-TAS-QLD-WA

Spore Colour

Yellow/Brown

Lookalikes

A lot of people mistake Suillus granulatus with Suillus luteus (slippery jack) however the lack of a veil and annulus is one give away but also the stem of the Suillus granulatus which has a grainy texture. Saying this luckily Suillus luteus is also edible.

Please use this reference as a tool for identification only and never eat any mushroom unless you do your own research and you are 100% sure. Remember if in doubt leave it out!