Estimated value
$3–16/lb fresh
Clean, fully parasitized, unrotten pieces $3–10/lb. Soft or white-pocked rejects.
culinary · edible
Lobster Mushroom
Hypomyces lactifluorum
Also called Orange lobster
Field marks
- Spore print
- Not used (parasitized host)
- Smell
- Seafood, sweet, slightly peppery
- Trees / hosts
- Fir, Hemlock, Pine
- Elevation
- Low to montane.
Description
Not its own mushroom — a bright orange-red parasite that takes over Russula or Lactarius, turning them into a seafood-scented, dense club. Interior should be firm and white-orange, never mushy or insect-riddled.
Where it grows
Conifer woods where Russula/Lactarius fruit.
How to find it
Scan duff for neon orange. Often half-buried. Common in fir and hemlock after summer rains into early fall.
How to pick
Cut, then trim any soft, white, or buggy parts in the field. Only keep dense, fully colored specimens.
Medicinal notes
Culinary. Dense texture, seafood aroma when cooked.
Psychoactive / controlled
None.
Law
Legal food. Some buyers require it fully cooked on menus (standard).
Lookalikes
Under-parasitized Russula
If white gills still show, you may have a peppery or unknown Russula. Only take fully coated, firm ones.
Field ID ticket
Tick every required mark in the woods. 0/3 required. This still is not laboratory certainty.
Do not eat or sell this specimen. Missing required marks.