Caesar’s Mushroom
Amanita caesarea
may - june and september - november
Caesar’s Mushroom (Amanita caesarea) is considered the “noblest” of mushrooms and is well-known and enjoyed throughout Italy. These mushrooms are more valuable if they are harvested with the cap closed (although Italian legislation forbids this practice), when they can be easily confused with death cap mushrooms (Amanita phalloides) – which is potentially deadly poisonous to humans when eaten.
Unlike other mushrooms, it is eaten in small amounts, often served raw in salads (preferably when the cap is closed).
Caesar’s Mushrooms are symbiotic mushrooms which grow in broad-leaved forests. Normally, they do not grow below an altitude of 1200 metres, and they need sunny, generally warm weather to develop, growing in the summer and autumn.
They have a cap which is large and meaty when open, the hymenium has free gills, and a cylinder-shaped, meaty stipe with a large membranous ring.
The cap varies in colour from pale to bright red, while the gills, stipe and ring are always bright yellow.
Ideal for eating raw or cooked.
