How to ID Lactifluus piperatus, the peppery milk cap

Lactifluus piperatus, commonly called the peppery milky cap, is white-cream mushroom that is extraordinarily spicy. Like, melt your face spicy. If this mushroom and Zakk Wylde jammed together, your face would be 100% melted in seconds flat. With tightly packed gills, white milky latex, and a pale overall fruiting body, the peppery milk cap is fairly easy to identify and is a common sight in oak forests. Many books call Lactifluus piperatus by a different name - Lactarius piperatus. Both genera are characterized by weeping or bleeding milky latex when the gills are damaged. In addition to the old name, it seems likely North America's peppery-hot, crowded-gilled white milky cap is not genetically the same as THE REAL Lactifluus piperatus, which may be limited to Europe. Go ahead, take a few seconds to bellyache and groan about the Europe thing. OK, are you back? Good! Learn more about this marvelously spicy species, its relationship to lobster mushrooms, and why you should never pick your nose while mushroom hunting.