Mushroom Picking at Oberon NSW (Part One)

Mushroom Picking at Black Springs / Oberon in NSW Australia. Between late February and early May. Photos by me using Canon 75D 

Between late February and early May, NSW States Forests' exotic mushrooms begin to grow. Saffron Milk Cap (Lactarius Deliciousus) and Slippery Jack (Suillus Luteus) mushrooms emerge from the ground ready to be picked. These are the only two edible mushrooms found here in Oberon.
Some mushrooms are poisonous and you can become extremely sick if you consume them, so please be cautious. I was lucky enough to do this trip with two experienced mushroom pickers.

From Liverpool, Sydney we drove west for 2 hours to reach the Oberon Visitor Information Centre (Ross Street and Edith Road, Oberon). I recommend coming here first to grab a map and some guides to mushroom picking. There is no mobile reception in the State Forests so you can easily get lost. We used walkie talkies to meet up with friends. When parking, park on the edge of the road as timber harvesting is done seven days a week.

Remember to bring a small pocket knife or scissors and a big tote bag. It's easy to spot mushrooms as you walk by. Usually if we found one, we found others nearby. To pick, you simply cut them at the stem and gently stack them in the tote bag (tip: we used a Woolworths shopping tote with a square base).

The below photos are a guide to the edible mushrooms you can pick from the State Forests.
 
Saffron Milk Cap Mushrooms                                    Slippery Jack Mushrooms

Note: Although they look pretty - do not pick or touch the mushrooms that are not these pictured above. I brushed my fingers along the red mushroom with white dots and felt a slight tingle in my fingers. So it's best to stay away from them, just take pretty photos and supervise any children.

 I personally liked the Saffron Milk Cap mushrooms, it had a silky texture and taste. We chopped them up and and added it to our spaghetti bolognese. It can be cooked in sauces, stews, stir fries and casseroles. Slippery Jack mushrooms taste exactly as it sounds - slippery. To me the mushroom were slimy and was not a fan.  I read that it's best to dry them out and peel them for soups and casseroles.

We enjoyed two hours of mushroom picking in the eerie silent forests, under plenty of shade. We strolled and admired the dots red and orange mushrooms along the pine needle filled grounds. We then rested to enjoy a small lunch in a clearing and headed home with our bags of mushrooms.