Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to The Miller along with all the The Miller containing recipes presented on this site, with 0 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain The Miller as a major wild food ingredient.

The Miller, Clitopilus prunulus (also known as Sweetbread Mushroom) is an edible species of basidiomycete fungus (filamentous fungi composed of hyphae that reproduce sexually) and is a member of the Entolomataceae (Pink-spored and gilled fungus) family of fungi with a pink spore print. It is widespread across the grasslands and clearings in the deciduous woodlands of Europe and is probably one of the best edible fungi that hardly anyone has heard of. It is typically associated with grasslands, parks and the leaf-litter of clearings in deciduous woodlands. Typically it fruits in autumn from August to November (but is most commonest in September and October) and can be locally very common often growing in small groups. The fungus is medium sized (growing maximally to about 6cm in heigh). the cap can grow up to 10cm in diameter and is creamy white to grey in colour. When young, the caps are convex (like button mushrooms), with an inrolled margin. As the fungus matures, these flatten and become depressed in the centre, often with a wavy edge. The caps are dry to the touch and often have the feel of kid leather. The gills are strongly decurrent (extending down the stipe [stem], are white when young but turn pink with age (the spores are pink). The stipe (stem) is often off-centre, about 4cm in height and can be up to 1cm in diameter. It is white and solid in texture. The flesh of this fungus is white and firm and has a scent described as either being like freshly-milled flour or like raw pastry (but I find it faintly reminiscent of cucumber). Blind tastings often reveal that this fungus is considered tastier than either ceps or chanterelles, yet The Miller is often left off lists of edible mushrooms and fungi. This may be because there are a number of poisonous species that it can be confused with. Yet, with care, it can be picked and consumed safely.

This is an excellent eating fungus and can be prepared in the same way as ceps and chanterelles, but to get the most from The Miller it is best to simply fry in butter, season with a little fresh lemon juice and then serve on toast as a starters. It also dries well, so if you find a large number it is always good to take them home for drying. (For how to dry, see the dried mushrooms recipe.)

In Britain, there are several lookalikes, a number of which you must take care to look out for, as they are poisonous. In grassland, it is possible to mistake horse mushroom for younger specimens of The Miller, but the horse mushroom is edible. More care needs to be taken with the Livid Entomola (Entomola lividum) as, though uncommon, it shares the same habitat as The Miller and also has pink gills and spores. However, its gills are sinuate (appear wavy and do not extend down the stem), it is typically larger, with a thick stem and a dirty-white cap. In grassland it is also possible to confuse the Miller with Fool's Funnel (Clitocybe rivulosa) which has pink speckling to its gills. However, like other Clitocybe species, its spore print is white. In addition, the Fool's funnel's gills are more firmly attached to the cap and it does not have a mealy smell. The fool's funnel also prefers open grassland, whilst the miller is found in woodland clearings A number of other Clitocybe species can be confused for the Miller (and some may even have a mealy smell) but, once again, all have white spore prints.

For other edible mushrooms, see the guide to edible mushrooms

References:

[1]. David Evans Notes from field observations, tastings and cookery experiments.
[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–8.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms
[12]. Bunker, F.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A. & Bunker, A. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland.
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia — A Source Book of Edible Plants