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Honey Fungus

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Honey Fungus

Edible

Autumn

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Honey Fungus, Armillaria mellea.

This tasty and very common mushroom can give a small amount of people gastric upsets so should be tried in small amounts the first time it is eaten. It should always be cooked before consumption.

Mushroom Type
Common Names	Honey Fungus (EN), Bootlace Fungus, Ffwng Melog (CY), Opieńka Miodowa Właściwa (PL), Gyűrűs Tuskógomba (HU)
Scientific Name	Armillaria mellea
Season Start	Sep
Season End	Nov
Average Mushroom height (CM)	8-14
Average Cap width (CM)	5-12

Please note that each and every mushroom you come across may vary in appearance to these photos.

Cap

5-12 cm. Conical when young, then convex, then flattening and even having upturned edges. Honey coloured, ochre or brown with a darker slight umbo and sometimes concentric circles of darker scales.

Gills

Crowded. Adnate to slightly decurrent. Gills start white turning yellow to brown and often darker.

Stem

8-14 cm long, 0.5-1.5 cm diameter. The chunky Honey fungus has a fairly thick, scaly, white to yellow brown stem which is usually bulbous at the base. The slender fungus is thinner, generally smoother and tapers towards the base and can be white to yellow to red/brown.

Skirt

Superior. The ring is usually very high on the stem and can appear as a double ring with chrome yellow edges.

Flesh

White.

Habitat

Growing in large clusters on deciduous trunks, stumps or dead wood but can also be found in grass as the rhizomorphs spread looking for more trees to infect.

Possible Confusion

Galerina marginata, pictured, can look similar but is darker and has a distinct smell which is not mushroomy. Care should be taken with the identification of this fungi as Galerina marginata is also called The Funeral Bell.
The Shaggy Scalycap (Pholiota squarrosa) can look similar but has brown spores and has much more pronounced scales on the cap as well as scales on the stem which the Honey Fungus doesn’t have.

Spore Print

White to pale cream. Ellipsoid.

Taste / Smell

Good and found in large numbers. Must be cooked before consumption but can still cause slight gastric upsets in a small number of people.

Frequency

Very common.

Other Facts

This mushroom is responsible for killing many trees and the rhizomorphs or ‘bootlaces’ can usually be found under the clusters of fungi and surrounding bark. Unlike most mushrooms this fungi can live on its host tree alive or dead and can spread under ground easily and ends up killing its host.
Armillaria do not grow from spores very easily.
An Armillaria has formed what is thought to be the largest living single organism on the planet and has been reported at 3.4 square miles in size and thousands of years old.

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28 responses to “Honey Fungus”

Andy Wilson

January 17, 2020

In Norway, they call a certain mushroom a ‘Melksopp’ . Is this the same as our word ‘ Milksop ‘ ?
I believe it was a type of Boletus, the type which which occasionally sprang up on the back lawn of our former
house, near Watch hill, Aspatria, Cumbria.
Can you shed any light on which mushroom is in fact called in English, ‘Milksop’ ?

1. Eric Biggane
  
  April 9, 2020
  
  I can’t find a reference to milksop and mushrooms in the UK, only that it means ‘a person who is indecisive and lacks courage’ but in Lithuania they call the Leccinum branch of the Boletes the milksops so there might be something there.
  
  1. Katri Paakkari
    
    September 25, 2020
    
    Milksop might refer to milk cap.
    
2. max sølv
  
  October 12, 2020
  
  there is not a mushroom called melksopp in norsk… melksopp is a direct english translation of the english name for milkmushroom i.e. lactarius the mushrooms that create milk from the gills. in norsk they are called riske for example matriske [trans. food milk cap]. from the information you have given i can tell you sopp is the word for mushroom and boletes are called skrubb. so you may mean myrskrubben, leccinum niveum the direct translation of this is the moor bolete].
  
  1. Eugen S Konyardi
    
    October 18, 2020
    
    We do eat them in east Europe (Romania,Bucovina ,Ukraine, Bulgaria)
    We do call them Ghebe in general and people preserve them in jars over the winter months
    
Alex

August 2, 2020

I found some really early honey fungus on a dead tree, 2nd Aug 2020, which is a month earlier than the season start described.

1. Sam
  
  August 10, 2020
  
  Likewise! At least, I think that’s what I’ve found. Perhaps this year’s climate has been conducive to it.
  
Dinah

August 29, 2020

My wooded garden is a honey coloured fantasy grotto at the moment, with clumps on each and every bit of wood sticking up, or horizontal on the ground. It must have been a very good year for it. Doesn’t seem to have killed anything off this year though, maybe that will happen toward winter. Has anyone else had a really bumper crop this year?

1. Karen Bailey
  
  September 30, 2020
  
  Huge crop of honey fungus on an ivy root. Should I leave it or remove it?. The ivy root is not required, I cut down and removed the greenery but was unable to dig out the root.
  
  1. MiddayEnglishman
    
    April 19, 2023
    
    It’ll kill all the other plants around it so if you have tree it’s bad, but if you’re fighting greenery back and don’t care this mushroom might help you take care of that for a few thousand years.
    
John Way (Isle of Wight)

September 17, 2020

Had Honey Fungus on toast for lunch today,yummy.! Boiled the caps for 5 minutes,then saute in a little olive oil,butter,garlic and dried herbs.
All growing around the trunk of an old oak in my garden.
Many Boletes in my lawn too,but not positively identified,so not eaten.!!

chhukun pun

October 5, 2020

i found at august 5th in bulford salisbury. it is very good and tasty. i ate with whisky its really really yummy . i saute in little bit olive oil,garlic,black powder,green chilli salt and butter. so nice!!!

Stephen Lambert

October 6, 2020

Made a delicious chicken and mushroom pie today with the healthiest looking honey fungus I have ever seen.

Liz

October 7, 2020

I’ve found a cluster of what I think might be honey fungus round a tree in the local park. I’m not sure enough to actually eat them though!

Neil

October 9, 2020

Honey fungus gone mad this year! Harvested 50 litres of mushrooms squashed into buckets. I think there will be a good amount of mushroom ketchup before too long. Amazingly no casualties to the fungus this year but judging from the way they have sprouted in new territory I expect plenty of plants to die next spring. At least I will have some ketchup so all is not lost.

Mark Wild

October 10, 2020

Got loads of these in my garden, picked cooked and eaten some this morning. Very nice. Does anyone know if they can be picked and stored? (Dried, frozen etc.) If so, how?

1. Eric Biggane
  
  October 14, 2020
  
  They can be dried if sliced very thinly and placed on a fine mesh rack somewhere warm with a breeze or in a dehydrator, if stored right they will last for years. They can also be cooked and then frozen.
  
kathy cox

October 13, 2020

Just followed recipes and made a thick mushroom soup with caps by boiling for 5 mins then sauté with butter, home grown garlic and fresh herbs with olive oil and black pepper. Put in mixer with some cooked potato and boiling water and ‘voila’, a thick grainy wild mushroom soup. No tummy pains either!!

1. David Gunton
  
  October 24, 2020
  
  Yes, but are they yummy or not really worth the effort
  
  1. Ashley
    
    October 21, 2022
    
    I know I’m about two years late to this, but I found honey fungus to be a decent mushroom. Compared to store-bought Agaricus bisporius they’re not as watery and a lot more of their mass is made up by gills. In my opinion, this means they work decently in the same places you would use white mushrooms, but also work significantly better in dishes that benefit from their gills(they hold a lot of sauce, which is good for steak toppings) or where you want to conserve space(like In an omelette).
    
Duncan

November 2, 2020

I’ve seen a source recently which references that this is considered poisonous by some and may cause severe gastric upsets even when cooked, is this true? Also just to clarify, are there any other potentially poisonous mushrooms that look similar and have white spores? I know the funeral bell and sulphur tuft have darker pores.. but is there anything else to consider? Just want to be sure as I think I have found a good crop. Thanks

1. Eric Biggane
  
  January 2, 2021
  
  Honey Fungus can cause some gastric upset in about one in twenty five people but are not considered poisonous. The Shaggy Pholiota can look similar but has brown spores. See http://www.wildfooduk.com/mushroom-guide/shaggy-pholiota/
  
Maggie Smith

November 27, 2020

How do you remove honey fungus from tree and soil?

Joakim Dominic

May 26, 2021

Could you mean Melsopp, that is Norwegian for both the genus “Clitopilus” and the species “Clitopilus prunulus.” Melksopp (melk = milk, sopp = mushroom) is not a Norwegian words. Milk caps are caller “risker” in Norway.

Petra

October 10, 2023

Would you be able to advice me in which county to look for honey mushrooms ? I am new to foraging, live in south east England.

Thank you !

1. Eric Biggane
  
  October 10, 2023
  
  Honey Fungus are very common all over the UK. If you were to find a mixed woodland near you, I’m sure you will find them. I haven’t seen any so far this year.
  
Mel H

October 31, 2024

I know they are supposed to pop up in clusters but I have these huge mushrooms pop up ( season now over as can’t find any more) in lawn bit that was “wilded” i e don’t cut it any more, which look just like the cap picture above. They are just singles though and huge – caps to 20cm diameter- are those also Honey Fungus? Would like to get rid of them as they are killing loads in the garden. Thanks

1. Eric Biggane
  
  November 1, 2024
  
  Honey Fungus can pop up in grass singly when the rhizomorphs (root like structures) are spreading to find another tree to grow on. It is very hard to kill Honey Fungus but it should only affect weak or dying trees, strong healthy trees won’t show signs for many years.