Saffron milk caps: where they grow now and when
The king of the pine woods. Orange, stubborn and generous when its moment comes.
The saffron milk cap (Lactarius deliciosus / Lactarius sanguifluus) comes out from September to January, at its best in October, in woods of Scots pine, maritime pine, Aleppo pine, black pine and mountain pine, from low ground up to the middle mountains. It is also known as red pine mushroom.
See where it is ready this week
Right now, the best day forecast for saffron milk caps is 15 September.
The saffron milk cap is the family mushroom: the one people look for in groups, the one you recognise without fear and the one that fills the basket when autumn does its job. It lives under pines, from the coast to the mountains, and that is why its season is long: in the ranges it starts with the first September rains and on the coast it stretches into January.
It needs three things: a rain that soaks in, soil that holds it for a couple of weeks and ground that has cooled down without freezing. When they come together, it comes up in droves. When one is missing, it does not, however much it rains. Every day the map shows in which areas they are coming together.
What it needs to come out
First, a good rain, the kind that soaks the ground. Then patience: it usually appears after three or four weeks, as long as the soil holds on to that moisture and stays mild. If a frost, too much water or a drying wind comes in between, the flush is aborted and never shows.
Where to look
It comes out in woods of Scots pine, maritime pine, Aleppo pine, black pine and mountain pine, from low ground up to the middle mountains, without being fussy about the soil.
Saffron milk caps by province (in Spanish)
- Saffron milk caps in Barcelona · 314 zones with habitat
- Saffron milk caps in Burgos · 380 zones with habitat
- Saffron milk caps in Girona · 213 zones with habitat
- Saffron milk caps in Huesca · 439 zones with habitat
- Saffron milk caps in La Rioja · 155 zones with habitat
- Saffron milk caps in León · 454 zones with habitat
- Saffron milk caps in Lleida · 332 zones with habitat
- Saffron milk caps in Lugo · 431 zones with habitat
- Saffron milk caps in Navarra · 200 zones with habitat
- Saffron milk caps in Ourense · 264 zones with habitat
- Saffron milk caps in Segovia · 217 zones with habitat
- Saffron milk caps in Soria · 289 zones with habitat
- Saffron milk caps in Teruel · 470 zones with habitat
How the forest is doing this week
- Asleep 4158 zones
Forecast of 11 September, updated every day.
Mushrooms that share its woods
- Porcini: The most sought after. Discreet, demanding and fleeting: you have to be there in its week.
- Charbonnier: The mushroom of the cold. When nothing is left in the pine wood, it keeps coming up.
- Morel: A honeycomb on a stem. It comes up where nobody expects it and is gone in two weeks.
- March mushroom: The one that comes up under the retreating snow. Cold, hidden and among the most sought after of the year.
- Yellowfoot: Small, golden and by the handful in damp pine woods once the cold has arrived.