Edible, peel the cap
Slippery Jack
Suillus luteus
The slippery jack has a brown, not yellow, slimy cap, small pores, and a large membranous ring that is purplish underneath.
Chicken Fat Mushroom
Suillus americanus
Edible
The chicken fat mushroom is a small, bright yellow bolete that grows almost only with eastern white pine. Its sticky yellow cap with reddish streaks gives it its name. It is common in the East wherever white pine grows.
The tell
A bright yellow, sticky cap with reddish streaks, large angular yellow pores and a thin stem with reddish dots, under eastern white pine.
Field marks
What to look at
Cap, underside and stem show in a photo. The spore print does not, and it is often the deciding check.
- Cap
- Convex, flattening with age, 1 to 4 inches across. Bright yellow, sticky to slimy, with reddish to cinnamon streaks or patches and cottony yellow veil remnants on the edge when young.
- Underside
- Pores instead of gills, large and angular, yellow, sometimes running slightly down the stem. Bruising brownish or pinkish brown.
- Stem
- Slender, often curved, yellow, covered in reddish-brown glandular dots. No true ring, though a faint ring zone or veil remnants may appear.
- Flesh
- Yellow, bruising pinkish brown.
- Spore print
- Cinnamon brown to brown.
- Size
- Cap 1 to 4 inches (3 to 10 cm); stem 1 to 3.5 inches (3 to 9 cm) tall and under half an inch (1 cm) thick.
Where and when
Where and when it grows
- Habitat
- On the ground under eastern white pine, in forests, parks and yards.
- Grows on
- Soil, near the roots of eastern white pine.
- Season
- Summer through fall.
- Range
- Eastern North America, wherever eastern white pine grows.
Lookalikes
What the chicken fat mushroom gets confused with
Each card says how to tell the two apart.
Painted Suillus (Suillus spraguei)
Also under eastern white pine, but its cap is covered in red, fibrous scales over a yellow background, and its stem carries a grayish ring zone.
Other yellow Suillus species
Several yellow Suillus species grow with pines. Suillus americanus is separated by its slender stem, large angular pores, and strict association with eastern white pine.
Edibility
What the field guides say
Edible
Field guides list the chicken fat mushroom as edible, though often of minor interest because of its slimy texture. Some people develop a skin rash after handling it, a reaction recorded in North American field guides.
This page states what field guides record. It is not advice to eat, taste or handle anything, and a photo cannot settle edibility. If someone has eaten a wild mushroom that may be toxic, call poison control (1-800-222-1222 in the US) right away, before symptoms start: the deadliest species act hours later.
FAQ
Questions about the chicken fat mushroom
Is the chicken fat mushroom edible?
Field guides list it as edible. Some people develop a skin rash after handling it.
Why is it called chicken fat mushroom?
For its color and texture. The sticky, bright yellow cap resembles chicken fat.
What tree does the chicken fat mushroom grow with?
Eastern white pine. Suillus americanus forms a partnership with the roots of that tree and is found almost nowhere else, so its presence means a white pine is close by.
Sources
Where these facts come from
- Suillus americanus
MushroomExpert.com
- Suillus americanus
MykoWeb, California Fungi
- Suillus americanus
Index Fungorum
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