Sparassis. Cauliflower mushroom. Queen of the forest. A one-mushroom party. Big, easy to identify, delicious. What’s not to love?
If this sounds too good to be true, it is. The cauliflower mushroom, as S. crispa is commonly called out here, is devilishly hard to find. I’ve walked whole seasons here in California without finding one. But walk you must, because this mushroom is a loner.
The silver lining is that cauliflower mushrooms come up in the same spot year after year, so mark your GPS or mental map. Also mark your calendar because you won’t want to miss your chance.
The sparassis I am holding in the picture above is half of one my friend Eric and I found on California’s North Coast. I’ve returned to this spot several times this season, but our drought had been so severe I thought I might never see it again. Thankfully we’re now getting some serious rain, so I can only hope to see it sprout soon.
Typically cauliflower mushrooms pop between December and early March here in California. It’s a bit earlier in the Pacific Northwest; my friend Langdon Cook tends to find them in October and November up in Washington. There is an Eastern variety of sparassis, too: S. spathulata, that you can find as early as July and as late as October. You can find a variety of sparassis in Europe, too.
That’s the when. The “where” is at the base of a tree. Sparassis is a saprobe, a parasite that leeches off particular kinds of trees. In the West it will be pines — mine’s under a Bishop pine — and in the East look at the base of hardwoods. The mushroom seems to prefer older trees that are a little beat down; my sparassis is under a pine with a trunk about two feet wide with a bunch of storm-broken limbs.
What you’re looking for is a large, ivory-to-yellow clump. How large? A gigantic one can weigh a full 100 pounds, but most are between a pound and 10 pounds. They burst up from under the pine duff and really shine in a dark wood.
Identification is super easy. Langdon has the best analogy: Imagine a big batch of egg noodles that you left in a colander overnight. That is exactly what a sparassis looks like. There are no poisonous look-similars.
Cut the mushroom at the ground level and shake it upside down to dislodge random pine needles, woodland creatures and whatnot. Take it home and refrigerate it for up to a week, covered in a paper towel or cloth in a plastic container. The edges will yellow as the cauliflower mushroom ages, but it will still be OK.
Once you are ready to cook your sparassis, you will need to grab your favorite adult beverage and get to cleaning. All those folds trap ungodly amounts of debris — and gird your loins for millipedes and earwigs leaping out at you. How do I do it? I cut the mushroom into chunks and dunk them into a big bowl of cold water. Cauliflower mushrooms don’t absorb a lot of moisture easily, so fear not. Slice off any gnarly looking bits and lay the good pieces on a cloth to dry.
How to cook them? Cauliflower mushroom is the ultimate soup mushroom. It’s essentially a cross between an al dente egg noodle and a mushroom. It has a mild flavor a lot like a morel mushroom that happens to go very well with red meats.
Lang likes it with beef pot roast, but he also pickles them. A lot of people will saute them like any other mushroom, but I think they need some time to cook properly. (If you get more than you can eat in a few days, my advice is to cook them first, then freeze.)
More Tips on Wild Mushrooms
You’ll find all kinds of tips on identifying, processing and eating wild mushrooms here on Hunter Angler Gardener Cook!
just bought sparra inoculants from lithuainia, little grey balls not sure what they are. Live in Missouri. My usual spawn mix is bird seed, rice and cracked corn then birch dowels. Then can I put dowels in Elm or oak logs and should I bury them or leave above ground?
Found my first! I thought it was a brain shroom but it looked like egg noodles close up! Can’t wait to cook it!
R.Agnew in the great Pacific North West!
Found my first yesterday. I made Razor Clam Picata with it and a few hedgehog mushrooms. Excellent! Thanks for the cleaning tips.
I use cauliflower mushrooms as the noodle in beef stroganoff . It is awesome .
Trying the broth method tomorrow! In the past I have just fried them, and was not that happy. Thank you so much for your broth recipe, I have chanterelle mushroom broth, regretfully no venison Broth. But I think it should be good will let you know
Our neighbors were walking in our woods and gifted us with several! I had never heard of them before. Am going to have to freeze them as I have so many. Oh what a problem!?
Your article was very helpful! Thank you!
Found a couple of these last year: first ever! Called up a couple friends who are chefs, and we prepared it (along with some several other mushroom dishes) in puff pastry with an aromatic black trumpet cream sauce. Oh My!
Just found one in Eastern Long Island next to base of a dead Black Pine! Can’t wait to eat it!
Found some while chasing the dog through the woods. I simmered them for 45 minutes in some chicken broth, drained them and then sautéed in butter. Some got brown and crispy. Delicious- very mushroomy.
Thanks Hank, these are amazing. Found some at the Ferry Building in SF this morning, would never have thought to simmer in broth but you were so right. Pulled out some frozen duck broth, simmered half an hour low with a little white shiso and togaroshi, grated in a little cured egg yolk and topped with a poached egg and spring pea shoots. Sparassis perfect in the role of an umami-punched egg noodle.
I had half a pound of the thick bottom part leftover, curious to try pickling it. Put it in a standard 50/50 vinegar brine with sansho peppercorns – have you tried Landon’s approach, do you think if shrooms are pretty clean and brine pretty heavy that the vodka is necessary?
How do you know if its past its prime?
Kristin: you’ll know. It looks ugly and smells bad.
Very helpful article. I found a nice specimen on my hike today, north of Davenport CA. Wish I took it home, but i did not know it was an edible.
My best friend found a cauliflower mushroom growing under an oak tree on their farm in Enola, Arkansas. Lucky me! She is bringing me some of it today so I can try it. I can hardly wait as I am originally from a northern state where we could find morels. I havne’t had one in years.
how to can them
this is our 2nd year finding them ! wish i could post a picture. it is huge
love the flavor
Just found a 3 pounder in the woods by my place. Yum!!!
I just found my first yesterday( 3.4 lbs), my house smells divine, as I have some on the dehydrator and some simmering with real cauliflower, ham and wine 😉 to answer your questions the article above says yes cook first then freeze.
Hello all I just found a forty lbs calliflpwer in the woods there are 4 more but they are about 5 lbs my guestion is it is going to be real dry the next five days should I harvest them. Just to let everyone know I picked these as a young man and shared with my dad grandad and brother I actually hunt musshrooms and think of them being in the woods can be spiritual forme it becomes a time for reflection. Who would have thought that hunting mushrooms could help console grief. My proplemisidi cook them I have knowone to share with. Do they freez well after cooking in not I will only pick what I can eat.
i found something in my yard that I have no clue what it is. I’ve posted it online and one person said it was an “old” cauliflower mushroom. I don’t think it looks much like it but I’m no expert! It looks like black moldy broccoli. It smells a bit like a morel. . Is there some way I can send a photo?
I found a monster last Thursday while harvesting chanterelles. Yup, discovered the dipping clumos of it in a large bowlof water helped when cleaning. All sorts of residual forest duff floated tobthr surface. Ive found thatat crispy frying them like bacon bits makes for a fine crispy garnish for my chanterelle reduction sauce penne dish. I’ve successfully converted my picky partner to a fan. She has a texture issue with chewy and slimy. Crispy works.
Actually I harvested 3 and left other 2 to grow til next yr
Wow , I just found my first near punxsy pa as well! I’m leaving these ones to grow and will be bringing my daughter back to harvest in the near future. Rod.. hopefully these aren’t the same ones… did you harvest the ones you found?
I found 3 different clumps the size of 2 softballs in Punxsy,Pa.very excited!
Just came across my first one in Black Mountain, NC. I’ve cleaned it and am really excited to try this baby!!!
I just found one in the back yard in Treasure Lake, PA!! I must admit I am a little nervous about eating it…
I live in Mississippi and today while mowing I discovered two of these jewels. They are about the size of a softball. Do I let them continue to grow or harvest them now? What do I do after I harvest them to preserve them when I am prepared to use them! Yes I’m a mushroom rookie!
Cal: I’d let them grow a little. They can get to be twice that size. Refrigerate and they’ll keep a week or so. After that, I am not sure — I’ve never not eaten them fresh.
I just found a shroom, that looked just like a head of cauliflower. I posted it on FB and asked if anyone knew what it was called! Little did I know, Cauliflower mushroom, was its name,.
It is only the size of a softball. I will keep an eye on it and give it a try!
Thanks for this. We’d never seem them before and suddenly here are too of them growing out is ver wet mulched garden beds. Really just thick wet hay
Find them every year in So WA. They are very rich in flavor. I cut a smallish one early this fall, about a pound and a half. Went back to the same spot to pick chantrelles yesterday, the cauliflower had regrown and this time yielded 4.435 pounds. Yes they do regrow if you cut and do not pluck. We cut ALL mushroom varieties and use mesh bags or grided containers so any spores can hopefully reach the ground while walking. Please, please,please do not pluck, rip, or tear any mushroom out of the ground.
We find many different mushrooms here to include morels in my yard. I also dry mushrooms and have a dried medley mix (six different kinds) that I use for soups,stews,poultry stuffing,sauces, or any dish that requires a longer cooking time. Happy foraging!
In late August and early Sept I found about 3 dozen Sparassis spathulata in Ct. I saute them the fronds in olive and butter, then add a little chicken stock and let it evaporate and cook until a little crispy like bacon.
All of your positive feedbacks about cauliflower mushrooms and the great recipe I am glad I didn’t pass up the 20+pounder I found today. In the Olympic Peninsula, WA. elk season opener. I was looking at all the corral and chanterelle mushrooms on the side of the road. I had my hunting partner stop. jumped out of the truck as if I seen an elk, grabbed a knife and ran down the hill. He was puzzled what the heck I was doing I lifted up this huge specimen, then looked up to the truck…Oh crap. Good thing I left 1/4 of it there for future bounty.
Just found a 4-pounder while on a hunt in the Coast Range (Oregon). Excited to try it for the first time! Only done chanterelles in the past, so will probably try a broth/cream type soup for starters.
Just returned from a foray into second-growth hemlock & fir in Western Oregon. Our party of 5 was looking for chanterelles–and scored nicely–when one of the group pointed to something and asked, “what’s this?”. It was a canteloupe-sized cauliflower mushroom. I’ve seen only four (including this one) in all my years of ‘shroom hunting. For 3 of our party it was the first time they’d encountered one–or even heard of them. A very successful outing. Our vegan daughter happily took it home to experiment with.
I just found my first this weekend! It was a beauty, fresh & had No bugs, etc. Fresh! I soaked it in salt water & only had needles to clean out! Soup for us! Wonderful!
Tip for getting rid of critters: submerge the sparassis for a good soak in a bucket of very salty water. As others have noted, all kinds of life will crawl out!
Im in France and so annoyed as 5 weeks ago I found 3 huge ones at the base of a pine tree. I took them to the phaacy to check and they said because they were slightly brown ( they said should be white) if i ate them i cud be sick so i binned them! Then found out that one can dry them… so kuch gor being old..the French only know their ceps.trumpets hedgehogs. The pharmacy knows crap all they look in a book . Anyhow I went back and was able to find a smaller one.
Found a small one in southern RI at the beginning of October growing at the base of a pitch pine. Sauteed half and sprinkled the rest under some pines at our house. Nothing ventured, nothing gained..
I now know what it was that I found a couple of months ago on my farm in Kentucky. This was as big as a basketball. I left it but will.look in the same spot next year. If I’d only known….
Isn’t this mushroom real close to hen of the woods? I just found one and could not tell the difference unless geography has anything to do with it…I’m here in Wisconsin.
Nick: They’re very different in appearance. HOW is gray to black, and sparassis is pale to creamy.
Thanks for the recipe and information. Found a 4 – 5 lbr in SW Washington state this weekend.
literally found 4 this morning in Tillamook forestoregon
Just harvested my first cauliflower here in Scotland, growing at the base of a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). I ate a piece of one in France years ago so I know they’re good! This one had a whole community of slaters (wood lice) living it in, plus an earwig, a spider, a millipede and various other wee beasties, so I had to re-locate them. I doubt they will find such a cosy home. I read that it if you don’t need the whole fungus, you can cut off a portion and the rest of it lives on. I’m going to saute mine in butter and maybe eat with rice and egg, but will try the broth recipe next time.
Just started getting into mushroom id last year (2014) and found my first cauliflower yesterday in a woods in Framingham, MA. Gorgeous little creature; I left her where she was. BTW: mushrooming and birding is a perfect combination. You can hear the birds and the mushrooms stay right where they are.
Slightly embarassed to admit I found one here in central NH by just stumbling across a large, weird looking “thing” growing at the base of a pine. I didn’t even know what it was until I got home and looked it up in my guidebook. Went back the next day and harvested ~2 lbs. Definitely needs thorough cleaning but it was worth it! So far we tried it simply pan fried in a little olive oil and garlic, and also mixed into risotto.
Had a bit of rain this week and found 4 more of these within 50 feet of where I found my first in July.
I found a nice one in my front yard underneath my hugh rododendron bush im surprised the chickens didn’t eat it the are always under there. None under the 23 other rododendrons in the yard. Lol it is elusive.
Had never seen one, but lo and behold one popped up here in n.c. in an urban patch of woods. Used to hunt chantrelles when I lived in big sur, but this type is of mushroom totally surprised me. Amazing!
We hunt for Morels out of Dayton, WA and find the cauliflower mushroom also, they look more like a broccoli florets
We have had really good luck finding patches of cauliflower mushrooms while searching for morels. We hunt outside of Pendleton, Oregon. We have found pounds of morels, and cauliflower mushrooms. We have been drying them so they don’t go bad. I haven’t cooked with the cauliflower mushrooms, so really appreciate the ideas. Great website!
Biggest one I found barely fit in a 33gallon trash bag.
The funniest thing was it grew on the 2 hour drive home.
It was raining when I found it
Today I just came across one on my walk in the Yucatan jungle just a few yards from my home along the road. Glad to know that there is no look-similar mushroom that is either toxic or just non-edible. Soaking now to remove all the other creatures that got there before me. First time have come across one of these anywhere. Most shrooming done in San Francisco Bay Area. Not much listing that I can find about Mexico in general and the Yucatan jungle in particular. Hope I survive.
I just found my first cauliflower in the Skokomish Valley of Washington. I’m going to try a method I heard about – to break it up in small pieces, spread out on a cookie sheet and drizzle with oil, a dry seasoning (optional), salt and pepper and either bake at high heat or broil until crispy like potatoes chips.
I’m still laughing/smiling about the cauliflower I stumbled across yesterday somewhere in the Hamma-Hamma River valley. About the size of two basketballs side by side. For those outside the Pacific N.W., we are blessed with some huge fir stumps still standing from decades past logging. That’s where I find about 9 out of 10 cauliflowers. And it’s amazing how many are on the other side of stump. So, unless you “circle the stump…”???
Have been keeping records for the past 3-5 years on cauliflowers and so far have not found one fruiting on stump/tree where it was originially cut. I keep hearing about the “go back next year and harvest theory…” but am still waiting. Any thoughts? The one thing I haven’t done is leave one untouched and monitor for a few years. Do they always fruit each season?
Tonights soup of cauliflower/chanterelles and a fresh loaf of Irish soda bread is one of many reasons we love the rain…
Wishing you a smile and a laugh when you “circle that stump” and…!!!
Lovley article, I just found one in the south of England (Dartmoor, Devon). My first time. I washed and sliced mine then fried with some olive oil butter salt and pepper and felt so lucky to have this delight, gift. I like the look of your recipe though!
Mine was only half a pound, maybe next year I will monitor it to hope to gain more and allow the mushroom to live longer. Just about to roast some sweet chestnut followed by a hearty handful of Liberty Liberty (little magics, a dance with shanti sheeva). Bless Gav
here in the Czech Republic we also make a soup out of it – called “mock tripe soup” if literally translated –
found this video guide to the recipe – except that the recipe in english should specify caraway. not cumin (although you can use either, the flavour will of course be different)- personally, i also add some spicy paprika and some fresh garlic (but that is up to personal taste)
My wife and I have a fave ‘shroom place here in WA, at a park near the Hood Canal. Normally it is the place we find edibles like White & Yellow Chanterelles, Hedgehogs, Boletes, Angel Wings, Oysters, and Lobsters, as well as an assortment of many other non-edibles I like to take pictures of. In the last two years we have found Cauliflower Mushroom.
The first year I yanked a large Cauliflower ‘shroom off a large Doug Fir stump….mistake. You should ALWAYS cut it off at the base so it can regrow (for several years I have come to understand). This year I found another at a different place, so I did the correct procedure while gathering it up. It was a much smaller one this time, but now that I’ve followed proper procedure I will be back next year to get an even bigger one (I hope). We are anxious to try out some new recipes w/this delectable…used it in a shrimp & sliced sea scallop fettucine last time…’twas outstanding!!!
So…Bony Appetites (my way of French) to all. Nothing like fungi to make one’s day!!!!
A friend of mine just found a ten pounder here in South Bend, In, in the same spot he looks every year. I’m excited to go on the hunt for my own tonight!
in Eastern Oregon they are very common even in groups of Three or four with in Five feet. my grandma always canned them for soup etc. it is easier to clean then in a big tub of water when you first get home with salt. the bugs crawl out. then rinse
I too have a coveted tree that I’ve returned to repeatedly in order to harvest this mushroom. Mine is mere steps off a well trodden path around the backside of the tree. My favorite way to prepare this is to make a simple bisque. And I do mean simple.
I saute it in butter with a little garlic and onion, then simmer it in fresh raw goat milk, adding a little homemade chicken stock if necessary. Once it’s thickening nicely I put about half of it in the blender to make it nice and smooth, and then return it to the remaining bisque. A little sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste completes the simple dish.
I’ve never felt the need to add herbs or other flavorings, but I suppose you could.
Was looking for some new recipe ideas for my next, hoped-for find of cauliflower mushrooms. Soup it is!
I also find under Doug Fir. Another great identifying feature is the awesome scent of apricots.
Just had a huge downpour here in sac valley, can’t wait to go looking for some. No bishop pines around, I will try foothill pines. Thanks for the great article.
What’s the main flavor profile of this mushroom? Is it similar to maitake?
I’m in San Diego, I’ll be looking at pine trees in a whole new way!
We occasionally find them here in WA. Made Phad Thai with it once, worked out great!
Here in Portugal I find them every year. I have some spots memorized where they appear in the autumn. I love them, specially in soups. If you want I can send you the recipe I use although its very similar to the one you use (broth with the mushrooms inside – the only difference is that I blitz the toughest parts of the mushroom with an immersion blender to rev up the mushroom taste, and leave the tender fronds intact)