Cauliflower Fungus

Sparrasis Crispa

Today Pete and I went out with a friend for a walk followed by lunch. The first pleasant surprise of the day was the weather - up till last night, the forecast said overcast, but it turned out to be beautifully sunny.
We walked round a local reservoir, Dale Dyke, in the Parish of Bradfield, which is part of Sheffield, and is surrounded by moorland. We are blessed with not only a lot of reservoirs in the area, but some very beautiful ones, and this was the first time I had done the full circuit of this one. It is notorious for having been the cause of the Great Sheffield Flood of 1864, when the dam ruptured resulting in great destruction and loss of life.
It was a beautiful walk, and as well as the bonus of a good, if somewhat short-lived sighting of a kingfisher, it was nice to see the fungus starting to appear in some numbers, mainly boletes including larch and birch boletes, slippery jack, bay bolete, and brown roll rims. We also found a few saffron milk caps and this prime example of the cauliflower fungus. I've never found one in such good condition before, so I took a couple of pieces from it to try out. According to my books, it is in the top ten of good edibles. I'll report back when I've eaten it.