The Shaggy Inkcap

The Shaggy Inkcap is commonly found in the autumn months growing on roadside verges, in meadows and on garden lawns, its scientific name, Coprinus comatus, coprinus meaning ‘of dung’ and comatus meaning ‘shaggy’ or ‘hairy’, is fairly descriptive of its nature, it is also known as the ‘judges wig’.

Its most common name, ‘Inkcap’ comes from its historical use in making ink as, albeit edible, inkcaps only have a very short shelf life and quickly break down into an inedible ink-like goo, in a process called ‘autolysis’.

Autolysis

Autolysis is a natural process, the fruiting body of a fungus, in this case the ‘cap’ that you see protruding from the ground, only has one purpose, that of spreading its spores so procreating, after this task is done it has no further raison d’être.

With Inkcaps autolysis starts relatively soon after they have fruited and helps spread the spores, they seemingly destroy themselves, Phoenix-like, to give birth to the next generation. The cells of the fungi start to attack themselves with their own enzymes, essentially digesting themselves and this deliquescence, or liquidation, is what creates the black ‘ink’, after only a couple of weeks there will be no trace of the inkcap visible above ground.

Of course the mycelia, the ‘roots’ of the fungi, will still be there underground in vastly complex, living networks, this is why the fruiting bodies re-appear from the same spot again next year.

Young Inkcaps are edible when white, before the process of autolysis begins

Recipes

There are many recipes for ink caps, they can be made into soup, cooked with chicken, sautéed, (this works really well with pumpkin) or just dusted with parmesan and fried in a pan for a couple of minutes (the last method is quick and tasty but they have to be very fresh).

Identification

The shaggy inkcap is fairly easy to identify and cook, but in this video a similar mushroom the common inkcap is seen, this is usually quite easy to separate from the shaggy inkcap due to its different shape but it’s very important to be certain as the common inkcap can cause poisoning if eaten with alcohol.

The poisonous Magpie Inkcap is similar in appearance but rare in the north of England

There is another similar, related mushroom called the ‘Magpie’ but this is very rarely found in the north of England, this mushroom is poisonous and must not be eaten, of course always be careful with any mushroom and if you unable to Identify it, leave it alone!

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