Oyster Mushroom
Pleurotus ostreatus · Pleurotaceae
Shell-shaped tiers on dead broadleaf wood, often after the first cold snap.
Edible. Only take grey to brown oysters from broadleaf wood. Avoid thin pure-white brackets on conifers.
Read the full foraging safety guidance.
Season
All year
Where it grows
- Dead beech
- Dead broadleaf wood
- Fallen logs
Identification
- Cap
- 5-20cm, shell or fan-shaped, grey-blue to buff or brown, smooth.
- Gills / pores
- White and decurrent, running well down the short stem.
- Stem
- Very short, off-centre or absent, hairy at the base.
- Flesh
- White, firm.
- Spore print
- Lilac-white.
- Smell & taste
- Faintly aniseed or of raw dough.
Lookalikes
Angels Wings (Pleurocybella porrigens) is pure thin white on conifer wood and has caused deaths. Ozone Oyster and Branching Oyster are edible relatives.
In the kitchen
Tear rather than cut, fry hard so the edges crisp. Do not stew to mush.
Recipes using Oyster Mushroom
Also edible
Penny Bun
Boletus edulis
The most sought-after wild mushroom in Britain: nutty, firm and richly scented, with a pale bun-like cap and a fat netted stem.
Chanterelle
Cantharellus cibarius
Egg-yolk yellow, trumpet-shaped and smelling faintly of apricots. One of the safest and finest edibles once learned.
Field Mushroom
Agaricus campestris
The classic mushroom of unimproved pasture: white cap, pink gills darkening to brown, and a clean mushroomy smell.