What's a Lobster Mushroom? - CHOW Tip

Ian Garrone, manager of Far West Fungi, recommends trying the lobster mushroom, which is actually one fungus on top of another. Oh, and lobster mushrooms are a pain to clean.

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TRANSCRIPT
Lobster mushrooms are actually two varieties of fungus. The first mushroom, which is actually a russula, doesn't have a whole lot of flavor. Then there is a parasitic fungus, which is a hypomyces. It's the orange that you see on this lobster mushroom that changes the flavor to a shellfish flavor. Nice crunchy firm texture to it, almost like walnut meat. Lobster mushrooms are pretty hard to clean. The bottom side you can get away with rubbing with a moist paper towel. The top side will just break apart. So what I usually do is get the tip end of a paring knife and start picking away at the dirt. It's labor intensive but definitely worth the time and effort you're going to put into it.