Disclaimer: This is an amateur hobbyist guide only, and the uninitiated should never go mushroom picking without a trained professional. Mushrooms can be deadly, and poisonous varieties can look similar to edible kinds. Never eat mushrooms you are unsure about, always err on the side of caution.

One perk of a wet summer on the east coast is the damp fertile ground it brings, ideal for fungi to bloom. Pine mushrooms are one of the most common edible mushrooms found in the forests near our cities, and once you know what you’re looking for, your eagle eye will easily spot their terracotta caps rising under the carpet of fallen pine needles.

Pine mushrooms are dry (as opposed to slippery jacks, which are also edible, but slightly slimy on top), with terracotta coloured flesh that is slightly irregular in colour, with soft plentiful gills in the same colour underneath the cap. Depending on how heavily pillaged the forest has been before your arrival, it’s possible to find some that are pretty huge, though bigger doesn’t necessarily mean more flavour. They can look a bit ratty and mouldy if they’ve been growing too long.

Pine mushrooms are found in… you guessed it… pine forests. State forests in NSW and Victoria are usually filled with pine trees. In NSW, check Belanglo State Forest near Bowral, and Hampton, Jenolan and Vulcan State Forests near Oberon. In Vic, look around the Macedon and Dandenong Ranges, or near Daylesford.