Caesar

Other Names

Ovolo, ovolo buono, fungo reale, oronge

Latin Name

Amanita caesarea

Usually Found In

Southern Europe, Bulgaria, Africa

Season

June to late summer

Fetching a high price in Italy, Spain and France and thought to be the early rulers of the Roman Empire’s favourite mushrooms, the caesar mushroom certainly lives up to all the hype and is one of those culinary treats that everyone should try at least once.

Native to southern Europe and North Africa, the mushrooms picked early in the season or developmental growth are a beautifully formed deep-orange egg shape, unlike any other mushroom. Perhaps adding to their mystique, you’d be forgiven for thinking it wasn’t a mushroom, that is until you slice it open and find perfectly preserved and protected light orange or yellow gills and a yellow stem. One of the most visually spectacular wild mushrooms around, the caesar is generally picked at two stages of its fruiting or growing cycle – giving it two different looks.