@hajistar yes, they have many lookalikes and I was disappointed more than once before after finding and picking the wrong kind of Lactarius (milk caps). I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area and it's about peak season for candy caps right now. I can identify them fine now that I've encountered them several times. The nice thing is that each mushroom has a strong scent once dried, making them really safe to consume (except for food allergies in some people; like for all new foods, it's advised to not eat too much at first). The characteristics to look for when identifying are those listed in the books for Lactarius rubidus: rubbery cap, watery latex, characteristic smell when fresh (and more). Burning a piece of fresh mushroom with a lighter reveals the maple syrup scent that's otherwise only present in dry specimens.
Regarding eating: the general recommendation for all wild mushrooms is that they should be cooked. Some species can be eaten raw, but I don't know about candy caps. Many species lose their bitterness when cooked and some lose their toxicity, while others taste great even raw and are deadly. There's not much to worry about for candy caps, though. There are no deadly species in the Lactarius genus and the whole genus is easy to identify due to the presence of latex.

The hardest part in all that is to find them. I usually find interesting mushrooms when I *don't* look for them!

#mushrooms #foraging