Indigo Azulenes & Blue Milky Caps
INDIGO MILKY CAP happy dance! I was straight up starstruck when I met this beauty for the first time this summer. It is oh SO fun when you can find something you have only seen in pictures before and 100% know who it is right away. I’ve experienced this with both plant and mushroom medicines. For whatever reason I had it in my head that they did not grow around me, assuming it was too vibrant for New England and dwells only around tropical volcanos, rainforests or in the pacific northwests grandness only- but nope! One of the cool things about these blue blue beauties is that the top of the caps are rather inconspicuous, a light off-blue, with molted copper tinges. One could easily walk by thinking they are just an old russula or something getting funky on its way out. But if you knowwww and you pop that guy over, BOOM ! INDIGIDO BOOM!! Do a double check to make sure you know what planet you are on and then happy dance!
As a shock to me, this wonder of nature has not been studied too much as a medicinal, even though it screams “I HAVE UNIQUE AND AWESOME CONSTITUENTS” to anyone who looks at it. One constituent that we do know a little about is AZULENE and its derivatives.
“Azulene derivatives, including guaiazulene or chamazulene, occur in Matricaria chamomilla, Artemisia absinthium, Achillea millefolium, and Lactarius indigo. We know, based on other azulene derivatives, that there is potential for anti-inflammatory, tissue healing (skin, ulcers etc), anticancer, antidiabetic, antiV, antibacterial and a variety of other cardiovascular and neurological applications.
The vibrancy and WOW FACTOR of the indigo azulenes can actually be explained by their “aromatic hydrocarbons with unique chemical structure, physicochemical and biological properties. The azulene molecule consists of two condensed rings, cyclopentadiene and cycloheptatriene, and possesses 10π electrons, so it obeys Hückel’s rule. Moreover, azulene with its deep blue color is isomeric with colorless naphthalene and intensively absorbs light in the range of 500–700 nm. They are used in optoelectronic devices and have technology applications that are much more well studied than the medicinal ones.”PMID: 33551629 WILD.
In the kitchen, the flavor didn’t knock my socks off as much as the indigo milk did. Even though I thought I cleaned them pretty well, they were a bit gritty or sandy and only had a mild umami and then slightly bitter flavor.
True stories, ive had this tap open on my computer for 6 weeks, waiting for the time to dive deep into it to share with you. Remember to look under the cap, you may find something simply wonderful!
Cheers to Kelly who documented my child like joy in the moment, sorry I pushed ya in excitement :P