I wanted to eat these boletes but was sore afraid - SOLVED!!!

I found some boletes yesterday but couldn't nail down the type or if they were 100% edible. From my reading it seems the non-gilled mushrooms are a lot safer to taste than the gilled ones... but I still couldn't bring myself to eat these. They smell amazing and are currently making spore prints on my bathroom countertop.

Anyone have insight into boletes?

A rule of thumb is if they turn blue when you bruise them with your thumb, thumb your nose at it. That one looks like a non-staining one, so it might be pretty tasty.

Boletes (the edible ones, that is) are good for making into soup. Unfortunately for me, most of the ones in my hunting grounds are the blue-staining variety.

Be sure to use the identification key at mushroomexpert.com to identify what you have collected.

No bruising blue at all. I should have eaten them! Thank you, John.

They're probably past their prime on my countertop.

David Goodman wrote:
They're probably past their prime on my countertop.

Not at all, Dave. Boletes of that type are very often dried and rehydrated later. Supermarkets in France and Poland sell little bags of dried boletes (they last forever in the cupboard if need be) and you soak them in water for half an hour and then toss them into the soup pot.



If it has gotten slimy from decomposition, then you can toss it, but if it has dried out sitting on the counter, let it dry out all the way and save it for soup when winter comes.

NICE

They're drying quite well, actually. No decay whatsoever.

I'm just very new at mushrooms and have no confidence. I'm a plant-ID guru... and a complete amateur with fungi.

Perhaps I'll try a small piece cooked and see if I survive okay.

Looks like I'll have to try that mushroom soup!

I put the mushrooms in the dehydrator last night, then thumbed through another guide book this morning ("Common Florida Mushrooms") and... HEY NOW! THAT'S MY BOLETE!!!

Everything matches. Fishy odor, tobacco color - I can't believe it. My Audubon society guide (which is my go-to book) didn't have this species at all. Hurray for local guides.

Check out the scans.

glad you posted this....it's gonna get me out pinching all of those boletes, then trying to ID all that don't stain blue.....we've been needing anew edible fungi.

@Judith

It's that time of year!

The cost of meat has been killing me so I've gotten more and more interested in gaining protein from non-conventional sources. Today I started a culture of oyster mushrooms from the stem bases of store-bought specimens.

Finding these boletes while at the farmer's market was just icing!

Hi David,

They look great to me...

But...that is NO validation...I have been known to eat Lilac Browns that make other folks really sick...

I mention that, as I find most Americans have the "weakest" stomachs of any culture I know of...the "loose their cookies," if you even say the word..."germ."

I am very, very, VERY, careful of what I give folks now...as I can (and do often) carry certain "wee nasties" (like salmonella i.e.) that leaves me just with some heart burn while others end up in Hospital.

The "death and destruction," we cause with all the "cleaning agents" and "sterilizing chemicals," is wiping out our "private flora and fauna," rendering our species each generation to certain "collapse," and/or complete dependence on "technology and chemistry" to survive...and not very well I might add...

So with that said...

I had a beautiful cut of grass fed Angus sirloin steak tonight smothered in a "party" of Boletes (one small slice of Lilac brown just for me) and onions....Emmmmm...Gooood!!! Owe...did I mention that the steak was aged 60 days at about 2 degrees and another "finishing" of 15 days at about 7 degrees (C temp of course) then into a bath of garlic, light sea salt, ginger, and maple syrup at same temp for a few more days. This steak was not something most folks would have ever considered edible...let alone a "gourmet" cut and treatment.

Happy tummy...very happy and healthy digestive track....

@Jay

That's great. I'm a sucker for strong flavors and fermented/aged foods. Sauerkraut, limburger, habenero sauce, black coffee, kimchi, anchovies, maduro cigars... if it's powerful, bring it on!

Of course, I did grow up in a missionary family that was constantly in contact with a wide variety of cultures and foods. Guess I couldn't help getting a strong stomach.

As for boletes - I found some more this afternoon in a different location. According to one of my guide books, these are totally edible:

I have been following but have not had much to say. all the talk about strong stomachs though reminds me of this amusing comic that is otherwise unrelated. (I have a strong stomach too)

Well...no polypore is deadly so you can at least count on that. Worst you can do is a bitter bolete. Not very yummy!

Well...no polypore is deadly so you can at least count on that.

Woe there...lets not get into unfounded Mycology...There are indeed...POISONOUS POLYPORES!!!...if not deadly...

Yes!!....David G....those look tasty as I just had some sauted in butter....I would have to key them out for you to be certain of species...and....if you have not eaten them before, only eat half of one and wait 2 days, then perhaps a few more. Mushrooms in general are very "powerful foods," I was taught to start small and build up to a full Mycological diet...This is perhaps why I can eat Lilac Browns with little more than heartburn," which is a warning of the toxins in them...but I seem to get other benefits in digestion and health from an occasional small meal of them added to it in small doses...