Page 240 - The Forager’s Guide to Wild Foods

BOLETE MUSHROOMS

Boletes are fleshy mushrooms that usually have a spongy pore layer rather than gills on their underside.
Each pore is the mouth of a short, vertical tube and the cap resembles a mass of closely packed pores.

Bragger’s Bolete, Aureoboletus
mirabilis (BOLETACEAE)

BRAGGER’S BOLETE, Admirable Bolete, or Velvet liptical, smooth; Spore print: olive-brown
top grows west of the Rocky Mountains. It fruits on
EDIBLE PARTS: cap, stem
or near decaying conifers, with a preference for hem-
HOW TO EAT: This meaty, nutty bolete has a unique
lock. These mushrooms occur singly or in groups
lemony flavor. To best appreciate its taste simply sau-
during summer and fall.
té bragger’s bolete in butter. This mushroom also goes
CAP: The cap is 2-6.3 inches (5-16cm) wide and con-
well with seafood. Check specimens for fly larvae
vex, becoming flat. Its suede-like surface is coated in
while cleaning them.
tiny fibrils. Color varies from deep reddish-brown to
STUFFED BRAGGERS WITH CLAMS: Ingredients: 2
purple-red, to dark brown. When the mushroom is
young, its margin is trimmed with an overhanging lb. (1kg) mushrooms, 6.5 oz. (185g) minced clams,
flap of white tissue. The thick whitish to yellowish ½ cup butter, 1 clove garlic (minced), ½ cup bread-
flesh is sometimes reddish under the skin. crumbs, ¼ parsley (chopped), salt, pepper. Separate
mushroom stems from caps. Mince and reserve stems.
PORE SURFACE: The tubes are depressed at the stem.
Drain clams; reserve the liquid. In a skillet, simmer
Their angular mouths are 0.04-0.08 inches (1-2mm)
stem pieces and garlic in clam water (4-6 min.). Stir
wide. Both the pores surface and tubes begin light
in clams, breadcrumbs, and seasoning. Stuff caps with
yellow, deepening to sulfur yellow, and becoming
mixture. Broil in the oven for 7-9 min., until tender.
olive-hued in old age. They do not stain blue when
bruised. POISONOUS LOOK-ALIKES: Some boletes that stain
blue or have red pores are poisonous - avoid. Lilac
STEM: The club-shaped stem is 2.6-8.7 inches (7-22
Brown Bolete, Sutorius eximius - lilac-brown when
cm) tall, 0.4-3 inches (1-8cm) wide, and enlarged near
young; reddish-brown spore print; it is sometimes
the base. Its color is dark brown to reddish-brown
noted as edible but for most people, it causes GI dis-
with pale streaks. The apex is frequently yellow and
tress and is, for the most part, now considered poi-
reticulate.
sonous.
SPORES: 14-24 x 6.5-9 microns, spindle-shaped to el-
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