A few days ago I went on a fungal foray. I brought along to it a bolete
that I was a little puzzled about. From a wider knowledge of the boletes I knew it wasn't poisonous. I thought it might boletus badius. It turned out to be one of the star attractions for a number of reasons.
The leader of the foray is outgoing and works well with a crowd. He used it as an example of the boletes in general and proclaimed it to be boletus edulus - the cep and one of the best fungi for eating. It was passed round and generally revered by all and sundry.
Then the real experts - 4 of them - got hold of it and puzzled mightily over it for about 10 minutes, before passing it back to me. A few minutes later they asked for it back and spent another 15 minutes puzzling over it - cutting it, sniffing it, tasting it (with a lot of practiced spitting), pouring over pocket books, and so on. Finally they gave up but said could they take it away for further thought.
I got a phone call a few days later. They had detected an iodine smell when storing it in a lunch box for a while, and they had consulted an expert on boletes. There was a confident identification - boletus impolitus. Also known as the "iodine bolete" - good eating, and rare.
So, everyone got something out of it although for different reasons. But the worms had the last laugh.
that I was a little puzzled about. From a wider knowledge of the boletes I knew it wasn't poisonous. I thought it might boletus badius. It turned out to be one of the star attractions for a number of reasons.
The leader of the foray is outgoing and works well with a crowd. He used it as an example of the boletes in general and proclaimed it to be boletus edulus - the cep and one of the best fungi for eating. It was passed round and generally revered by all and sundry.
Then the real experts - 4 of them - got hold of it and puzzled mightily over it for about 10 minutes, before passing it back to me. A few minutes later they asked for it back and spent another 15 minutes puzzling over it - cutting it, sniffing it, tasting it (with a lot of practiced spitting), pouring over pocket books, and so on. Finally they gave up but said could they take it away for further thought.
I got a phone call a few days later. They had detected an iodine smell when storing it in a lunch box for a while, and they had consulted an expert on boletes. There was a confident identification - boletus impolitus. Also known as the "iodine bolete" - good eating, and rare.
So, everyone got something out of it although for different reasons. But the worms had the last laugh.
