Bay bolete

How to recognise it: bay bolete

1. 1

   Chestnut-brown cap, sticky when wet

2. 2

   Yellowish pores that turn blue when pressed

3. 3

   Stem with lengthwise fibrils, no network

4. 4

   Flesh turns slightly blue

Description

Cap

3–15 cm across, chestnut-brown to dark brown, paler with age; slimy when wet, matt and suede-like when dry.

Tubes and pores

Tubes and pores whitish when young, then yellow to yellow-green; turn blue (blue-green) when pressed.

Stem

Light brown with darker, lengthwise fibrils – no network; dark blue where pressed.

Flesh

Whitish to yellowish, firm; turns slightly blue when cut.

Smell and taste

Smell and taste pleasant, distinctive.

Where and when it grows

Coniferous and mixed forests, less often broadleaf; often in moss, on acidic, sandy soils, sometimes next to stumps.

Most often with: pine, spruce, beech

Where are conditions good today?

Look-alikes: what it can be mistaken for

• 

  Bitter bolete Inedible medium risk

  The bitter bolete (called “szatan”, “satan”, in Polish) is very similar, especially when young with white pores. Differences: the bitter bolete has a distinct, dark brown, wide-meshed network on the stem, pores that turn pink with age, a pink spore print and an extremely bitter taste (touch a tiny piece with your tongue and spit it out). It is not dangerously poisonous, but a single fruit body ruins the whole dish.

• 

  Porcini Edible low risk

  The porcini (especially the dark pine bolete) has a network on the stem and flesh that does not turn blue. Both are edible. Not in this atlas: Cyanoboletus pulverulentus (inkstain bolete) – all parts turn deep navy blue instantly.

• 

  Scarletina bolete Edible with care low risk

  The bay bolete has a similarly dark cap and also turns blue, but it has yellow (not red) pores and a stem without red dots.

In the kitchen

Drying, pickling (very good), frying, soups and sauces; can replace porcini in recipes.

Protection and sale

• Species protection: the species is not protected.
• Sale: the species is on the list of mushrooms approved for sale (it may be sold only with a mushroom inspector’s certificate).

Where you may pick mushrooms →