Red-cracking bolete

How to recognise it: red-cracking bolete

1. 1

   Cracked cap with reddish flesh in the cracks

2. 2

   Red-streaked stem

3. 3

   Yellow-green pores that turn blue

4. 4

   Soft flesh that spoils quickly

Description

Cap

3–10 cm across, brown to dark brown, often with an olive tinge; dry, velvety, cracks into patches in dry weather, with reddish flesh visible in the cracks.

Tubes and pores

Tubes and pores pale yellow, then greenish-yellow to olive; pores fairly large, angular, turn blue when pressed.

Stem

Slender, yellowish at the top, with red streaks lower down, no network.

Flesh

Yellowish, soft and watery; in the cap turns blue when damaged, then red; in the stem of older specimens brownish-red.

Smell and taste

Smell faint, taste slightly sour.

Where and when it grows

Very common in coniferous and broadleaf forests and in parks; sometimes in masses.

Most often with: beech, pine, oak

Where are conditions good today?

Look-alikes: what it can be mistaken for

• 

  Suede bolete Edible low risk

  The suede bolete has a paler, olive-yellow cap without red in the cracks, brighter golden-yellow pores that do not turn blue, and no sour taste. Both are edible.

In the kitchen

Young fruit bodies: pickled, in soup, stewed in a thick sauce (“na gęsto”), dried. Pick only young, firm ones; pores with a white coating of mould disqualify the fruit body.

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 →