| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| mimborin |
The peppary bolete (Boletus (=chalciporus) piperatus)Anyone had any experience eating this? Raw it is very peppery, does it retain its pepperyness when cooked or dried? Is it even worth eating? If you have eaten it how did you use it?Thanks in advance. |
||||
| Maxwell |
I've dried and powdered B piperatus before and used it as a pepper substitute. Not tried cooking it fresh but I heard a mycologist mention that they loose their pepperiness on cooking and are quite tasty. | ||||
| Maxwell |
Re: The peppary bolete (Boletus (=chalciporus) piperatus)
|
||||
| mimborin |
Cheers Maxwell, thats basically what I wanted to know. I think I will try drying some, powdering it and mixing it with B. Edulis powder, then using it as a substitute for pepper.
Thanks for that, I believe it has been known to cause gastrointestinal upsets, but is in the same order of magnitude as the Horse Mushroom, which I have no problem with. I guess like any wild mushroom, that is said to be edible, it is a case of trying a little at first and not over indulging on it. Usual disclaimers apply. Don't eat anything on my advice, just don't! |
||||
| cab |
Found some on a walk along behind some sand dunes last year. Dried them and then added them to my dried boletus mix. They're always used cooked, and I've detected nothing peppery about them when thus used. | ||||
| Maxwell |
Clitocybe odora is another interesting one to use as seasoning. It tastes and smells strongly of anise and often shares the same habitat as B piperatus. Phillips doesn't recommend consuming them but they're widely regarded as an edible and I've never had a problem using them as seasoning. 
|
||||
| cab |
The trend has been largely away from eating leaf litter mushrooms, they're meant to more prone to absorbing pollutants and suchlike. I'm dubious about that.
C. odora is tasty, I think, but its strong anise flavour is almost a problem. It keeps that scent really well as it dries. C. nebularis is another leaf litter one that used to be regarded as edible, and the books I picked up as kid told me it was edible, so I've been eating it for years. All the modern books tell you its poisonous. |
||||
| Maxwell |
That would rule out Wood Blewits too I suppose... 
Never tried C nebularis even though it is very common here. I hear it's peppery too. Is the pepperiness lost on cooking like B piperatus? |
||||
| cab |
I suppose, although I've never seen that one listed as dodgy. Does cause upsets in some, though.
It isn't as peppery at all, but what heat it has isn't lost so much on cooking, if that makes sense. Unlike, say, most of the peppery or hot russulas. |
||||
| Truffle |
Theres some excellent papers on the concentration of pollutants in fungi. There seems to be a lot of evidence for the accumulation of heavy metals (inc arsenic). The evidence is so strong that I have discussed at conferences the possibility of using fungi for bioremediation projects. Also, this extends beyond 'leaf-litter' fungi as we've also been looking at mycorrhizal fungi.
I guess the lesson is, don't collect shrooms from known contaminated ground! |
||||
| cab |
The potential use of fungi for accumulating pollutants goes back for years. Everything from growing fungi on contaminated ground and removing them, right through to taking spent mycelium from big industrial fermentatiosn, pressing it into a 'cake' and filtering polluted water through it. Looks good on paper, but its been hard to make it work well enough and cheaply enough in the field.
But with the increasing cost of leaving things polluted coming from legislators I think that this may well change. For my money, whats needed is some small faffing about with fungal cell walls to make 'em more absorbant for metal ions (as a start). |
||||
| Truffle |
Exactly. We're working on the mycorrhizal side and have a few projects in the pipeline. Theres some excellent applications and we have some good names involved. Watch this space. | ||||
| tahir |
If it's Ok with a soil ph of 6.0 then I'm your man....still got plenty of free land. |
||||
| cab |
Excellent news. I'll look forward to hearing more. |
||||
| tahir |
Ahh, just reread the thread, hopefully my land is uncontaminated, still be nice to get fruitiing mycorrhizals here... |