Gourmets can hardly wait until the porcini mushroom is finally in season again. The noble mushroom is one of the most coveted edible mushrooms of all, but is not easy to find in some years. Fortunately, it is easy to preserve and becomes even more aromatic when dried. When stocks begin to run out, it's time for fresh supplies.
The spruce boletus can be found in the forest from summer
The porcini mushroom season starts in June
Basically, you can collect fresh porcini mushrooms between May / June and well into November - provided the weather cooperates. A good porcini year begins with a damp spring. However, if it is too dry, the joy of autumn collecting will very likely be spoiled. By the way, the long season is due to the fact that there are different types of porcini mushrooms that can be found in the forest at different times.
Summer porcini heralds the season
The so-called summer porcini (Boletus reticulatus) is the first. In some places and with suitable weather as early as May, it can be collected on calcareous soils and preferably near beech or oak trees. In contrast to the spruce porcini, the summer porcini has a matt cap skin that is sometimes finely flaky. The stalk, which has a clear network drawing, is also significantly darker. It is one of the first boletes of the year and is often heavily infested with maggots. If autumn is mild and warm, it sometimes still occurs in October.
Spruce boletus will follow from July
From July and, depending on the weather, into November, you can go in search of the much better-known spruce boletus (Boletus edulis). Very young specimens - which are also known as embryos in technical jargon - often have their stems sunk deep into the ground, so that only the white or brownish cap sticks out. Mature specimens, on the other hand, can be recognized by their yellow to olive-green tube mouths and the elongated stem. Near pines you can find the rare Pine Boletus (Boletus pinophilus) with a red-brown cap and stem. The black porcini mushroom (Boletus aereus), on the other hand, which is also edible, has a strikingly dark, blackish cap.
Caution, risk of confusion!
Inexperienced collectors tend to confuse the porcini mushroom with the inedible gall boletus (Tylopilus felleus). However, this has a bitter taste and, if consumed in large quantities, can cause severe gastrointestinal problems. You can distinguish it from the porcini mushroom by the following characteristics:
| features | Common gall boletus | Spruce porcini |
|---|---|---|
| cap | Matt surface, tomentose, color honey yellow, more or less light brown with gray tones | smooth to wrinkled, moist surface, whitish when young, then light brown to dark brown without red tones |
| tubes | Mouths white when young, then pale pink to brown-pink, brownish when pressed | Mouths whitish when young, then yellow to olive green |
| stalk | hat-colored except for the lighter tip, with mostly coarse, brown-yellow net. Shape cylindrical to clavate | white to light brownish, with a distinct white, fine-meshed net in the upper part; mostly bulbous when young, then clavate |
| meat | white, hardly discolouring when cut | white and firm when young, brownish and spongy under the cuticle with age |
| odor | pleasant but very bitter taste | pleasant, nutty taste |
| Happen | July to October on lime-poor soils in coniferous forests | July to November, in coniferous and deciduous forests |
tips
If the tubes of the supposed porcini mushroom turn blue when pressure is applied, it is probably the chestnut boletus, which is also edible.