Penny BunBoletus edulis
- Also known as:
- Cep, Porcini
Traditionally collected in: Italy, France, Russia, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Belarus, Germany and Spain
Description
A heavy, solid bolete with a brown cap and a thick stem. Near the top of the stem is a pale, raised net-like pattern. The pores are white when young, then become yellowish and finally olive with age.
Where it grows
With pine, spruce, oak, beech and other host trees, in woodland and along rides and clearings. Widespread across Europe.
Mainly from summer into autumn. Fruiting often follows a period of warm rain and consistently moist soil; timing varies greatly by region.
«Penny Bun — or something like it?»
If the description above leaves you unsure, do not guess from memory and do not compare by eye with a picture off the internet. Our photo identifier shows several likely candidates with percentages, and names the dangerous lookalikes if there are any — rather than one confident answer.
In detail
Season
Fruits from early June to late November.
What to do with it
This species may not be picked (see «Caution» below), so storing and cooking do not belong here. If you find one: photograph it where it stands, do not cut or dig it up, and remember the spot for your own records — the mycelium fruits there year after year.
Take care
A highly prized edible bolete when correctly identified and cooked. The flesh of Penny Bun normally stays white when cut. Any specimen that shows strong blueing or other unexpected colour changes should be checked carefully rather than assumed to be this species. Avoid polluted collecting sites.
Nothing on this page is an expert opinion, and nothing here confirms that the mushroom you found is edible. Photo identification in this service is a probabilistic hint, not permission to pick or to eat.
Lookalikes
Not poisonous, but overwhelmingly bitter, and the bitterness does not cook away.
- ·The pore surface of Bitter Bolete flushes pink as it ages, while Penny Bun goes from white to yellowish and finally olive, never pink.
- ·Both carry a net on the stem, but on Bitter Bolete it is coarse and dark brown on a paler ground, and on Penny Bun it is pale on pale and often visible only near the top.
- ·Cut the mushroom lengthways: the flesh of Bitter Bolete slowly flushes pink, whereas Penny Bun stays white.
- ·Neither species has red or orange pores, and in warmer parts of southern and central Europe a red-pored, strongly blue-staining bolete such as Rubroboletus satanas is a far more serious find than a bitter one.
Check whether this one is out near you
The foraging forecast changes daily — with rainfall, temperature and the phase of the flush, rather than «it ought to be the season».
Your comment
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Updated from the FungRadar species reference · not a specialist's determination