This is another edition of seasonal items! Porcini mushrooms. They are now in season here, right along with the beginning of chestnut and collecting olive season!
Porcini or Boletus edulis also known as cèpe, cep, Steinpilz, king bolete, or penny bun mushrooms. You can find these fresh in the stores but most comonly dried. Some say that Porcini mushrooms are used in the Italian kitchen for their nutty, earthy and with a meatiness in flavor and texture. They really have a similar taste to other, common mushrooms, but I think that they have a deeper and nuttier flavor. We use them for everything from pasta and rice dishes, soups and sauces, and one very favorite specialty of mine, risotto.
The term “porcini mushroom” actually refers to a few different species. The Boletus species, and within this species the most sought after is Boletus edulis, or the king bolete. This is the mushroom people refer to when they say porcini.
These beautiful mushrooms grow in pine forests at the base of tree. And for us here in Europe, Autumn is the season to harvest these mushrooms. These mushrooms are unique because they have a brown or reddish-brown color and they are slightly sticky to touch. When you harvest mushrooms for proper identification you ALWAYS have to look at the underside of the cap. The underside of the porcini cap is made up of a spongy material and if you look super close you will see tiny tubes, this species of bolete genus has tubes and not gills. very neat. Porcini are also known for their thick fat stem. The porcini forms a mycorrhizal relationship with pine trees.
The mycorrhiza fungus performs a symbiotic and essential function in the soil, and they form symbiotic relationships with trees through the tree’s root system. And this is a symbiotic relationship for the tree and the funghi. Because Fungi lack chlorophyll and in return they cannot manufacture their own food due to lack of chlorophyll. Thus, the fungi must get this food from a plant that produces chlorophyll. The funghi does this by either penetrating the plant roots or forming a sheath around the root tips. And this allows the fungi to reproduce and form large networks under the soil. And this is why you find them on the ground in a forest rich with pine, chestnut, spruce and hemlock trees.
Nutrition and Benefits
Porcini mushrooms are high in protein, with more than 33 grams of protein per 100-gram serving1. They’re also very high in vitamin A (74 to 149 percent of recommended daily value) and vitamin C (185 percent). Porcini also supply important minerals—100 grams of mushrooms provide 17 percent of your daily recommended value of calcium and 167 percent of the DV of iron.
I hope you enjoyed this little guide to Porcini mushrooms.
I have a few recipes to try out with my fresh porcini this week:
3 thoughts on “Porcini Mushrooms”
Comments are closed.