Boletus barrowsii

So beyond finding a delicious choice edible that had been on my mushroom bucket lease, today was also exciting because I was being filmed for a news segment on urban foraging.  I am currently teaching a course at Berkeley called Environmental Issues, and one of the graduate students that I teach with is a journalist, and she decided to do a story featuring yours truly :) So you will get a chance to see my mushroom hunting in action on the news! Keep posted for the video link!

Tons of boletes!

I was so lucky to find so many mushrooms and in such good condition! They were super clean and not buggy at all – this is super lucky as boletes can sometimes be filled with maggots – yuck! So you have to be careful and cut off the bottom of the stem and check for maggots. Mine are super clean – no sign of bugs at all!

super clean boletes

I cut off the bottom of the stems with all the dirt and threw that in the trash and then I gave them a quick rinse in the sink and rubbed off the dirt, then I let them dry a bit on a towel.

Boletus barrowsii caps

How gorgeous are these mushrooms?

Boletus barrowsii cleaned up

So the trick with porcinis is that you have to slice them up and cook them really well. You want to make sure they are cooked all the way through and nice and browned and crispy. Most people don’t like to eat the tubes so it’s best to pull them off. Luckily they tear off really easily. Slice them up thin, heat up a pan with butter or oil, and let them simmer for a while. Go do something else while they are simmering and stay distracted because they need to stay untouched and cooking for longer than you probably think. Wait til they start to get nice and brown.

sauteeing porcinis

They are super meaty and flavorful mushrooms. They would work really well in an omelet, in a sandwich with mozzarella and pesto, in a pasta..or as the main event! Get ready for lots of recipes featuring these delicious mushrooms this week :)