Mushroom
Porcini
BoletusCepBoletus edulis
Plump, with a toasted-bun cap and a barrel of a stem: the porcini looks like a child drew it. It's the mushroom that brings the most joy, and the one with the most grubs to share it with.
When
Around: Sept–Nov · At its best: Oct
Around: Sept–Nov · At its best: Oct
Around: Mar–May · At its best: Apr
Around here
In Catalonia going mushroom hunting in autumn is close to a religion, and the porcini (cep in Catalan) is the one everyone wants to find, along with chanterelles and, later, yellow foot. It grows in pine, beech, oak and chestnut woods, especially in the mountains and the Pre-Pyrenees. It's sold at markets in season, at jewellery prices.
At the market
- Only pick or eat what you know for sure: there are lookalike boletes that aren't edible, and some are toxic. If in doubt, ask a mycological society such as the Societat Catalana de Micologia, or buy them at the market.
- In the woods: a basket, not a plastic bag; a knife to cut or ease out the stem carefully; leave the small ones and don't churn up the ground. Some areas need a permit or set a limit in kilos: check first.
- At the market: hard to the touch, firm stem, and white or cream underneath the cap; if it's greenish and soft, it's old.
- Ask them to cut one open or look at the stem: if it's full of tiny holes, there are grubs.
At home
- If you're not sure what it is, don't keep it or eat it: throw it away.
- Clean them with a damp cloth or a knife, not under the tap.
- In the fridge, in paper or a cloth, never in plastic: two or three days.
- If one has grubs, separate it straight away, as they move on to the rest.
If you have too much
- Dry them: thinly sliced, in the sun, a dehydrator or a very low oven. Dried, in a closed jar, they last for months and smell even stronger.
- Freeze them sliced, raw or sautéed for a minute, spread out and then bagged.
- Grind dried ones into porcini powder to season rice, sauces and soups.
- With old or soft ones, scrape off the spongy layer underneath and use the flesh in a stew.
In the kitchen
- Griddled in thick slices, with garlic, parsley and good oil.
- As a carpaccio, if they're very fresh and firm: thin slices, flaky salt and oil.
- A porcini rice or risotto with a handful of saffron milk caps.
- With chestnuts and sweet potato in an autumn stew.
- Sautéed and spooned over pumpkin soup.
- Scrambled with egg and chips, nothing more.
“To spring up like mushrooms”: to appear suddenly and in great numbers.
What it brings
There's no reliable figure for this one in the tables, so we don't make one up.
Goes with
- ChestnutOct–DecBefore potatoes, chestnuts were winter bread in many European mountains. Today they mostly mean smoke in the street and hot newspaper cones in your hands.
- Saffron milk capSept–DecCut it and it bleeds orange milk; handle it too much and it bruises green. Both are normal, and both help you recognise it.
- PumpkinSept–FebIt's harvested in autumn and, whole, keeps for months without a fridge: it was the vegetable that lasted till February. In Spanish, «giving someone pumpkins» means turning them down.
- Sweet potatoSept–JanIt looks like a potato with ambitions, but in the oven it turns almost into a pudding: slow heat converts some of its starch into sugar.