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Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Ash Tree Boletes or Boletinellus Merulioides

 

whorl tooth boletes minnesota edible wild mushrooms

Boletinellus

When I first saw these in the wild I brushed them off at first glance, “they’re probably just some type of polypore” I thought. Then one day, the pastry chef at the restaurant I was working in brought in a huge bag full. He was curious to have me tell him if they were edible or not, as well as know their name. Since they’re bolete-type mushrooms with pores instead of gills, I suspected they were edible, but made sure to do some digging first.

After a little research, these popped up. He was excited when I brought in a couple guides and showed him what it was and how it can be cooked. They’re soft, with a pleasant smell, and have a nice, velvety feel to them. None of the species I have found and cooked have had bug issues either. 

boletus rompelii

Habitat

I find these growing under ash, and tamarack, in Minnesota. Other reports from around the U.S. say they might grow with alder trees.  They pop up in the late summer here in Minnesota, at the same time as the chicken fat bolete, and lactarius indigo.

This is where things get interesting. When fresh, these have a nice, mild flavor. Often dried boletes are described as being nutty, and this is true with this species. They have a scent reminiscent of toasted walnuts when dried.

gyrodon mushroom wild edible forager chef

A close up of the pores- they’re very large, with an almost diamond shape. These mushrooms are too old to eat. 

The species I’ve found under ash stain blue when cut (Boletinellus Marulioides). The ones I find under tamarack do not (Boletinellus rompelii). I’ve eaten both and had no problems in modest amounts around 2 ounces or less.

Cooking

These are a good example of a wild mushroom that’s edible, but not necessarily great to eat. Just like slippery jacks, the texture of these can be a little bit slippery when cooked if they aren’t dried first. As the mushrooms age, their pores become larger and texturally unappealing to me. If the mushrooms are young, you can cook them “straight-up” if they’re older though, I like to scrape the pores off with a knife.

Since they can be a bit slippery fresh, combining them with something crunchy like toasted breadcrumbs adds some great textural contrast. Flavoring the breadcrumbs with some garlic and hot pepper flakes makes it interesting, and irresistible. Here’s a really great way I like to prepare them-a recipe I donated to a mycological cookbook in Oregon.

These are not going to amaze you with their flavor, but they can be ok with other mushrooms in a blend, lobster mushrooms don’t have a crazy strong flavor either. If you like these, you’ll want to make sure to hunt for slippery jacks too. Another possibility is if you have a friend from Russia or Poland: give them some of these, as some of my friends from those areas do like them, although I don’t usually pick them. 

Recipes

Here’s some of my favorite recipes for boletes, fresh or dried. I’m enclosing my favorite way to have these too: since they have a slippery texture like Suillus mushrooms, I like to cook them with crispy breadcrumbs, garlic and chili.

  • Wild Mushroom Conserve
  • Wild Mushroom Duxelles
  • Wild Mushrooms with Garlic and Parsley 
  • Fricsee of Wild Mushrooms 
  • Dried Wild Mushroom Duxelles
  • Fresh Bolete Butter

boletinellus mushrooms with breadcrumbs

Boletinellus Mushrooms With Breadcrumbs, Garlic, And Chili

Great spooned on top of fish, sprinkled on a salad, or tossed with some roasted potatoes or a bitter green vegetable like broccoli raab.

Serves 8 as an appetizer

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces fresh boletinellus mushrooms, sliced ½ in thick
  • Kosher salt and pepper
  • 3 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 tbsp cooking oil, like lard, grapeseed or canola
  • 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 1 tsp crushed red pepper
  • 2 skin-on cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 1 tsp fresh chopped thyme

Method

  1. Heat the oil and garlic in a saute pan over medium heat until lightly sizzling. Allow the garlic to brown, but not burn.
    Add the mushrooms and butter, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are lightly browned and caramelized, season the mushrooms with salt and pepper to taste.
  2. Reduce the heat and add the breadcrumbs, thyme and cook, stirring regularly until the breadcrumbs are golden brown. Remove the pan from the heat, add the dried chili and stir to combine, then serve immediately.

 

grydon mushrooms forager chef alan bergo

Boletinellus ready to cook (sans peeling), the one in the upper left has been peeled of it’s pores

Related

Previous Post: « The Yellow Bolete: Hemileccinum Subglabripes
Next Post: Puffball Mushroom-Cheese Croquettes, With Ramp Ketchup »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. sam schaperow

    August 17, 2013 at 2:12 pm

    I’ll spread the word of this post while you’re working on being able to copy the group we discussed. Meanwhile, my question is do you use mature bolete pores in sauces or powdered?

    Reply
  2. Dan Farmer

    August 17, 2013 at 11:15 pm

    Nice job of ID-ing them! I believe I have seen them a few times, the most recent was only a week ago, up near Grantsburg, but I never was able to ID them (I often give up too quickly with boletes). Even Google doesn’t bring up much more than this blog and a couple of scholarly papers. They are probably in one or more of my books… I’ll have to check in the morning.

    Reply
  3. Dan Farmer

    August 17, 2013 at 11:22 pm

    My Audubon Society Field Guide calls them Boletinellus (and only references the merulioides species), and that brings up a lot more hits on Google. Yes, I’m certain now that I see more pictures… I have seen plenty of these in a couple of areas.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      August 18, 2013 at 10:12 pm

      The audobon guide is very good, nice and compact, although the pictures are a bit wonky sometimes. Legend has it that Gary Lincoff just watched a bunch of mushroom slides and yelled out names for the mushrooms in the book.

      Reply
      • lisa

        August 7, 2021 at 12:20 pm

        I doubt if that’s true, but he himself did say that the publishers insisted on there being a common name for every mushroom. Some simply did not have one, so he had to create them.

        Reply
        • Fried Terracina

          August 7, 2021 at 12:57 pm

          Gary LNCOFF WAS A VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE” Mushroomphile” but he was not a mycologists and never pretended to be one. He was interested in identification not taxonomy nor nomenclature and “scientific names” were not that important to his interests. He was a very good teacher and raconteur. His enthusiasm was infectious. He served his audience well.

          Reply
        • Fred Terracina

          August 7, 2021 at 1:06 pm

          Lisa see my comments on Gary L.I think he helped many people to identify mushrooms.

          Reply
          • Fred Terracina

            August 7, 2021 at 1:33 pm

            Actually I think my comment disappeared. Gary L.was. It professionally trained as a mycologists and never pretended to be. He cooperated with many well trained scientists and I think was respected by most of them. He was a very knowledgeable “MUSHROOMPHILE” I dentification was his goal, and he was not particularly interested in nomenclature nor taxonomy. He was an enthusiastic teacher and inspired many. Of course he was a great scmoozer and would pick up common names easily. He is sorely missed as a teacher and friend.

  4. Dan Farmer

    September 26, 2013 at 8:36 am

    Incidentally, I know of two spots where these are (or at least have been) rather prolific. Give me a ring when they’re in season next year.

    Reply
  5. Dan Farmer

    October 6, 2013 at 2:03 pm

    Found a couple today. One was too far gone, but I’m going to dry the one that I did take home to check out that walnut thing!

    Reply
  6. Fred Terracinaq

    August 19, 2015 at 6:58 pm

    Gyrodon merulioides (Schw.) Singer is a a more recent name for forthis fungus but Bolet these fungi do not have the tissue structure of polypores and of late have been put into the boletaceE ie a type of bolete but unlike other boletes the pores do no readily separTe from the cap. The bruising resembles that seen in many of the species in the Boletaceae. I was trained as a mycologist but have been outof that field for over 30 yrs, so I am not up to date on the literature. If I were, I would know whetheror not any DNA analysis has been done which might clear up the phylogeny. Ifound quite a bit of this fungus under some white ash today (Aug., 19, 2015 in a park in Elma, Ny.

    Reply
    • Fred Terracina

      August 19, 2015 at 7:12 pm

      Gyrodon merulioides (Schw.) Singer is one possibly earliername for for this fungus but others use the name Boletinellus merulioides (Schw.) Murrwhich I thinki think, is an earlier name. Unlike most boletes, these fungi do the pores do no readily separatei from the cap. The bruising resembles that seen in many of the species in the Boletaceae. I was trained as a mycologist but have been outof that field for over 30 yrs, so I am not up to date on the literature. If I were, I would know whetheror not any DNA analysis has been done which might clear up the phylogeny. Ifound quite a bit of this fungus under some white ash today (Aug., 19, 2015 in a park in Elma, Ny.

      Reply
  7. Mike

    July 22, 2016 at 4:45 pm

    Does anyone know how to keep them from growing in the first place? They are destroying my lawn bigtime. (22 Jul, 2016)

    Reply
  8. karmadonyoy

    November 7, 2017 at 2:06 pm

    I have them in tne back garden, going to try in the morning. ?

    Reply
  9. K L Marburger

    July 29, 2018 at 11:02 am

    I just made this recipe today, with a few modifications. I cut four pieces of bacon into one half inch chunks, removing the crispy pieces after cooking to add back in last. I also added about a Tablespoon of sesame oil to the bacon fat. I cooked the mushrooms until they were a pleasing reddish brown color. After adding the Panko I aslo added about four tablespoons of butter, some dried thyme, garlic powder, and regular chili powder. Alll as substitutes for the fresh ingredients. The result was wonderful. I only wish I’d had a grilled steak to put it on.

    Reply
  10. Susan Dabney

    August 15, 2018 at 10:54 am

    Mike well the thing to do is eat the evidence. But actually, I’ve never been crazy about them. That sort of tart, raw potato taste…..They grow near ash trees, and sometimes I don’t see them right away. So maybe super fresh they are great. Really they are easy to ID especially because there are so few poisonous boletes, and these have the large, open, stretched looking pores like a suillius.

    Reply
  11. Catherine Szramka

    October 12, 2018 at 5:35 pm

    My family has been picking these for generations we make our Christmas soup with them and now they are growing in my own yard so the tradition carries on! Our polish ancestors started it

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      October 18, 2018 at 12:42 pm

      Great idea. Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
  12. Jennifer Himebaugh

    August 7, 2022 at 4:53 pm

    Yeah picked it and fried it! Yum

    Reply

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FORAGER | CHEF®
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Author: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora
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Alan Bergo
Long, fun day snatching crayfish out of the water Long, fun day snatching crayfish out of the water by hand with Sam Thayer and @danielvitalis for @wild.fed 

Daniel and Sam were the apex predators, but I got a few. 

Without a net catching crayfish by hand is definitely a wax-on wax-off sort of skill. Clears your mind. 

They’re going into gumbo with porcini, sausage and milkweed pods today. 

#crayfish #ninjareflexes #waxonwaxoff #normalthings #onset🎥🎬
Working all day on preps for cattail lateral rhizo Working all day on preps for cattail lateral rhizomes and blueberries for this weeks shoot with @wildfed 

Been a few years since I worked with these. Thankfully Sam Thayer dropped a couple off for me to work with. They’re tender, crisp and delicious. 

Sam mentioned their mild flavor and texture could be because they don’t have to worry about predators eating them, since they grow in the muck of cattail marshes. 

I think they could use a pet name. Pond tusk? Swamp spears? Help me out here. 😂

Nature makes the coolest things. 

#itcamefromthepond #cattail #rhizomes #foraging #typhalatifolia
I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so much we filmed it instead of the original dish I’d planned. 

Cooked natural wild rice (not the black shiny stuff) is great hot, cold, sweet or savory. It’s a perfect, filling lunch for a long day of berry picking. 

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I’m eating the leftovers today back up in the barrens (hopefully) getting some more bluebs for another shoot this week w @wild.fed 

#wilwilwice #wildrice #chanterelles #campfood #castironcooking
Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine caps on hardwood sawdust from my lumberjack buddy.

Next up blewits. Spawn from @northsporemushrooms

#winecaps #strophariaaeruginosa #allthemushroomtags
It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from my favorite spot tomorrow a.m. and have room for a couple helpers. It’s at an event on a farm just south of St. Cloud. 

If you’re interested send me a message and I’ll raffle off the spots. Plenty of cherries to go around. I’ll be leading a short plant walk around the farm too. 

#chokecherries #foraging #prunusvirginiana #summervibes
Special thanks to the beach in Ashland for hooking Special thanks to the beach in Ashland for hooking it up with on-site garnishes. Beach pea flowers taste strong and leguminous, similar to vetch, or like a rich tasting pea shoot. 

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