Everything You Need to Know About Porcini Mushrooms - Merchant Gourmet (2024)

FAQs

What is special about porcini mushrooms? ›

These mushrooms are low in calories but supply a good amount of protein, fiber and iron. They are also high in antioxidants and may reduce inflammation, improve digestive health, promote weight loss and help kill off colon cancer cells, making them a healthy option to help give your diet an upgrade.

You'll know porcini mushrooms are bad if they smell. If they don't have a dirt kind of smell, they might be bad. Another way you can tell is if the mushrooms are slimy. That means they're in the process of going bad.

Keep dried porcini in an airtight container in a cool, dark place up to six months. Store fresh unwashed porcini in a paper bag in the refrigerator for up to three days.

Serving Porcini Mushrooms

If you're cooking dried mushrooms, you'll need to soak them in tepid water for 30 minutes to hydrate them and remove any grit. You can then chop the mushrooms the way you prefer. Cook the mushrooms until they turn brown and soft, and sprinkle salt to enhance the flavour.

The dried mushrooms will keep 1 to 2 years when stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry, and dark location.

Cooking Porcini Mushrooms

And Italians have made an art of cooking with porcini, both dried and fresh. The cap and stem of this mushroom are equally tasty, but the texture of the stem is slightly tougher than the cap.

Their growing season means that autumn is when they're at their very best, and the truly delightful flavours of porcini are best experienced in the months of September and October.

Porcini mushrooms are fragrant with an umami-rich aroma and flavor that melds beautifully with garlic and herbs, such as rosemary and thyme, and is an excellent complement to red meats, such as beef and lamb stews. Mushrooms and mash are an unexpected hit of a food match.

As with most expensive mushrooms, porcinis are difficult to cultivate. So they're harvested from the wild when they're in season and then dried out to be sold around the world during the rest of the year.

Porcini mushrooms are very spongy, so do not wash them under running water or leave them to soak. Use a damp cloth to remove dirt or soil on the chapels. The stems can be cooked cut into thin slices or blended for a filling.

Are boletes hallucinogenic? ›

Boletus speciosus is a rare wild hallucinogenic mushroom and can cause “lilliputian hallucination” when cooked in a wrong way or eaten too much.

This delicious and beloved mushroom is found almost everywhere. It makes its bulbous appearance from Alaska to Uganda and from Siberia to Mexico. If only it could be found all the time. Its three to four week fruiting season is never long enough.

Porcini mushrooms (Boletus edulis) are beautiful and delicious, and grow abundantly in the Rocky Mountains, including along the Wasatch front, the Uintas, and in the montane coniferous forests throughout the central and southern regions of Utah.