How To ID Me And What I’m Good For?

My ID Features:

Wood Blewit

Latin Name - Clitocybe Nuda.

Common names - Wood Blewit, Pied Bleu.

Season - Autumn - Winter (Sometimes summer given the right conditions).

Family - Tricholomataceae.

Spore print - Pale/Pink (Important to distinguish from webcaps, which have a rusty colour spore).

Habitat - Broadleaved and coniferous woodland, and parkland. They are saprobic, feeding on leaf litter. The Wood Blewit is also found occasionally under hedgerows, garden compost heaps and at roadsides.

Possible Confusion - Members of the Cortinarius family. Most notably, the Bruising Webcap [Cortinarius purpurascens] or Violet Webcap [Cortinarius violaceus]. The webcap family contain some of the UK's most poisonous mushrooms. Whilst some are regarded as suspect or simply inedible. Nikki & I leave them well alone.

They have a cobweb-like veil when young, showing from their cap and over the gills. Most likely in older specimens their rusty spores will be apparent on the gills and stem.

There are two other edible members of Blewit…

Field Blewit [Clitocybe saeva]. Appearing in, you guessed it, fields and grassland. Most notably their colouration is more of a brown, beige almost greying colour.

Sordid blewit [Clitocybe tarda]. Growing environmentally the same as Wood Blewit. Though Nikki & I haven’t tried it. We’ve heard varying reports, some saying it tastes bitter.

Description - A gourmet mushroom which appears when a lot of our warmer climate favourites disappear. Appearing after the first frosts here in the south of England. The smell and flavour is faintly fragrant which maintains throughout cooking. In particular, we favour them for cream based sauces or the younger specimens for pickling. It’s well worth checking for friendly visitors (larvae and such) in the field as older specimens will likely already be contaminated and best left to do their thing. Running in symbiosis with game season, we quite often see them paired with the bold flavours of venison.

Physical Characteristics - The most important identifier for a novice forager is to take a spore print. As mentioned above the spore colours are vastly different. Wood blewit have a smooth, lilac-blue cap that turns brownish with age. It starts off convex, but gradually becomes wavy or depressed with age. The stem is bluish-lilac and covered with small fibres that almost look like they’re frosted. The gills are lilac, fading to buff, and attached at the stem. This fungus smells fruity and perfumed (really important to use your nose too).

Harvesting Sustainability - Make sure to cut these mushrooms at their base, instead of pulling from the ground. This will ensure further fruitings. As always, carry a basket which will ensure spore release along your walk.

Important note - It has been noted that some people suffer gastric upset from these shrooms. So as with all wild things, try a little first before going the full hog. Though, these mushrooms are commonly sold in supermarkets throughout Europe.

Never munch on a hunch! Volf takes no responsibility for anything consumed.

Now For The Tasty Bit!

Here Are Our Delicious Recipes…