The deluges of rain this month have brought out an impressive array of mushrooms in fields and woods. Of the edible types, one of the best is the cep or penny bun bolete, with a dumpy short stalk and a round cap – the classic mushroom shape that looks as if a cheeky garden gnome should be sitting on it.
The cap has distinctive tubes instead of gills, from which the spores are released. But not all boletes are edible. The bitter bolete has a brown stalk and cap and can be distinguished by the gills turning brown when pressed. It has a very bitter taste, although it is not strictly poisonous.
It is a myth, though, that poisonous mushrooms are all coloured or stain when cut, as if warning you not to eat them.
So far this autumn, dozens of people have been poisoned by eating wild mushrooms as the craze for foraging for wild food has grown. And the demand for gourmet wild mushrooms from upmarket restaurants is driving teams of professional gangs to strip mushrooms in some areas.
Large parts of the New Forest, Ashdown forest, Epping forest and Hampstead Heath, in London, have been targeted by gangs systematically plundering mushrooms, often breaking bylaws and risking fines.
And the argument that mushroom picking is harmless does not stack up; like picking wild flowers the ripping up of wild mushrooms and trampling of the soil harms the ecology of woodlands – as well as leaving nothing left for others to look at.
