Dried mushrooms are awesome, but do not dry Red Cracking Boletes

Do you love mushroom picking and cannot wait when the beautiful Red cracking boletes finally appear? These mushrooms literally grow in circles and taste great. You can easily collect a full basket in just a few minutes. However, you need to be careful with these mushrooms because they are easily attacked by boletus mould, which can cause serious poisoning if eaten. So, what is the deal with this bolete mould and why you should not dry red cracking boletes?

Bolete mould literally eats mushrooms

This fungus is known as the bolete mould or bolete eater. It is a parasitic ascomycete fungus that creates a whitish coating on the surface of mushrooms, which later turns yellow-brown and the mushroom will rot eventually. The process involves many other microorganisms and substances that are toxic to human health and you should not eat infected mushrooms! Cutting out the affected areas will not do any good.

Photo: Radek Štěpán

Where and when you may expect bolete mould

The fungus attacks boletus mushrooms from June to November and it does best in moist fleshy tissue – just like the red cracking bolete has. It also attacks ceps, champignons and other mushrooms. The red cracking bolete is not regarded as the best quality mushroom but when it grows it grows in abundance.

Collect young mushrooms

If you are an experienced mushroom picker, you know that you should only collect young ones. Older mushrooms have cracked pileus and they may be infected by bolete mould. That is why you should avoid older red-cracking boletes.

Photo: Radek Štěpán

Drying red-cracking boletes is problematic

These mushrooms absorb a lot of moisture and that prolongs the drying process. Sometimes even the best dryer cannot dry them completely and the parasitic fungus can grow and produce poisonous mycotoxins. Poisoning is very unpleasant. After about 4 to 6 hours you will get symptoms including diarrhoea, vomiting and severe stomach ache.

Source: Autor, https://www.houby-rostou.cz/nedohub-houba-wiki-atlas-hub/

Preview photo: Radek Štěpán

Youtube: Radek Štěpán