Tasty Blewits

Its pretty ironic that this year, of the mushrooms I've actually harvested and eaten, about 90% were within 100 feet of my front door. Including these Blewits growing in the mulch in my side yard. There have also been many Shaggy Manes fruiting in my yard that make up the rest of the bulk of my skimpy 'haul' in this dry summer of 2012.

These are the first blewits that I've eaten and I must admit that I was a little hesitant. The young blewits didn't look very purple at all, in fact I never would have considered them except that they were growing close by the larger specimens you see in the photo. If you look at the large caps you can see a purple rim which is a good tell for blewits. However I still recommend you do a spore print to make sure you don't get a cort, a poisonous lookalike. There is no mistaking a spore print of a cort, it will be rust red. The print I took of my blewits was very light with a hint of yellow.

I cooked them up with fennel and a light cream sauce...Very good...Not on par with my beloved maitakes or chanterelles but definitely worth the effort.

We finally had a decent soaking rain yesterday. This weekend I'll make a last ditch effort to find some late season hens (maitakes) before calling it quits. Wish me luck.