Porcini

[jberube at nefc.forestry.ca]

I am just coming back from Italy where I had tasted quite a bit of Porcini.
Their  taste and flavour are similar to some of the Boletus edulis I collected
over the years in southern Canada.  I did notice that some of the Boletus
edulis I collected were not as good as others and that Boleuts edulis
morphology is quite variable.  Already many authors have described subspecies
of this fungus.  Boletus edulis is most likely a complex of biological species 
like the one found in Armillaria mellea, Pleurotus ostreatus or Laccaria 
laccata.  Armillaria mellea has been split into more than 15 species totally 
intersterile among each other and morphologically different (although not 
always easy to differentiate).  I could imagine from my field observations 
that Boleutus edulis is at least 5 species in North America and Europe.  I 
have also observed that the variety with greenish tubes has a better taste 
than all other.  This could explain the belief that european porcini are 
better than ours.  They probalby pick a different biological species.  

Jean Berube
Canadian Forest Service
Newfoundland, Canada