Blewits and other lovely fungi


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I've seen them for sale in Vic Market. The colour of them doesn't look very appetising though, to me they look like large poisonous toadstools.

blewits need lots of leaf mould so look under oaks is what I was taught although I have found them under silver birches, aint had a bugger this year yet though. Some guy on youtube Claims to be able t

Try cooking Blewits with pernod and cream and a sprinkling of fennel seeds. A lovely dish. Here we have porcini mushrooms.

Strange food the old Blewitts/bluelegs/bluebuttons....The places to find them are either shrouded in secrecy by those that love them...or folks have never ever heard of them....and I've met pensioners in many a pub who have never come across them in their lives.

They have a strange texture not always appreciated by mushroom eaters...but I would think most enthusiasts I've chatted to about them agree that you have to have them with bacon to bring out the best taste.

I've found field blewitts the size of a dinner plate in the past...according to some that would make them worth about ten quid each in the shops!...pity no one has ever succeeded in domesticating them aint it?

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I went mushrooming loads of times in my childhood with dad and his pit pals. Probably Lambley way. I'm sure we have talked about blue buttons on another thread somewhere? Telling the story about being chased by a herd of young bullocks, and dad and his mates taking off and leaving us nippers scrambling after them. Big laughter by all, when we were all on the opposite side of the gate to the bullocks!!!

The other place to pick them up was in the "Grey Goose Bar", but you had to be quick, they were always in demand.

Mam would cook and serve them the same way as banjo48 on #2. For me, they were too sloppy. I prefer the big flat mushrooms; cooked and served the same way. It is a meal that hubbs has never taken to. He had never heard of blue buttons in West Mids. Until he met me and I educated him into our Nottm delicacy.

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Another person here who has collected them at Lambley. ;)

Another trading place many years ago used to be The Lord Nelson on Front Street, Arnold - along with a handsome trade in rabbits, mussels etc!

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It is a meal that hubbs has never taken to. He had never heard of blue buttons in West Mids. Until he met me and I educated him into our Nottm delicacy.

Strange then that if you open Stu's link on #14 they are to found worldwide....well known especially in the States.

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Strange then that if you open Stu's link on #14 they are to found worldwide....well known especially in the States.

He says that he has never seen a Blue Button or Morell. The only mushrooms they ever picked came from a Horse field and they would eat them fried? Strange that; especially as he grew up in the countryside? Perhaps called something different in his locality?

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yEARS AND YEARS AGO kEYWORTH WERE MY HUNTING GROUNDS FOR MUSHROOMS AND BLUIES

MANY YEARS AGO PICKED BLUIES NEAR NOTTINGHAM RACECOURSE.

BLUITS AS i REMEMBER WERE ALLBLUE UNDERNEATH. YUM YUM

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When i was at Marsdens we sold Morrells button Mushrooms,and Chesswoods creamed Mushrooms,........Mam never bought any as we had lovely big Mushrooms growing in the garden on old Bestwood,also loads of Mint,not sure if that grew wild?

Had a huge back Garden and me dear old Dad was never one for planting much,just left for me as a mini City ground or Lords.

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Wood Blewitts. (Lepista Nuda) can be found in most types of woodland but also grow in hedgerows and even gardens. There are usually plenty of them in the field margns and woods around here where I live, between Wigan and St Helens. Most people here know nothing about them. There's also a smaller version called Lepista Sordida, which I think literally means 'dirty Lepista'. Wood Blewits start off that beautiful mauve colour all over, but soon go more brownish on top of the cap.


I haven't eaten any for years becauuse I once found some that seemed extra plump and lovely. I ate them only slightly cooked, with a bit of steak. Then I settled down to watch Alien on the telly and soon felt I was becoming part of the film. I was soon sweating and throwing up, but within an hour or so I was OK again. It may have been just that they were undercooked as they contain things which can cause allergic reaction unless well cooked. More scarily, as I thought more about it I decided that they may actually have been Cortinarious Purpurascens which is similar and described in all of my books as either inedible, or 'edibility unknown'. This because they were really too plump, too mauve and also rather late for Blewits. Lesson I won't forget. It's easy to become casual about something so common as Blewits, which you think you know well.

I've never seen a Field Blewit 'in the field', but from my books (I have a dozen or so) they are more clay coloured in the cap and only the stem is bluish... hence their other name 'Blue Leg'.

Otherwise, I have been looking at wild fungi of all sorts since I was a kid. I can remember when Bestwood Country Park was still a little known wood and some years you could hardly move for Cepes (Penny Bun, Boletus Edulis.) Also had lots of other things out of there, such as 'Beefsteak' Fungus, various puffballs, lots of 'Chicken of the Woods' and some very interesting, but not edible things, including deadly poisonous things like the Death Cap (Amanita Phalloides) 'Panther Cap' (A. Pantherina) etc. Seems to have a lot less now.

My favourites, after Cepes and other nice Boletus are Chanterelles. I've only ever found those in Somerset, but I believe they are also very common in Scotland.

Col

P.S. Reading 'Stu's link above and the comments following, it looks like I just undercooked my blewits when I was sick.

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Now Paul,being as you're on ,watched a 1964 film last night with Peter Vaughan.. in the background. Lipton's self serve..a mini market?

When Marsdens/Farrands became part of Moores stores,mid 60s i think,that made them part of Lipton's as well,if my memory serves me right.,and yes they had smallish supermarkets.

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Try cooking Blewits with pernod and cream and a sprinkling of fennel seeds. A lovely dish. Here we have porcini mushrooms.

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Strange food the old Blewitts/bluelegs/bluebuttons....The places to find them are either shrouded in secrecy by those that love them...or folks have never ever heard of them....and I've met pensioners in many a pub who have never come across them in their lives.

It is a meal that hubbs has never taken to. He had never heard of blue buttons in West Mids. Until he met me and I educated him into our Nottm delicacy.

Hiya Gem, If you look at Stu's link on #14 you will see that they grow worldwide, but also can be unheard of by some people. I suppose it's a matter of where you live and if you know someone who collects them. I'm afraid they are not for me.

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Once, on Scotland, I as staying at a lovely little hotel (only 6 rooms) and tok the dog for a walk. In the woods were literally thousands of chantrelles. I picked just one and took it back to the hotel. I said to the owner - "Do you know what this is?" He said yes, but where did you find it? I explained that I could get as many as I could carry. I returned later with lots and lots of carrier bags full of chantrelles. He sold them to hotels and restaurants in Scottieland. I got a free room for the night and free food. He declined to give me free port as I would have drunk his profits for at least a year. He never did find out that the chantrelles were less than 500m from his hotel. Thinking my luck was going to stand, I went back to the same hotel, same time of year. Went to the chantrelle ground - nothing. Not even a stalk. No one had taken any as there were none.

Nonna will know of this type of stall - its a mushroom stall in many markets found all over northern Italy - the mushrooms are checked by a qualified person before being sold.

A Russian specialty is called Julienne, and its basically wild mushrooms in a cheesy sauce, baked. I adore it and love it every time I go to Russia. I make my own if I can find wild mushrooms and it freezes very well indeed.

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Further to this - I bought a bag of blewits in Viccy Market and they were in the back of my car in 45 minutes ( Tram to Wilkinson Street) Got home to Durham and the blewits looked OK. Tried them for breakfast the next day and they were rank. Didnt put them in the fridge, just left them in the porch (but it was a bit cold)

So how do you keep them?

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