Cep (penny bun) Boletus edulis

Right now

When to look

From August to November. Favourable temperatures: 12 to 20 °C. It usually fruits 7 to 16 days after at least 20 mm of rain.

Where to look

Habitat

Oak, beech, sweet chestnut, spruce

Soil

Acidic to neutral soils (pH 4.5 to 6.5)

How to recognise it

Cap 4 to 25 cm, hazel brown to dark brown, paler towards the margin, which is often edged with a thin whitish rim, smooth, slightly greasy in damp weather. Tubes and pores fine, white then cream and finally greenish yellow, with no distinct bluing when touched. Stem massive and swollen, creamy white to pale ochre, covered in its upper part with a fine, raised white net. Flesh white, firm, unchanging when cut, pleasant smell and hazelnut flavour.

Dangerous look-alikes

• Devil's bolete

  Rubroboletus satanas
  poisonous

  Cap white to putty grey, never hazel brown; swollen stem marked with a red net and repulsive smell in mature specimens. The decisive criterion remains the pores: orange-red to blood red, whereas those of the cep are white then cream and greenish yellow. The flesh blues slowly and variably, sometimes barely: do not rely on this sign. On chalky soil, under oak and lime.

• Bitter bolete

  Tylopilus felleus
  inedible

  Pores white becoming dirty pink, a dark brown, coarse-meshed net standing out along the whole length of the stem (the cep's is white and fine, confined to the top); very bitter taste of a fragment placed on the tongue then spat out.

Foraging tips

Cut or twist the stem off at ground level, leave spongy or maggoty specimens, and carry in a basket. Eat cooked and promptly; old specimens with soft, greenish tubes are hard to digest.

Model reliability

Reliability for this species: moderate.

Also in season

• Chanterelle
• Parasol mushroom
• Field mushroom
• Horn of plenty
• Winter chanterelle
• Hedgehog mushroom

Where mushrooms are fruiting this week · All species