Field Blewit Mushroom

About

Both wood blewits and field blewits are generally regarded as edible, but they are known to cause allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. This is particularly likely if the mushroom is consumed raw, though allergic reactions are known even from cooked blewits. Wood blewits contain the sugar trehalose, which is edible for most people.

Information

Other names: Lepista saeva ; Pied Bleu, Pied violet (French), Blue-leg Mushrooms; Blue Foot Mushrooms; Bluette Mushrooms; Lepista nuda, Lepista personata

Physical Description

The fruiting body of the mushroom resembles an agaric. The cap is at first hemispherical or convex, becoming almost flat with maturity, up to 16 cm in diameter. The cap cuticle is colored cream to light brown with a smooth texture to the touch, and is often seen glistening when fresh. Along the periphery, the cap ends in a thick incurved margin which may unfold as the mushroom expands. The white to pallid flesh is thick, firm and delicate upon slicing. The underside of the cap bears crowded pinkish, cream to light brown gills, which are free or emarginate in relation to the stem. The stem itself is cylindrical with a bulbous, or sometimes tapering base, and does not bear a ring. The stem is covered by a striking lavender or lilac-coloured fibrous skin which fades in older individuals, and has a thick, firm flesh concolorous with that of the cap. It is up to 6–7 cm tall and 2.5–3 cm in diameter.

Colors: white to cream

Tasting Notes

Flavors: perfumy

Mouthfeel: Soft

Selecting and Buying

Seasonality: november, december

Peak: november

Procuring: Forage in grazed fields (e.g. with sheep) from about the second week in November until there are very heavy frosts. Grows in clumps, sometimes in a wide arc indicating spreading from an original centre, and recurring year after year in the same place. In central England it's the most abundant good edible mushroom during its season, and it can be easily recognised: it is not liable to be confused with a poisonous species because it has purple-tinted stalks. Given the usually wet weather in November, it has often picked up a lot of water and the cap is browner than when dry.

Preparation and Use

In most mycologists' opinion, the field blewits are considered excellent mushrooms, despite their coloration. Blewits can be eaten as a cream sauce or sautéed in butter, but it is important not to eat them raw, which could lead to indigestion. They can also be cooked like tripe or as omelette filling

Conserving and Storing

Field blewits are often infested with fly larvae and don't store very well; they should therefore be used soon after picking. They are also very porous, so they are best picked on a dry day

Social/Political

History: This species was originally proclaimed by Elias Fries in 1818, as Agaricus personatus. Cooke proposed in 1871 another name still in us today — Lepista personata. Other names were to follow, namely Lepista saeva by P.D. Orton in 1960 and Clitocybe saeva by H.E. Bigelow & A.H. Smith in 1969, the latter placing the fungus in the larger genus Clitocybe. In Latin, the specific epithet sævus is an adjective meaning either fierce, outrageous, angry or strong. Likewise, personatus is a participle meaning disguised, pretended or false.

Author

Anonymous

Comments

Permalink Alex
July 10, 2011

i am walking over a bridge on a highway and for some reason i am the only person around....the highway leads me into a cornfield that turns out to be a baseball field like on the movie field of dreams....i walk out behind it and i see jesus on a cross and i look up and there is a mushroom cloud in the sky above him, like an atomic bomb had just blown...then i wake up....

i had this dream about a year ago, and i have been puzzled about it's meaning since then....help!

http://www.mushroomfieldguides.com/crab-stuffed.html