(37 votes, average: 3.49 out of 5)
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Oak Bolete
Edible 
Autumn 
Summer 
A great and usually large mushroom, almost as good as the Penny Bun with a firm texture.
| Mushroom Type | |
| Common Names | Oak Bolete (EN), Butter Bolete (US) |
| Scientific Name | Boletus / Butyriboletus appendiculatus |
| Synonyms | Boletus appendiculatus |
| Season Start | Jul |
| Season End | Oct |
| Average Mushroom height (CM) | 12 |
| Average Cap width (CM) | 20 |
Cap
Rusty to red brown or sometimes lighter, often irregular, sometimes has a ‘cracked’ skin especially near the centre.
Pores
Lemon yellow, tight sponge like pores that darken a bit with age. These will bruise to a blue colour.
Stem
Straight or clavate, club shaped, lemon yellow at the top with yellow reticulation, (a mesh or net like covering) then usually a change to a pale orange to red towards the base.
Flesh
White to pale yellow. Turning blue when cut, the base bruising rusty brown.
Habitat
Mainly around Oak but will grow with other deciduous trees.
Possible Confusion
Other Boletes. Although the Oak Bolete is quite distinctive care should be taken when trying to identify this mushroom as it breaks the simple edible rules for Boletes (if a bolete has red on it anywhere, do not eat it and if it stains blue when cut, again, don’t eat it).
Spore Print
Olivaceous/brown. Subfusiform.
Taste / Smell
Excellent.
Frequency
Uncommon.
13 comments for Oak Bolete
Believed to have found one last week.
Am in the process of drying it.(sliced)
Please only eat them if you are 100% sure that you have a Butter Bolete.
Found 300g wet of these this morning and confirmed they were butter boletes with the above explainer, which in my view is accurate and v.helpful. Cheers!
Ps. After watching the vid i spent a happy 20 minutes spooning out the pores with my car keys (was all i had on my person) and scattering in all directions under and around several old oak trees, as per where i found these 🙂
Update: a wonderful mushroom to eat! Smell is incredibly strong, even for my terrible sense of smell 🙂 I also found a few Bay Bolete at the same location, identified again through this site. Both types went onto home made pizzas, the Butter Boletes into some roasted cauliflower pilaf and my favourite to date, sliced up and sautéed in some butter, drizzle of truffle oil, salt and pepper and a pinch of herb de province and served on toasted brown sourdough with a fried egg.
I am confused by the identification says the flesh can turn BLUE when cut, but then below it warns us not to eat “any if a bolete has red on it anywhere, do not eat it and if it stains blue when cut, again, don’t eat it” The ones I have found have just emerged from the ground with a very shiny sticky covering on the top. I cut one in half but it has not turned blue yet. For now I have no intention of eating them but would like to know what people think for the future if they appear again. thanks
Avoiding Boletes that have red on them and flesh that turns blue is for novice foragers and will make collecting Boletes 100% safe. There are good edible members of this genus that have both red markings and flesh that turns blue but these are for more experienced foragers.
First time eating one of these. Flesh is deliciously firm, mushroomy with a hint of clove. A quite distinctive flavour. Sponge goes slimy on cooking and best avoided I would say, would be ok in soup though I imagine as flavour still good.
This is easy to identify and easy to create a delicious meal for two with just one decent specimen.
Some of these grew randomly under an oak tree in my garden. What a nice surprise!
Hey, just found a couple of what I think are Butter Bolete but it is only June and we had a very dry period here in Romania. In my research identifying it I came across another specie that looks similar (Boletus subtomentosus) and now I’m not sure. How can I distinguish between them?
There is not much difference between the two. The stem of X. subtomentosus usually widens towards the apex, the B. appendiculatum has a more cylindrical or barrel shaped stem and sometimes a faint horizontal line on the stem with more yellow above and slightly redder below. The flesh of X. subtomentosus can stain faintly blue in the cap area, B. appendiculatum stains more vigorously blue in the stem and cap. Finally, B. appendiculatum smells a bit like rubber with a metallic hint, X. subtomentosus has a more acidic smell. They are only small differences, so good luck.
Last week after the rain mushrooms have been popping up everywhere! In W.Sussex I found three oak boletes close to each other 8”,7” and a baby pushing up the soil. What a great start to the season. However the larger one was riddled in both stem and cap with brown veins. Clearly a parasite. I dare not risk eating it. So: A;would it have been safe to eat ? B; how young can the be picked to avoid parasites? ( I did scatter the pore flesh as a thanks offering ).
Hi, Diarmuid,
If a fruiting body of a bolete (or any other fleshy mushroom) has some red/rusty/brown veins in, that means it has maggots within and they are eating and pooing within the fruit body.
From this point it is based on your personal opinion about eating it or not. Normally we don’t bother with about 1-5 maggots-caused veins, but there is always a limit how far a forager would go.
Many people slice and dehydrate this kind of fruit bodies (because the maggots will fall out during the drying process, which is true), but personally I never dehydrate anything that I wouldn’t eat as fresh mushroom.
I hope that I could help!