I have a thing for purple mushrooms enough to have a tattoo of C. violaceus. I am pretty sure I have the ID right but I could not get myself to cut this guy down and bring home, it was too pretty.
Also if any bolete boys have some input on this big guy I would appreciate it.
I am leaning toward edulis complex but I am not sure. This is NW Indiana as well.
I will go with bolete buddy going forward! Thanks for the tip. Looks like Polytropic below nailed this one down and you were right it is in the king bolete complex. Any recipe suggestions on them?
Also the more I dug the more I saw going on with that complex. Crazy complicated and lots more for us to learn.
Oh I see the weird pores are normal for that species, glad it’s not the bolete-eater.
Boletes tend to have a lot of water so I usually do a dry saute (cook in a hot pan with no oil until the water comes out and evaporates) then add a little neutral oil and a pinch of salt. You can taste them at this stage and either add more seasoning or put them in the fridge/freezer to season and use in a dish later.
If you find a lot of bugs while prepping, I would suggest drying in a food dehydrator or oven to get them out and then using the dried slices in soup.
Separate the pores and dry them, you can eat them like chips or crush them up to use as seasoning. Pores turn to mush when sauteed so a lot of people throw them out which is a waste because they have a ton of flavor.