Boletus edulis

One of the stars of the mushroom world. Easily recognisable among the edible species. Generally seen eight days after rain around late summer to the start of autumn. Please note that each and every mushroom you come across may vary in appearance to these photos. 7-12 cm. White when very young, maturing to look like a crusty brown roll, hence the name penny bun. The edge of the cap is often white. Slug marks expose white flesh. Has very small white pores which turn yellow to green with age. 10-14 cm long, 2-4 cm diameter. Thick, bulbous and white ageing to slightly tan yellow. The stem has a fine net like covering just under the cap and sometimes extending all the way down the stem, solid when young, fresh or free from maggots. No poisonous mushrooms look similar, all the poisonous Boletus such as the Satans Boletus are either very red in the flesh or sponge, or stain blue immediately on cutting. You could potentially confuse this mushroom with the Bitter Bolete, Tylopilus felleus which although not poisonous will ruin any meal you are unfortunate enough to add this mushroom to. A little nibble of the mushroom when raw will soon identify it with the Penny Bun being delicious and the Bitter Bolete being as bitter as sin! A better way to distinguish the two is that the Penny Bun has a lighter net like mesh on a slightly darker stem, the Bitter Bolete has a darker mesh on a lighter stem, pictured. The Summer Bolete, Boletus reticulatus , looks very similar but the cap colour is paler, it has a slightly darker stem, not as solid flesh, lacks the white cap edge and usually grows in early Summer. Excellent raw or fried in butter when fresh. Very mushroomy, one of the best species to dry where the mushroom flavour is enhanced. Penny buns produce more glutamates when dried so enhancing the flavour. Tests on dried Penny Buns found that there were many different Boletes in a packet as they are hard to visually identify when dried. Please note that there are several closely related species in the US, including the White King Bolete ( Boletus barrowsii ), Spring King Bolete ( Boletus rex-veris ), and a local variety of our Boletus edulis in Western North America, called Boletus edulis var. grandedulis . In March 2025 the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) added 1000 fungal species to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The IUCN (Global) Conservation Status of Penny Bun ( Boletus edulis ) is: LC – Least Concern, with stable population. For more information, see on the following link . I’d like to ask you about how the cep season works. Last weekend I found a large amount of ceps, and the one before I found a similar amount of summer ceps (boletus reticulatus). However, this weekend, although I have visited about 5 forests in SW England and Wales, I have only found old/rotting ones and the odd one or two young ones, in locations where I know that they appear. Is the season now over then? Can we expect more ceps following the next bout of rain? In the same areas? Thanks! We’ll hopefully see some more with rain but that might be the season over and done with. There is no rain forcast. I fear you are right, but for three weeks it was the best Penny Bun picking I’ve done. My son brought 2 carrier bags of ceps back from a forest in Northumberland yesterday. Some where huge. It’s very warm out – proper mushroom weather. Have found none in our local woodland in Kent this season after masses last year, even after the recent rain there are none to be seen I’m sure they came later last year .. Perhaps overly dry earlier on has stalled them ? Im in Surrey and Ceps are only just starting to poke their heads out, last year it was a few weeks before…fingers crossed! I’ve been looking for the last three weeks in Oxfordshire and found one single Cep! Hello, is there any other bolete that looks similar and grows to the same size? I found some huge boletes, stem thicker than my wrist and cap pretty much like a baseball c