#field blewit

I’m kinda proud that I can now spot these from above! Unlike their cousins, the wood blewit, which have a distinct purple cap, field blewits are a more modest buff brown. Like a lot of fungi, though, with a lot of hunting and spotting and practise you start to just ‘get a feel’ for what they look like and spot them more easily, before using more distinct features (such as the purple stem) to make a definitive positive ID.

Blewits are delicious, sort of firm and mildly nutty, but need to be cooked thoroughly to prevent gastrointestinal upset. Some people find them indigestible even if thoroughly cooked, however, so it’s recommended that you eat only a small amount the first time you try them, as I have done here when I added one to my pho.

Field blewits, considered among the best wild edible fungi, that grow outside my work, under a little snow we had recently. I’ve picked these before, and they’re delicious, though I left these as, covered in snow, they were going soft.

These excellent edibles are beautiful, with a violet stem and creamy cap. Unlike their relatives, the wood blewit (Lepista nuda), however, they lack the purplish tinge to the cap, meaning they can be easy to overlook from above.

Blewits from previous post and the white spore print that confirmed I hadn’t confused them with a Cortinarius species.

Field Blewit (Lepista saeva) I'm pretty sure...