Pepper mushroom (Chalciporus piperatus) photo and description

Pepper mushroom (Chalciporus piperatus)

• Pepper Butter
• Pepper moss

pepper mushroom (lat. Chalciporus peppered) is a brown tubular mushroom from the Boletaceae family (lat. Boletaceae), in -language literature it often belongs to the genus Oilers (lat. Suillus), and in modern English-language literature it belongs to the genus Chalciporus.

Hat:

Color from copper-red to dark rusty, round-convex shape, 2-6 cm in diameter. The surface is dry, slightly velvety. The pulp is sulfur-yellow, reddens on the cut. The taste is quite sharp, peppery. The smell is weak.

Spore layer:

Tubes descending along the stem, the color of the cap or darker, with uneven wide pores, when touched, they quickly become a dirty brown color.

Spore powder:

Yellow-brown.

Leg:

Length 4-8 cm, thickness 1-1,5 cm, cylindrical, continuous, often curved, sometimes narrowed towards the bottom, of the same color as the cap, yellowish in the lower part. There is no ring.

Spread:

Pepper fungus is common in dry coniferous forests, occurs quite often, but usually not too abundant, from July to late autumn. It can also form mycorrhiza with hardwoods, such as young birches.

Similar species:

Chalciporus piperatus can be confused with various representatives of the genus Suillus (in other words, with oil). It differs from oiled pepper mushrooms, firstly, by its radical taste, secondly, by the red color of the spore-bearing layer (it is closer to yellow in oiling), and thirdly, it never has a ring on its stem.

Edibility:

The mushroom is definitely not poisonous. Many sources report that Chalciporus piperatus is “inedible due to its pungent, peppery taste.” A rather controversial statement – unlike, say, the disgusting taste of gall fungus (Tylopilus felleus), the taste of pepper mushroom can be called sharp, but pleasant. In addition, after prolonged cooking, the sharpness disappears altogether.