Here are some of the things I'm enjoying about my first time here in Autumn.
At the marché last Friday a woman was selling boletus edulcis, the king bolete, the cepe, by the pound. Big monster boletes 10 inches across and several inches thick. Why didn't I buy one? At 20€ a kilo, they weren't expensive. $11.86 per pound. She must have had at least 200 lbs. It's a good year for boletes and a lot of other mushrooms.
This afternoon, riding up through Belaye and on to Floressas, I came across a relative, Satan's Bolete. The jury is out on whether or not this one is even edible but it was the better part of 8 inches across.
I tore it open to see the inside and discovered the blood red veins and the blue staining where I bruised it. They are supposed to smell like "carrion" when ripe which is why so few people are poisoned by them. Cooking them reduces toxicity but what sane person who wasn't starving would volunteer for its stomach flu symptoms.
The possibility of finding a cepe glues my eyes to the roadside as when I have lost a tool or some other possession on a ride. It's mesmerizing after miles and miles of never losing track of the roadside. At 12 mph you surely miss lots of mushrooms half-buried in leaf litter, disguised as leaves or stones. Are mushrooms generally hiding like prey animals or advertising themselves?
