Painted Sillus

Where Does Painted Sillus Grow?

Suillus spraguei grows usually pretty abundantly around pine trees, particularly the giant Eastern White Pine. The virant burgundy fruit bodies grow on the ground, This wonderful mushroom appears from early summer to autumn. It is found in North America, and Mexico throughout the range of the host tree.

How Do I Identify It?

The cap of this mushroom is 3 to 12 cm (1.2 to 4.7 in) in diameter, and depending on its age, is either conic to convex, and flattened at maturity, often with hanging remnants of partial veil. The cap surface is covered with densely matted filaments that are rough and scale-like. The scales are pink to brownish red, fading to a pale brown-gray or dull yellow in maturity. Under the scales, the cap surface is yellow to pale yellow-orange. While many other species of Sillus have a sticky or slimy cap, S. spraguei is dry.

The pores on the underside of the cap are yellowish and angular, measuring 0.5 to 5 mm (0.02 to 0.20 in) wide, and formed by tubes that extend 4 to 8 mm (0.2 to 0.3 in) deep. These pores have a slightly decurrent attachment to the stem (extending down its length). Young specimens have a whitish fibrous partial veil that protects the developing pores; as the cap grows bigger it rips the veil, which remains as a grayish ring on the stem. The stem is 4 to 12 cm (1.6 to 4.7 in) long, and 1 to 2.5 cm (0.4 to 1.0 in) thick, roughly cylindrical in shape, or sometimes with a bulbous bottom so as to be somewhat club-shaped. The stem is usually solid, The tissue of all parts of the fruit body—cap, pores, and stem—will turn brownish shortly after being bruised or injured.[17][20]

Spore print is olive-brown in color; this changes to clay or tawny-olive after drying

How To Forage & Clean Your Mushrooms:

What’s the best way to clean mushrooms? When I am out foraging, which is basically any time I am out, if I find mushrooms I will cut off as much as the dirt from the stipe (stem) as I can before placing them cap side up in a foraging bag, basket or my coat hood if I got caught unawares. If you use the last method, remember to squat, not bend down when foraging more mushrooms or your entire harvest will tumble out over your head. #truestory

You might have heard the old adage: never wash mushrooms. The rationale was that mushrooms are 90% water, so they would absorb the water and become waterlogged. But the method of brushing off each mushroom with a small brush or paper towel takes way too long and way too fiddly for my not so delicate fingers.

. .

Fill a large bowl with water. Add the mushrooms and toss them in the water for a minute or so until the dirty mostly settles to the bottom. Remove from the bowl and pat dry.
Strainer method: Or for a cheaters method, you can simply place the mushrooms in a colander and spray them with water until the dirt washes away. Then pat the mushrooms dry.

For both methods, make sure not to soak the mushrooms: remember, shower not bath! You’ll want to get the mushrooms out of the water as soon as you can.

*Some people dont like the texture of the cap of Sillus so if thats the case, genty scrub off during washing.

My hoodie came in handy! No Chicken will ever be left behind!

Baking With Painted Sillus

Medieval Christmas Mushroom Pasties

5 shallots
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
500g mushrooms
12 cooked and peeled chestnuts
2 tsp honey
125ml red wine
2 sprigs of rosemary
3 sprigs of thyme
8 sage leaves
A handful of flat leaf parsley
½ tsp ground ginger
A pinch of ground cloves
A grating of nutmeg
500g puff pastry (shop bought or see our recipe on how to make your own)
1 egg, beaten

How To Cook Your Holiday Feast

1.Heat your oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/ 356 Farenheight /Gas 6.

Halve, peel and finely dice your shallots.

Set a large frying pan over medium heat.

Add 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp butter. Add the shallots.

Season with a good pinch of salt and pepper.

Lower the heat. Cook till nicely softened, about 5-10 mins.

2.While the shallots cook, thinly slice the mushrooms and chestnuts. Add them to the pan. Cook till tender and golden around the edges, about 15 mins.

3.Add the honey and wine. Increase the heat to boil the mixture up till the wine reduces by half and is almost like balsamic vinegar.

4.Strip the rosemary and thyme leaves from their stalks and finely chop, along with the sage leaves and parsley. Fold the chopped herbs and all the spices through the shallots. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

5.Divide the pastry into 6 evenly-sized pieces. Roll each piece till about ½cm thick. Using a dessert plate or cereal bowl as a guide, cut into a circle (save your pastry scraps for making homemade mince pies or jam tarts).

6.Whisk your egg. Brush the outer rim of the pastry with the egg. Add about 2-3 tbsp of filling per pasty.

7.Fold the pasties, pinching the edges to seal. Set on a greaseproof paper-lined baking tray. Gloss the outside with beaten egg.

8.Repeat with the remaining pastry and filling. Bake for 20 mins, or till golden. Delicious hot with gravy, cranberry sauce and all the trimmings. Or tuck into them cold the next day.

DISCLAIMER:

Don’t eat any mushroom, unless absolutely certain of its identification. Be sure you KNOW the identity of a mushroom, and that it is safe, before eating it.

When in doubt, have any wild mushrooms checked by an expert before eating them.