Red Cracking Bolete (Xerocomus chrysenteron) is an edible mushroom belonging to the genus Xerocomellus. Previously, it was classified under the genus Xerocomus, which has since been divided into smaller genera.
Appearance
- Cap: In young mushrooms, the cap is convex, gradually flattening as it matures. The cap surface is dry and feels like felt. As the mushroom grows, the cap’s skin cracks, revealing red flesh underneath. The cap itself is quite thick and fleshy.
- Gills: Tubular. The pores of the tubes are wide, initially yellow, then gray, and in old mushrooms, they are green with an olive hue. When pressed, the tubular layer turns blue. The spore print is yellowish-olive, and the spores themselves are spindle-shaped.
- Stem: Cylindrical, without thickenings, and narrows towards the base. It reaches 8-10 centimeters in length and about 1.5 centimeters in thickness. The stem is solid, without cavities. The color of the stem varies from yellowish-brown to reddish-brown. The flesh of the stem, like the cap, turns blue when pressed.
Distribution and Harvesting
Red Cracking Bolete is found throughout the temperate forest zone. It prefers loose, acidic or slightly acidic soil and grows in both deciduous and coniferous forests, often settling near linden trees. It is quite common but does not grow in large groups.
Culinary Uses and Benefits
Despite its relative rarity, Red Cracking Bolete is highly valued by mushroom pickers and chefs for their excellent taste.
Before cooking, Red Cracking Bolete does not need to be pre-boiled, as is the case with most lamellar forest mushrooms. Despite some fibrousness in the stem, the entire mushroom can be eaten. All varieties of this mushroom are excellent in any type of cooking: in hot soups, stews, and fried dishes. They can also be salted, pickled, and dried. However, when dried, Red Cracking Bolete often darken significantly or even turn black, making them visually unappetizing, but their taste remains unaffected.
These mushrooms are rich in easily digestible protein, natural sugars, various enzymes, and essential oils beneficial to our bodies. They also contain a lot of extractive substances that give mushroom dishes a rich and flavorful taste. The enzymes contained in these mushrooms promote good digestion.
Red Cracking Bolete contains a whole range of vitamins, and their vitamin B content is comparable to that of grain products. These mushrooms are also rich in beneficial trace elements, including molybdenum and calcium.
Contraindications
As for contraindications to consuming Red Cracking Bolete, they are standard, the same as for mushrooms in general. However, this mushroom is known for their ability to actively accumulate heavy metals and toxins from the soil. Scientists are even considering the possibility of using artificially cultivated Red Cracking Bolete to clean contaminated soil. Therefore, under no circumstances should you collect Bolete near roads or industrial enterprises.
At the same time, this property of Red Cracking Bolete allows them to cleanse the body of toxins, absorbing them like a sponge and removing them.
Cultivating at Home
Red Cracking Bolete grows only in symbiosis with the root system of trees, so intensive industrial cultivation methods, as in the case of champignons, cannot be applied to them. However, unlike the same boletes, Red Cracking Bolete can form mycorrhiza not only with conifers but also with deciduous trees. This significantly simplifies their amateur cultivation in ordinary fruit gardens.
For a mushroom bed, you need to choose a shady area near a tree. It’s best if it’s a pine, spruce, hornbeam, beech, or oak, but as a last resort, you can try it with fruit trees.
Dig a trench about 30 cm deep in the place of the future bed. Fill this pit with a substrate consisting of forest soil, branches, leaves, and humus. It’s best to take forest soil from where Red Cracking Bolete grow.
Mix the substrate well and place it in the trench so that a small hill forms. Then, previously collected old Red Cracking Bolete (this is a must) are soaked in a bucket of clean water. After a day, the well-soaked caps should be mashed by hand until they become mushy and, together with the water, evenly poured over the mushroom bed. This simulates the natural conditions of mushroom spore reproduction.
If everything goes well, the spores will begin to form mycelium. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to notice this process at first, so in the first one or two months, the bed needs to be watered abundantly. With a successful inoculation, the first fruiting bodies will appear no earlier than a year later. Since mushrooms begin to fruit after rain, this process can be stimulated by watering.