Fresh Bolete Mushrooms — Cultivated Black Boletus, Porcini Relative, 1 lb & 2 lb

Not currently available for purchase. This page is a reference for a species Crown Fungi is bringing into production at our Kingston, New York farm. We expect fresh black boletes within two to three months. If you want to be notified when they are ready, email us and we will flag your account.

What It Is

Phlebopus portentosus is a true bolete and one of the very few in the world that can actually be farmed. Classic porcini, Boletus edulis, is ectomycorrhizal — it survives only in partnership with the roots of a living tree, which is why it has never been cultivated and why its price and supply swing with the weather in someone else's forest. The black bolete is saprotrophic. It feeds on wood and organic matter, so it can be grown in rooms, on substrate, on a schedule.

It is the largest and heaviest of the commonly eaten boletes, with a broad cap in deep brown to near-black, a yellow pore surface that blues readily where it is cut or handled, and an unusually thick, solid stem. It has been farmed in Thailand and southern Yunnan for years, where it is a genuinely mainstream ingredient. Almost nobody outside Asia is working with it.

How It Eats

The most intensely savory of the cultivated boletes. Deep, dark, almost soy-like umami with a firm, dense, distinctly meaty texture — noticeably chewier and more substantial than porcini, and considerably more robust than any cremini or portobello. The flavor is assertive enough to stand up to chili, fermented bean paste, and hard searing without getting lost.

Handling

Do not soak it. The pore layer acts as a sponge and will hold water through the entire cook, leaving you with a limp gray result. Brush the cap, wipe with a barely damp cloth, trim the stem base, and slice. Store loose in paper in the refrigerator, never in sealed plastic. The blue staining where you cut is normal and cooks out — it is not a defect.

Cooking Ideas

Yunnan-style stir fry. This is the mushroom's home ground. Slice thick, sear hard in a screaming wok with oil until the edges caramelize, then add dried chili, plenty of sliced garlic, and a splash of Shaoxing. Finish with scallion. Fast, hot, and very little else — the mushroom does the work.

Hot pot and broth. Thick slices hold their texture in simmering broth better than almost any other mushroom and give back an enormous amount of savor to the liquid. Add early rather than late.

Steak treatment. Cut the stem crosswise into thick medallions, score a shallow crosshatch on each face, and sear in a heavy pan with butter, garlic and thyme, basting. Serve as the center of the plate with a red wine or peppercorn sauce. The texture genuinely reads as meat.

Braises and ragù. The flesh is dense enough to go in early alongside beef or short rib and still hold shape after an hour. Excellent in a dark mushroom ragù over polenta or wide pasta.

Grilled. Thick planks, brushed with oil, straight on the grate over hardwood. Finish with salt, lemon and parsley.

Cook thoroughly. Boletes are not for raw preparations.