Blewits

Blewits are great: they don’t start fruiting until the temperature is reliably below 18ºC for a certain period of time, but then they hang on for ages, when the weather is too wet and cold for anything else: even after a hard freeze I’ve found them in relative plenty. I forage both field blewits and wood blewits locally, and they’re both good, though the field blewits seem to be slightly less bothered by flies than the wood blewits.

Also, they are purple. And delicious.

This is not a foraging advice publication, if you see a purple mushroom don’t eat it just because I said so! But also it’s worth noting if you do collect blewits that some people are sensitive to them and experience digestive distress after eating them, and they absolutely must be cooked before eating. So cook them well and, as with any new food, only eat a small amount the first few times you have them.

I was hoping to have a picture of these to share with you before the season ended, but missed my chance, and now there won’t be any more until next autumn. I suppose you could say I blew it.