Choice
King oyster
Pleurotus eryngii
The character that does the work
A thick white solid stem with a small cap. In cultivation it is the meatiest mushroom available.
The specimen sheet, in examination order
01Cap
3 to 12 cm, small and flat relative to the stem, tan to grey-brown.
02Underside
White gills running well down the stem.
03Stem, and the base
The point of the species: thick, white, solid and cylindrical, often larger than the cap.
04Flesh, cut
White, dense, firm.
05Spore print
White to cream
How to take one06Where it grows
Cultivated on sterilised sawdust. Wild in the Mediterranean on the roots of umbellifers.
When to look
Cultivated, so it has no season. This is the argument for growing it.
Mediterranean and Central Asia; cultivated worldwide.
What is worth knowing about it
Grown rather than gathered, and included because it is the mushroom that changes people's minds about texture. Sliced into thick rounds and scored, it behaves like scallop.
Confused with
- Not applicable in cultivation
In the kitchen
Cut the stem into 2 cm discs, score a crosshatch on both faces, and sear hard in butter without moving them until deeply caramelised. Rushing this is the only way to get it wrong.
The techniques, and why they workGrowing it
This page tells you what to check. It does not tell you the mushroom in your hand is that species, and it cannot. If you are not certain, do not eat it. If you have already eaten something and feel unwell, contact a poison centre and keep an uncooked specimen.
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