Cep mushrooms in the UK: how to find the penny bun and tell it from its lookalikes

What is a penny bun?

A penny bun is the British name for Boletus edulis, the same mushroom you will see called a cep or porcini. The name comes from the cap, which looks like a crusty brown bread roll.

It is a bolete, so it has a sponge of tiny pores under the cap instead of gills. In Britain it is one of the best known wild mushrooms, and one of the few that most foragers hope to find. Our porcini card has the full description, part by part. This page is about finding and checking one in Britain.

Cep season in the UK

In Britain ceps fruit from early summer to the middle of autumn, and most are found in late summer and early autumn. A warm spell after good rain is what brings them up.

Wild Food UK says they usually appear about a week after rain. So after a wet few days, wait a little, then go and look. Go much later and many will already be past their best. Our guide on when to go foraging after rain explains the timing in more detail.

Early summer finds are usually few. The main flush comes later, when the woods are damp and the nights are still mild. Once the hard frosts arrive, the season is over.

Where to find ceps in the UK

Ceps grow on the ground under trees, most often beech and birch, and less often oak, pine and spruce. They live in partnership with tree roots, so you will not find them far from a tree.

Look in both broadleaf and conifer woods, and pay most attention to the edges. Clearings, woodland margins, grassy rides and the verges of woodland paths are where many ceps turn up. They often grow alone or in small groups.

They are fairly common across Britain. The NBN Atlas holds over 9,000 records from the UK, so most wooded parts of the country have them. Wild Food UK puts it well: fairly common if you know where to look.

Before you go, check that you are allowed to pick on that land. There is a short note on the law further down.

Cep mushroom identification: five checks in the field

To identify a cep, check five things together: the cap, the pores, the stem net, the cut flesh and the spore print. One feature alone is not enough.

Cap. Yellow brown to reddish brown, smooth and a little greasy, like a glazed bun. In many ceps the edge is paler than the centre.

Pores. Small and white in young ceps, then yellow, then olive green in old ones. They do not change colour when you press them. They are never pink and never red.

Stem. Thick and often swollen at the base, pale cream to light brown, with a fine white net near the top. Sometimes the net runs further down.

Flesh. Firm and white. Cut the mushroom in half from cap to base: the flesh stays white and does not turn blue.

Spore print. Olive brown. Leave a cap pores down on white paper for a few hours if you want to be sure.

White flesh that does not change colour tells you it is not a blue bruising bolete. It does not tell you a mushroom is safe on its own. Our porcini card has the details for each part.

Penny bun lookalikes: the bitter bolete comes first

The penny bun lookalike you are most likely to find in Britain is the bitter bolete (Tylopilus felleus). It grows under oak, beech and other broadleaf trees, and from late summer its season overlaps with the cep's.

Two things give it away. Its pores start pale cream and turn pink as it ages, while a cep's pores go from white to yellow and olive. And its stem has a brown net on a paler stem, while a cep has a pale net. Its spore print is clay pink, not olive brown.

Young bitter boletes are the tricky ones, because their pores are still pale. Then the stem net decides: a brown net means leave it.

The bitter bolete is not poisonous, but it is so bitter that one in the pan spoils the whole dish, and cooking does not help. Do not taste a wild mushroom to check. Our bitter bolete guide compares the two side by side.

Is there a poisonous cep lookalike in the UK?

Yes, the devil's bolete (Rubroboletus satanas) is poisonous, but it is rare in Britain. It grows under oak and beech, usually on chalky soil, in late summer and autumn.

It looks quite different once you turn it over. The cap is chalky white to pale grey. The pores turn orange and then red. The stem has a red net, and the cut flesh slowly turns pale blue.

So the rule is simple. A bolete with red pores or red on the stem is not a cep: leave it. Some edible boletes bruise blue too, but a cep never does, so blue flesh also means it is not a penny bun.

Never decide a bolete is fine just because you cannot find it listed as poisonous. If you cannot name it with confidence, leave it in the wood.

Summer bolete and pine bolete: edible relatives of the cep

The summer bolete and the pine bolete are close relatives of the cep, and both are good edible mushrooms. Mixing them up with a cep does no harm, but it helps to know them.

The summer bolete (Boletus reticulatus) is a rare find in Britain. It grows mostly with beech and sometimes oak. Its cap is paler, often wrinkled or cracked, and has no pale edge. Its stem net runs much further down, often to the base. Our article on summer and autumn porcini explains the differences.

The pine bolete (Boletus pinophilus) has a wine red to reddish brown cap. It grows under Scots pine on acid soil. It is fairly common in the old Scots pine forests of Scotland and uncommon further south. Our pine bolete article covers it in full.

The bay bolete is another common find under conifers. It has no net on its stem, and its pores bruise blue green when pressed, so it is easy to tell from a cep.

Can you pick ceps in the UK?

Yes, for your own use, if you have the right to be on the land. In England and Wales picking wild mushrooms is not theft unless you pick to sell, and in Scotland the Outdoor Access Code allows picking for your own use, while selling needs the landowner's permission.

Protected sites, nature reserves and some landowners set their own stricter rules. Read our article "Foraging ethics and the law" before you go.

How to pick ceps well

Pick young, firm ceps and leave the old ones. Ceps get maggoty fast, and First Nature notes that once the pores have turned greenish yellow, a cep is very likely to be full of maggots.

Press the stem gently. A good cep feels solid all the way through. A soft or spongy one is past its best.

Take only what you will eat, and leave the rest to spread their spores. Cut or gently twist the cep out without digging up the ground around it.

If someone feels unwell after eating a wild mushroom

If you think someone has eaten a poisonous mushroom, call 999. Do not wait for symptoms to get worse.

Keep any leftover mushroom, raw or cooked, to show the doctors. Our mushroom poisoning first aid guide explains what to do while you wait.