Jersey cow mushroom, the slippery jack's modest cousin

In pine forests, right next to the glossy slippery jacks, you'll often find a more modest mushroom with a matte reddish-brown cap. This is the bovine bolete (Suillus bovinus, listed in our catalog as bovine bolete), a close relative of the slippery jack that many people unfairly overlook.

It's often underrated because of its plain looks and slightly rubbery flesh. But the bovine bolete is perfectly edible, grows in abundance and holds its shape well in preserves, so anyone who walks in pine woods should know it.

Why the bovine bolete is underrated

Next to the buttery sheen of the slippery jack, the bovine bolete looks plain. Its cap is dry or barely sticky, a dull reddish-brown, without a bright gloss. That's why foragers often walk past it, taking it for a “fake” slippery jack.

In fact, the bovine bolete is a fully fledged edible mushroom from the slippery jack family. It has a pleasant taste, though its flesh is denser and a little rubbery, especially in mature specimens. It does well in preserves and when dried.

Another of its traits: loyalty to pines. Like all slippery jacks, the bovine bolete lives with pine in mycorrhiza, that is, in a mutually beneficial partnership with its roots.

How to recognize the bovine bolete

You recognize it by a combination of features, not by any single one. Look the mushroom over from top to bottom.

• Cap. Reddish-brown, ochre, dry or barely sticky, without obvious slime. Convex, later flat.
• Pores. The tubular layer underneath has noticeably large, angular, almost honeycomb-like pores. This is the bovine bolete's main hallmark.
• Stem. Thinner than in the slippery jack, without a ring, the same shade as the cap.
• Flesh. Fairly firm, yellowish; when cut it may turn slightly pinkish or bluish.

The most reliable clue is the large honeycomb pores and the dry cap. That's exactly what sets the bovine bolete apart from the classic slippery jacks.

How it differs from the slippery jack

The bovine bolete and true slippery jacks are easy to tell apart by two details.

1. Cap. In the bovine bolete it's dry or barely sticky; in the slippery jack it's distinctly slimy and glossy.
2. Pores. In the bovine bolete they're large, angular, honeycomb-like; in the weeping bolete and other slippery jacks they're small.

Both are edible, so a mix-up here is harmless. But the bovine bolete is usually firmer and needs a little longer cooking.

Where and when to look for it

The best spots are:

• pine forests, especially damp patches with moss;
• sunny edges of conifer forest and sandy hills;
• patches of mixed forest where pine grows alongside birch.

The season runs from July to October, in flushes after warm rains. The bovine bolete often grows in abundance, in whole groups. It's best to go out a day or two after rain. You can easily watch for these windows with our mushroom radar: it shows when moisture and warmth line up well for mushrooms to appear.

Caution never hurts

The bovine bolete is safe and has no dangerous look-alikes. The main rule stays the same: pick only mushrooms with pores, not gills, underneath. Old, rubbery specimens are best left in the forest; they don't taste good. And, as always: if you're not sure, don't pick it.

Sources

• “Key to the Fungi of Ukraine” (Kyiv, Naukova Dumka publishing house).
• Suillus bovinus in GBIF, the global biodiversity database.
• Suillus bovinus in MycoBank, the international fungal nomenclature database.
• Suillus bovinus on Wikipedia.