Neutral

What is a neutral smell?

M.Ya. Zerova in the "Key to the Fungi of Ukraine" often describes a neutral smell as a very faint scent of moisture or wood, or simply a "raw" smell. It calls up no clear associations (like flour, anise or radish).

David Arora in "Mushrooms Demystified" notes that a huge number of edible mushrooms have exactly this neutral smell:

1. Brittlegills (Russula): Most edible brittlegills (the Bare-toothed russula, green and scaly brittlegills) have a completely neutral or barely noticeable bland smell. Only particular species (like the stinking brittlegill) have a sharp smell.

2. Parasols (Macrolepiota): The big Parasol mushroom (Macrolepiota procera) smells very faintly, more of dry wood or dust, which can be classed as a neutral smell.

3. Birch boletes and orange-capped boletes (Leccinum): These popular boletes have a very faint, barely noticeable smell that cannot compare with the powerful "mushroomy" aroma of porcini.

What to do if the smell is neutral

Roger Phillips stresses that if a mushroom has a neutral smell, you lose one of the important diagnostic features. In that case, identification has to rely on other factors:

- Where it grows: Which tree it forms mycorrhiza with (for example, birch boletes are looked for only under birch).

- Flesh color change when cut: For example, the flesh of an aspen bolete (neutral in smell) quickly turns black.

- Taste: In brittlegills, it is the taste (hot or mild), not the smell, that decides whether they are good to eat.