The Emperor. Art by Joseph Buckley, from The Mushroom Hunter's Tarot.
The Emperor is represented by Boletus edulis, also known as the King Bolete. The King Bolete is one of the most prized, sought after mushrooms in the world as it cannot be grown commercially. It can become very large and domineering (sometimes the cap spanning up to a foot across!), giving the mushroom a very stately, regal appearance.
Because altercations over the King Bolete aren’t uncommon, some areas have passed laws to regulate its harvesting on public lands. This however doesn’t stop territory wars and landowners hiring guards in order keep mushroom hunters from ravaging their domain.
Painting I did of all my friends as mushrooms. Some of them don't identify with a flag, so I just painted their favorite colors c:
These are all real mushrooms you can find outside, but maybe not in these colors.
Photoshoot with the biggest fuggen mushroom that I've ever seen! 😱😱 I'm pretty sure that it's a king bolete/porcini , especially since we saw some fly agaric nearby!
Some more photos of the Boletud edulis found during my latest foray!
Boletus can be spotted by seeing what looks like a potato…. or a hamburger bun sticking out of the ground. They can grow bigger than a dinner plate too! On the underside of the cap they have pores instead of gills, and a reticulation netting-like pattern on the large and impressive stalk.
the penny bun (also cep, king bolete, porcini or porcino) is a basidiomycete fungus in the family boletaceae. it occurs naturally across europe, asia & north america, but has also been introduced to southern africa, australia, aotearoa & brazil. it grows in association with the roots of both coniferous & deciduous trees :-)
the big question : can i bite it??
to answer, i will quote a part of the b. edulis wikipaedia - "boletus edulis, as the species epithet edulis (latin : 'edible') directly implies, is an edible mushroom. the flavour has been described as nutty & slightly meaty, with a smooth, creamy texture, & a distinctive aroma reminiscent of sourdough."
b. edulis description :
"the fruit body has a large brown cap which on occasion can reach 30 cm (12 in), rarely 40 cm (16 in) in diameter & 3 kg (6 lb 10 oz) in weight. it has tubes extending downward from the underside of the cap, rather than gills ; the pore surface of the b. edulis fruit body is whitish when young, but ages to a greenish-yellow. the stout stipe, or stem, is white or yellowish in colour, up to 20 cm (8 in), rarely 30 cm (12 in) tall & 10 cm (4 in) thick, & partially covered with a raised network pattern, or reticulations."
Please enjoy this photo I took of my food dehydrator, which is full of sliced king bolete (Boletus edulis). I don't like the texture of the pores/gills, so I slice them as thin as I can, run them through the dehydrator til they're cracker-dry, and then through a coffee grinder to make a powder. It makes a great savory/umami base for soups and more!
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