Blue-leg Bounty – The Field Blewit
Happy (belated) new year to you all! Things have been very busy for me pre-Christmas, hence the delay featuring this lovely and edible treat I found in November, even though it can often be seen in the winter months!
I’m so happy to have found this mushroom recently as I don’t see much of it nowadays. It has patchy distribution throughout Europe and is notably harder to find than our reliable Wood Blewit (Clitocybe nuda / Lepista nuda). However, I hope you do come across The Field Blewit or Blue-leg (Clitocybe saeva / aka. Lepista Saeva / Lepista personata) pretty soon too. It is one of the more highly prized wild edible mushrooms to be found.
These two conspicuous ‘Blewits’ look very similar but have a few notable differences. Firstly the most obvious difference is that the Blue-Leg is found mainly in Fields/pasture (as you would expect with such a name!) but it can reside close to woodland in grassy hedgerows (as in this case) or even gardens. They’re usually found in Fairy rings, but I don’t see much of that. My bad luck I guess.
The smooth, large cap of a mature specimen (often with a wavy margin) is pallid brown in colour, unlike the Wood Blewit which has a distinctive violet hue.
The gills are similar in their crowded, fleshy appearance but have different colouring; the Field Blewit’s gills are whitish when young, maturing to a ‘pale flesh’ colour, unlike the violet tinge present in the Wood Blewit.
The streaky coloured stems however (or ‘Legs’ in this case) are very similar. The Field Blewit has a strong violet shade, which is bizarre considering they’re known as Blue-Legs – but there you go, I don’t make the rules! The contrasting light brown of the cap and strong violet stem is quite distinctive.
The Field Blewit is superior in flavour to the more common Wood Blewit, and apparantly they both store well in a freezer for future consumption. Yum.
Have a good new year and here’s hoping you have good foraging fortune. (P.S. Look out for Jelly Ear which is more conspicuous this time of year – they’re great for stir fry with a wealth of health benefits. Enjoy).
The Wood Blewit, also known as Blue-Leg with its distinctive bluish-lilac coloured stem. Gills are flesh coloured in mature specimens.
QUICK ID TABLE: FIELD BLEWIT Clitocybe saeva / Lepista saeva |
CAP / FLESH 6-12cm across. Smooth, pale brown and fleshy. Flat to convex, sometimes with a central depression as it ages. Wavy edged with age. STEM 3-6cm x 1.5-2.5cm. Violet/lilac (bluish) and fibrous. Sometimes swollen at base. GILLS / SPORE PRINT Fleshy, crowded. Sinuate. Pale whitish when young. Flesh colour when older. HABITAT / SEASON In pasture/fields, grassy hedgerows. Sometimes gardens/orchards. Autumn – early winter. EDIBILITY Edible. Excellent – Cook well. |
Hi, just found this blog whilst looking to identify a mushroom growing in my back garden.
Thought it could be a field blewit but as itit’s early april, that sounded a bit far fetched.
Picked specimen to check further & it is a field blewit.
Is this also a spring mushroom?
Hi Matt
It is not normally a spring mushroom but it has known to be found out of season like this now and again. I have found the Wood Blewit in spring, which is also out of season then. See: https://www.mushroomdiary.co.uk/2012/05/wood-blewits-in-april-and-may
Hope that helps
All the best
John
Saw a lovely fairy ring of these last week, glad to now know what they are!!
That’s a good find – I don’t usually see them in a ring like that! Nice.
Check this out from Brighton Cookery School !
Some Field Blewit from East Sussex !
https://youtu.be/3UARWV8WY-o
Thanks Fred. Great recipe link.
Found a lovely ring of these that has been very fruitful so far this year. We cane across it purely by accident.
Those are always good moments :)
I have a patch near me in the NE of England that faithfully sprouts every year, crept about the bushes in the dark on the way back from work then dinner was sorted – just had field blewit korma ! 😅
That sounds so tasty. Nice one :)
Field Blewits are one of my favourites, perhaps because our area in north east Lincolnshire is so reliable for them. I know four rings within a mile of me.
Very nice. Keep those locations secret – that is until I get out there ;)
These look just like the mushrooms me and my Dad would pick when we went fishing by the river. Seem to like horse fields. He referred to them as Blue Stalks. But they like the same and the where very nice to eat :)
Ah yes. Blue Stalks / Blue Legs – All the same :)
So good to read these posts. I have found what I believe are blue legged bounties. It is the last few days of Autumn, but they are on a grassy patch in the middle of a eucalyptus forest. So I would have thought the Wood Blewit a more likely find. It has the violet stem, (quite unique), light brown cap and very pale brown gills. Not the violet or white gills I am seeing in the photographs, so I won’t be cooking it this time.
Thanks Amy. Good decision not to eat it this time, If not 100% sure, then avoid.