L’osteria

Once again as in other years for the past week or so rumours of the start of the porcini season- the local wild mushrooms that grow up in the mountains around Barga - have been percolating around the city.

There have even been a couple of images of newly found porcini seen on a cell phone but today all the rumours became fact when one of the seasoned mushroom pickers walked into Barga Vecchia with a wicker basket across his shoulder containing the first of this year’s precious crop.

So an early start to the season … checking on the archives on the site we find that last year the first mushrooms that actually made their way into Barga Vecchia were also brought in by the same hunter as today but more than a month later - 21st June - (article here)

Porcini (Boletus edulis, the Latin name) is a highly regarded edible mushroom. It has a number of English names, including cep (from its Catalan name cep or its French name cèpe), king bolete and penny bun. A common term in current use is porcini (from the plural of its Italian name porcino).
The scientific name, Boletus, from the Latin stem bolet-, meaning “superior mushroom” and edulis, meaning edible, explains the species’ culinary qualities. This mushroom has a distinct aroma reminiscent of fermented dough. It has a higher water content than other edible mushrooms. source

EDIT: update on this article - the porcini featured on these images weighed just over 1 kg and as often happens they ended up in a restaurant - the L’Osteria in Piazza Angelio (site here) but none of Riccardo’s clients ever got in smelling distance of the precious mushrooms. A porcini sauce was prepared by the chef in L’Osteria but instead of serving it to the tables, Riccardo telephoned down to the Altana restaurant (3D image here)telling them ” we have the mushroom sauce, have you got some home made pasta ? ” upon hearing the affirmative reply the staff at the L’osteria promptly shut the doors and all moved down to the Altana for a shared meal celebrating the first porcini mushrooms of the year.