Top 20 Edible Mushrooms Popular in Villach

The amethyst deceiver (Laccaria amethystina) is a breathtaking mushroom that pops up from coniferous forest floors. The caps are a striking violet color in youth and are generally flat with a small indentation when the stem connects. As they mature, this violet color transforms to a less than breathtaking grey color, making it quite hard to identify after a certain age positively. Not edible.

A stocky, almost imposing mushroom, the slimy spike (Gomphidius glutinosus) has a round bulbous cap and a very thick stalk. This species is one of the more unusual members of the bolete order (Boletales) because it has gills, rather than a spongey pore surface. The "slimy" in this species' common name is well-earned - individuals are almost always coated in a shiny layer of slime.

Winecork brittlegill is a widespread mushroom species that typically makes its home on acidic soils in coniferous forests. It gets the name winecork from its smell, which is similar to that of empty wine barrels or bottle corks. The specific Latin name adusta translates as burn or toast and refers to the color of the stem.

The species can be described as follows: The cap is red brown (or sometimes beige to ocher) and is hygrophanous, drying to a paler colour. It is sometimes slightly wrinkled and grows to 1-3 cm in diameter. The gills are white and fairly crowded, and the attachment to the stem varies from adnate to almost free. The spore powder is white. The stem can grow to 6 cm tall but is only up to 2 mm in diameter. It is bald and pale at the apex, reddish brown lower down, and dark brown or blackish at the base. The smell and taste are strongly of garlic. The spores are roughly ellipsoid and measure 7-11 µm x 3-5 µm. The cheilocystidia (on the gill edge) are of the "broom cell" type, that is, they are club-shaped with a number of finger-like protuberances.

The common bay bolete is found across the northern hemisphere, often in spruce and pine forests and occasionally under deciduous trees. While it lives in a symbiotic relationship with a living tree, the mushrooms are most often found near well-decayed, mossy stumps, usually singly or in very small groups.

Found in temperate forests, wetlands, and bogs across the northern hemisphere, the yellowfoot is a highly sought after member of the chanterelle family. Considered a choice edible, it boasts a lovely, complex flavor (though it is somewhat less fruity and sweet then some of its more popular cousins). Yellowfoots are sometimes called "winter mushrooms", as they tend to be very late-season fruiters.

The shaggy mane mushroom is commonly found in North American and European grasslands. Some peoples foraged for its young egg-shaped caps, but it has more recently been found to be a bioaccumulator of heavy metals, meaning it pulls toxic metals up from the soil where it grows. As a result, shaggy manes should not be eaten. The mushrooms usually appear in clusters or “fairy rings.”

The deer mushroom is can be found sprouting up from rotting logs, branches, and roots, and while it may have a preference for hardwoods it isn't very picky. Unlike many other mushroom species, the fruitbodies can be found blooming across a wide range of seasons. They have a faint, radish-like odor.

Sticky bolete is a bolete commonly found in groups on larch plantation paths. The common name, "sticky bolete," comes from this mushroom's slimy and sticky film that develops on wet caps. This film does not form any other species in the genus and is a distinguishable feature of this mushroom.

Hollow bolete (Suillus cavipes) gets its Latin name cavipes, which means hollow foot, from its hollow stem. It forms a mutually beneficial relationship with larch trees. This mushroom has an unusual scaly brown cap. It can grow alone or gregariously.